Warwickshire residents who have already fallen victim to investments scams (including bogus rare earth metal and carbon credit investments) are being written to by the same scammers.
The bogus letters bear the address and logo of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (the CTSI - a genuine organisation) and claim that the institute is undertaking a Trading Standards investigation into the company the recipient of the letter was originally scammed by.
However, these letters are false and have not been sent by CTSI, but by scammers.
The letters suggest that the ‘investigation’ has led to the identification and seizure of a pot of money stolen from clients which the CTSI now wish to return to victims. The letters then encourage the victims to phone an 0800 number, not the CTSI’s own telephone number. On doing so the victims are then directed to phone another number and speak to a separate company that state they are dealing with client claims. This company is also being run by the scammers. Victims are asked to pay a ‘refundable’ fee to receive their share of the recovered funds.
In reality this is just another attempt by the scammers to steal more money from people they have already ripped off! There is no CTSI investigation. They are no recovered funds.
If you have been a victim of a scam or fraud, always be wary of any official looking letter stating that some of the money you lost will be returned to you. Be especially wary if you are ever asked to pay to receive these ‘recovered funds’.
If something seems too good to be true, it usually is!
For more information on this scam, please visit the CTSI website