I lost £1,000 in an Equistak investment scam, which falsely claimed Amanda Holden was a client

I saw a “news” article about presenter Amanda Holden “making money in her sleep” through an investment in a company called Equistak. I had an initial deposit of £250.

I am normally cautious about these types of claims, but I thought it seemed like a good way to supplement my pension, so I decided to call the number indicated.

I spoke to a gentleman and agreed to open an account with the minimum amount.

Over the next few weeks I watched unreasonable profits pile up, enough to encourage me to deposit a further £250.

At that time I was transferred to a new merchant. Once again, I saw a profit.

By that time they had already transferred me again. With the support of the new operator and seeing the figures on my screen, I deposited a further £500.

Then they became very pushy and wanted me to invest £10,000, which I don’t have. I requested to close my account and send the balance to my personal bank account.

Equistak said someone from the finance department would contact me. That never happened. When I said I was not willing to invest more money they did not return my calls.

I was checking my account every day and suddenly realized that it had been “temporarily suspended.” I later discovered that I had lost access to my account.

I received an email from Equistak. I made it clear that I now simply wanted to close the account and have the money I was owed transferred to my bank account using the details I had frequently shared.

But I haven’t received any money. Anonymous, Lanarkshire

This is Money’s Harvey Dorset responds: It seems that instead of committing your money to a genuine investment service, you have been scammed.

This group had no intention of paying their money when they closed their account.

This explains why the so-called “traders” he spoke to were pressuring him to invest more money in their investment services and products.

It also explains the “unreasonable” profits he made so quickly, as well as the unprofessional nature of the traders.

In screenshots of his conversations he had with traders, one describes him as “dude”, “bro” and “dude” on separate occasions after he said he wanted to close his account, something you’re not likely to see in a legitimate trade. platform.

These scammers frequently use the names and images of high-profile figures to suggest that their schemes are legitimate and trustworthy.

I tried to contact Equistak to comment on their practices, but their email domain no longer exists.

A cursory online search for Equistak is revealing and concerning.

Firstly, the Financial Conduct Authority’s website reveals that Equistak is not authorized by the FCA and “may be targeted at persons in the UK”.

‘This company may be providing or promoting financial services or products without our permission. You should avoid dealing with this company and beware of scams,” the website says.

When contacted by This is Money, the FCA said it could not comment on individual companies.

Perhaps more worrying than this is that a search for Equistak reveals a large number of articles, reviews, social media posts and videos talking about the benefits of using Equistak as a trading platform.

Fortunately, there are a number of negative reviews and more recent forum posts warning about the risks of the platform.

An editor contacted by This is Money said they would remove the story, adding that it was published as an advertorial by a third party and they did not know it was a scam.

With so much seemingly positive information available about Equistak, it is perhaps not surprising that there are people caught in its web.

This is Money couldn’t find the exact scam ad that caught it online.

A representative for Amanda Holden said they could not comment without seeing the ad in question.

There is no suggestion that Amanda Holden was involved in or knew of any wrongdoing, and many celebrities unknowingly use their profiles in this way.

As it seemed unlikely that Equistak would ever return your funds, I contacted your bank, Bank of Scotland, to ask if I could initiate a chargeback, essentially, to recover the funds you paid to Equistak.

In your case, I am happy to inform you that the Bank of Scotland has refunded you £750 of the money you sent to Equistak from your bank account.

However, in chargeback cases, the merchant (in this case Equistak) has 45 days to dispute it. If they can provide evidence that the service you paid for was provided, the bank can take away your credit.

Banks can choose to pay scam victims out of their own pockets, but in most cases they are not required to do so.

A Bank of Scotland spokesperson said: “It is important to clarify that (the customer) had not contacted us at any time previously to inform us of their concerns about these payments.” After his email, we spoke to him to get the details so we could investigate.

‘As you made these payments by credit card, we provided a refund through the chargeback process.

‘This is a temporary credit, and the merchant has 45 days to respond and present evidence that the goods/services paid for were received.

‘If the merchant presents that evidence or provides a refund directly, we will re-debit the temporary credit. We have explained (to the customer) how the chargeback process works, and he understood.”

The remaining £250 you sent to Equistak came from a different bank account, and the bank in question says it has not been able to trace it yet.