Amongst the many tricks that companies employ to con hard-working people out of their pensions is that of the clone trick. One notable instance is Easy Loans.
It essentially boils down to a blink and you miss it style-scam. Many firms who are unregulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will say that they are in their promotional material. As a matter of fact, most will boldly headline this on every page and document they have in order to avoid liability.
Hiding in plain sight as Easy Loans
On the other hand, clone firms do the opposite. These companies hide in plain sight by using the registration details of another firm in order to carry out regulated activities for unsuspecting targets.
One such company is that of Easy Loans Limited. In 2015, the FCA published an alert reporting their activities to the world. The company was operating under the guise of an authorised firm. It used the registered IP number of an authorised individual, Graeme Thomas Wingate. At the same time, they were using the Companies House Number and address details of another authorised firm, Easy Loans Direct Limited.
This clone firm, like many others in the field, used tactics such a cold calling and smooth talking salesmen to sell potential investors the dream, by transferring their pensions out of the existing, safe schemes, into high risk, unregulated products.
No safety net for investors
Naturally, many of these products are bound to fail. Unlike what they purport to be, they are unregulated. Therefore, there is no recourse to investors should things go wrong under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
On the Review Centre website, there are 85 reviews of the company, 79 of which rate it as one star. The post is inundated with comments talking about the unsavoury sales tactics used by the company. When in contact with the firm, they used and mentioned a registered firm’s details, rather than their own.
Do you fear you have been scammed by this clone firm? Get in touch with our experts today for a free consultation.