Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
M.F. writes: Have you come across investment firm Tradesafer?
They have addresses in Geneva and London, but phone lines seem to go through a call centre.
They promise daily high returns, and my account shows a £500 profit, but they have ignored several attempts I made to withdraw the money.
Scam: Tradesafer has the cheek to say in its terms and conditions that its dealings with clients are governed by British laws, the same laws Tradesafer is breaking
Tony Hetherington replies: This is a fraud. Its website tradesafer.com claims: ‘We provide access to a wide range of financial markets, including stocks, currencies, commodities, and cryptocurrencies.’
And it adds: ‘Our team of experienced traders and financial experts is always ready to assist you with questions, consultations, and guidance.’
Fine words, but they do mean that Tradesafer and its experts must be authorised and approved by the Financial Conduct Authority – and they are not.
Despite this, Tradesafer has the cheek to say in its terms and conditions that its dealings with clients are governed by British laws, the same laws Tradesafer is breaking.
It even claims to be a British company, with a registered office at 25 Walbrook in the City of London. It is not there, of course, and although there are companies with a similar name, there is no Tradesafer Ltd listed at Companies House.
It uses another City address too, at 30 St Mary Axe – the site of the Gherkin skyscraper – but again, there is no sign of it. The confusion deepens when you find that on one page of its website it says it is a Swiss company registered in Geneva, while on another page it displays a bogus British registration number which really belongs to a genuine South London business in the construction industry.
None of this is surprising, once you accept that this is a scam run by liars. Tradesafer has page after page of promotional material, terms and condition, and legal information, much of it contradictory.
On one page, it offers ‘the most up to date market analysis and recommendations’. On another page it does a U-turn, warning that ‘the company is not your adviser or confidant’.
Then it says it does offer investment recommendations, but it is up to the client to accept them or not. And it disclaims responsibility for the behaviour of its own experts, warning: ‘Our market recommendations are based solely on the opinion of our staff’, adding Tradesafer itself may disagree with any advice offered, and accepts no responsibility for any losses.
You gave me a screenshot of your account, taken from Tradesafer’s own site. This shows a profit of £534, a healthy return on your initial toe-in-the-water investment of just £200. But this was just Tradesafer’s bait to lure you into making a far bigger deposit.
When you tried to make a withdrawal, Tradesafer’s Jacob Meyer insisted you would have to make an appointment to discuss this ‘with one of our liquidity officers’. What kind of international investment firm would need to negotiate over the withdrawal of a few hundred pounds?
Against this background, you might wonder why Tradesafer has not attracted the attention of any watchdogs who might sound the alarm. Well, it has. Tradesafer’s name, website address and London office address all appear on a warning issued a month ago by a financial regulator. Unfortunately, it is the Australian financial regulator, which spotted Tradesafer from the other side of the world when it tried to cheat investors Down Under. Our own Financial Conduct Authority, based just five miles from the addresses used by Tradesafer, doesn’t seem to have noticed the crooks yet.
Balance transfer causes a muddle
S.H. writes: In December 2021, I opened a credit account with Sainsbury’s Bank, and in January 2022, I asked the bank for a balance transfer of £5,500 to the MBNA credit card company.
This was agreed, and over the following 18 months Sainsbury’s collected direct debit payments totalling about £1,800.
However, Sainsbury’s Bank told me recently that the money had not, in fact, reached MBNA. Where has it gone, and why is Sainsbury’s still collecting my direct debit payments?
Tony Hetherington replies: You had nothing in writing from Sainsbury’s, saying it had made the transfer and setting out its interest terms on the £5,500 you borrowed. And you had nothing in writing from MBNA, denying the £5,500 had arrived.
Everything was done by telephone, you told me, and you did not notice for 18 months that your repayments seemed to be wrong. You then asked Sainsbury’s for a copy of your January 2022 statement, and sure enough it confirmed the transfer of £5,500, on which you had been paying interest of about £80 a month ever since.
Sainsbury’s staff backed this up, telling me the transfer had been successful. It is unclear why you thought it had failed, unless it was because you noticed both banks were collecting payments from you.
The £5,500 did reduce the balance you owed on your MBNA card, but this left you owing the same amount on your Sainsbury’s card. I understand both banks have now been in touch. Neither bank is at fault.
If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
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