A pensioner caught up in a global cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme lost nearly £8,000 of his savings.
Chris Lowe, a retired civil servant, has spoken out to warn others of the perils of investing.
The 73-year-old father-of-two, from Malmesbury, Wiltshire, fell victim to the fraud after being introduced to the so-called investment opportunity by someone he knew.
He said: “You automatically feel annoyed with yourself for falling for something like that, because at the time it seemed like a reasonable investment.
“It was going to be an investment you are in and out of in 12 months, and that would have been it.”
Now Chris has enlisted the help of National Fraud Helpline solicitors, a trading name of Richardson Hartley Law, to help recover his money from his bank, NatWest. Banks have obligations from regulators to help protect their customers from fraud.
Charlie Quail, a lawyer at National Fraud Helpline, said: “This was an incredibly convincing scam in which investors were personally introduced to the scheme. The fraudsters sold the scam to investors as an exclusive off-market opportunity to make it seem more attractive.
“The reality it that this was a global Ponzi scheme where we believe millions of pounds were lost by victims.
“We are determined to get our client’s money back”
Chris was encouraged by a business acquaintance to get involved with the scheme and initially invested £5,000 in Euro bonds, followed by a further £2,975 in Bitcoin.
“I got some instructions and read up about it, and thought ‘this sounds quite good, I’ll have a little go at this one’,” he added.
He was given a login to the investment, where he could keep track of his investments.
But when 12 months passed and he had heard nothing, and his investments on the website remained static, he became concerned.
His acquaintance gave him the email address of the scheme’s organiser who said the scheme was “going through a few problems”, but it should turn around in about three months.
“There was not much I could do, so I thought ‘OK, fair enough, let’s hope it does work out’,” said Chris.
For the next two years the head of the scheme messaged Chris giving him false hope that the investment would one day reap dividends.
“When you look back on it, there were all sorts of excuses,” he added. “The messages just kept kicking the can down the road a bit, and suggesting that things were virtually sorted and you’d see something out of it. But nothing ever materialised from that.”
It turned out that Chris had fallen victim to a Ponzi scheme, where promised interest payments can only be made by a constant influx of new investors.
Inevitably, the scheme eventually collapsed, and the scheme’s head stopped communicating.
Chris said: “He never admitted to the fact that no-one’s going to get anything.”
He added that recovering his money would “be a great relief”.
“It would mean a lot because I would feel that the whole venture of getting involved was not wasted. At least I feel I would be getting something back, given it’s been going on for four years.”
Have you lost money to a Ponzi scheme scam? Contact National Fraud Helpline. Call 0333 0033218 or fill out our Claim Form.
