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.
A.M. writes: I am 81 and my wife is 73, and we have been scammed out of our life savings.
I was called by a man who said he was from Capital Group, offering investment bonds.
He sent details showing the investments were safe, and on his instructions I transferred £200,000 to the bank account of Kenneth Jones Solicitors, followed by a further £300,000.
When no interest arrived, I called Capital Group and they knew nothing about it.
Gone quiet: Ajaz Ali, managing director at Kenneth Jones Solicitors
Tony Hetherington replies: This is a real tragedy. There is a genuine investment company called Capital Group, but you have been dealing with someone who stole its name as well as the name of a real person on its staff. When you checked, you found the real company and thought you were safe.
The investment bonds were decent enough, too. They came from National Grid and Tesco, and when you checked you found they existed and they offered the rates of interest you had been quoted.
Sending your money to a firm of solicitors added even more reassurance that you were on safe ground. Kenneth Jones Solicitors in Stoke-on-Trent is a genuine law firm.
You sent £200,000 to invest in Tesco bonds, and £300,000 for National Grid bonds.
The fraudster then told you that bonds from Metro Bank would pay better interest than Tesco, so you handed over your last £30,000.
Capital Group is an international company. When you called its London office to ask why no interest had arrived, it handed you over to its office in Los Angeles. Staff there realised you had been swindled and told you to call the police and to check with your bank, Lloyds.
Your bank confirmed that your money had gone to the Barclays account of Kenneth Jones Solicitors, and staff at Lloyds even contacted the law firm and were told the cash had arrived.
But when you called the solicitors, you were told twice that the head of the firm would call you back, but no call came. You also emailed, but they failed to reply.
The law firm is headed by Ajaz Ali, a qualified solicitor. He has so far refused to tell you – or me – what happened to your money. You might have thought that when over half a million pounds landed in his firm’s account, it would have to be accompanied by your instructions as to what he should do with it.
Perhaps he followed instructions from the crook (not knowing what the truth was) who had told him what to do when the money arrived. But at the moment we just do not know.
Capital Group – the real one – told me it would do everything it could to help. I have also been in close contact with the watchdog, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and with Staffordshire Police.
The SRA says it has ‘serious concerns’, adding: ‘We are investigating and will take prompt enforcement action if we identify misconduct.’
The watchdog is now liaising with the police.
The loose end in all this is Ajaz Ali and his law firm, which has said nothing. If he now decides to break his silence and reveal where your money went, I’ll be happy to publish it here.
Metric meter mix-up
N.D. writes: In January I switched to British Gas, and in March they sent me a bill for £1,424.
The problem is that they are converting the gas units into cubic feet instead of cubic metres.
I have spent three days on the phone to British Gas, but I am banging my head against a wall!
Confusion: British Gas are converting the gas units into cubic feet instead of cubic metres
Tony Hetherington replies: British Gas offered to send an engineer to check your meter, but you knew the fault lay in the way the reading was turned into a bill, using the wrong multiplier.
It was as if you had gone to a petrol station, put ten litres of fuel into your car, and then been charged for ten gallons.
You told me that between March and April you contacted British Gas no less than 22 times. Two people you spoke to seemed to understand the issue and said they would sort it out, but you never heard from them again.
You helpfully sent me a photo of the meter, and I pointed out to British Gas that the registration number on it did not match the number shown on the bill.
This was the key to unravelling what had gone wrong. A new meter had been installed recently, using metric readings instead of your old one’s imperial system.
British Gas said your previous supplier failed to record the meter change. Your bill has now been slashed by about two thirds, and you will also be getting £300 from British Gas as a goodwill payment to back up its apology for not sorting this out sooner.
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.
