A Wiltshire pensioner was conned out of almost all of his savings after falling for a highly convincing whisky investment scam that is estimated to have cost Britons millions of pounds.
Ken Clover (not his real name), 72, from Warminster, invested his life savings of £6,200 in two casks of whisky with fraudsters from Whisky Scotland, after the company convinced him he could earn annual returns of up to 12 per cent.
But when the three-year minimum investment period was up, the company’s account manager he had been dealing with, who called himself Frank, disappeared along with his money.
The retiree said: “I was very annoyed. It was just pure anger when I realised I was scammed.
“I’m only on a state pension, and that was most of the money I had in the bank, barring a little bit I kept back for emergencies.
“It took me a long time to save that money, and I thought ‘that’s it, it’s gone’.”
But after enlisting the help of National Fraud Helpline solicitors, Ken was refunded all of his money from Nationwide Building Society.
“I was over the moon to get the money back,” he said, “but I’m still very annoyed that there are people out there conning people like this.”
Whisky investments have grown sharply in recent years because of reports of healthy returns, but the unregulated nature of the industry has enabled fraudsters to enter the market.
They are aided by the three-year period it takes for a new cask to mature, with criminals exploiting the time lag to take in as much money as possible before disappearing.
Investors are often encouraged to leave their casks to mature for five to 10 years to maximise returns.
Lena Abuagla, a lawyer at National Fraud Helpline, said: ‘Whisky investment fraud is rife at the moment.
‘These are incredibly sophisticated scams with lots of glossy and convincing investment literature and faked documents to trick victims.
‘It is often years before someone even realises that the investment was a scam. Some people have been encouraged to leave the so-called investment in for ten years to get a greater return so will still have no idea that the money has disappeared.
‘We successfully argued that the bank should have done more checks to prevent this fraud and we are delighted that we got our client refunded in full.’
Ken decided to invest in November 2021, after seeing a Whisky Scotland advert on Facebook.
“I had some savings and I thought rather than just fritter them away I’d look to invest them,” he said. “Frank told me it was whisky from a new Irish distillery, and he could do me a deal on two barrels for £6,200.”
The company sent him a professional looking 14-page brochure, and the fraudsters convinced him he could earn up to a 40 per cent profit over the three years.
“I looked through it all and digested it, because I’m very cautious,” said Ken. “I didn’t just do it straight away. I spoke to a friend of mine who has invested in wine, and he said ‘good idea’, so I went into it.
“It sounded so good, and very plausible.”
Two months after transferring the money, he received a certificate of investment, signed by Whisky Scotland director, followed by two further certificates purporting to be from Ireland, showing cask identification numbers.
Three years later, in February this year, Ken tried to get in touch with the firm to get his money.
He said: “I tried calling the numbers I had, and nothing. I tried calling the Whisky Scotland head office in Glasgow, I emailed and wrote to them, and nothing. That’s when I started getting a bit worried.
“I don’t think the whisky cask ever existed. When I took this investment out I thought ‘if it doesn’t sell, at least I can drink it’, but I can’t even do that’.”
The story was covered various media outlets: Whisky scammers took Warminster pensioners life savings – New Valley News
Find out more about How To Spot And Avoid Whisky Scams.
Have you lost money to a whisky scam and need a refund? Contact National Fraud Helpline. Call 0333 0033218 or fill out our Claim Form.