In late August 2022 I saw an advert online that showed Martin Lewis recommending “quantum AI” as a tool to invest money. This is an automatic trading bot designed to help you trade using quantum computing, a type of new technology that allows computers to use quantum mechanics to solve problems that previous computer systems couldn’t solve.
However, I later found out this was a scam and he never promoted this. After searching and giving my details to several firms, I got a phone call from Maven Interactive, a digital asset investment firm. The person I spoke to sounded legitimate. At first they wanted no money to invest and instead put £250 in my account to show me what is possible. After a week, they told me it had grown to £1,000, after investing it in gold, copper and crypto.
I spoke to several people from the company who were very attentive, phoning me every day to explain what was happening in the market, which I now know had the effect of them grooming me to trust them.
Then they asked how much I could afford to invest. On 7 September I invested £1,000 and I was told by “analysts” that this amount grew very quickly.
The pressure was on to invest more and quickly to maximise returns. As a precaution I checked online the worth of gold and copper and the figures tallied to the figures on my account of my alleged profits.
When I started investing the people from the company requested that I open an account with Revolut. I transferred money from my Natwest current account to this Revolut account after which it was then transferred to Maven via Wisenex, a cryptocurrency exchange provider.
I then invested a further £11,490 on 11 October. After this, I told my son who said it could be a scam. He had looked online and found reviews online from people who claim they were similarly scammed by Maven.
Panicked, I tried to get my money back but Maven said that to withdraw my investment, which was now allegedly worth £37,932, I had to first make a payment to them of £7,498.96, which I refused to do.
Clearly I have been scammed. I have lost most of my life savings and countless hours of sleep, can you please help?
Annick Price, via email
Grace says: I have seen all of the correspondence by Maven and it looked like a real company, sending you letters on headed paper and emails with official looking contact information.
When you saw an advert that was falsely described as being recommended by Martin Lewis, encouraging people to invest in “quantum AI”, you decided to give it a go.
It is likely the people you spoke to wanted you to use Revolut, as it is not yet a bank, although it has applied for a licence, but is an e-money company that offers digital banking services. As a result, it is not held to the same laws and scammers may consider it as it conducts less robust checks.
The firm also allows cryptocurrency trading and it’s quick to set up, whereas many high-street banks have either banned it or have limits in place.
In November, after your son alerted you to the fact it was probably a scam, and Maven told you to pay more money in order to get your money back, you contacted your bank Natwest and Revolut. You asked for their help getting the £12,490 you had “invested” with the company.
Both refused, saying you had willingly sent the money to the company. You also spoke to the UK International Consumer Centre (UKICC), a consumer advice service, which wrote to Maven and asked it to return your funds, on the basis that it is not authorised or licensed to offer and carry out such financial services in the UK.
The UKICC added that adding on any conditional charges, such as having to pay to extract money, was also not allowed as this was not in a contract.
Unsurprisingly, Maven never replied and you have not heard from it again. This is when you got in touch with me. I got in touch with both banks and asked them to refund you as you had been a victim of fraud.
Natwest refused to refund as you moved the money from your account with them to your Revolut account willingly.
However, Revolut did take some responsibility and has offered to refund you half of the amount you sent over, a total of £6,245.
A spokesperson said: “We take our responsibility to protect and support our customers extremely seriously and have made significant investments in our systems, processes and people to ensure that our customers are safe.”
Although you were scammed, you were lucky to get some of your money back as most don’t.
It’s a reminder that before investing in get rich schemes, it’s important to check if a company is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority – use this link to the Financial Services Register.
Or, at the very least, check if there are any reviews for the companies. If they aren’t registered, run a mile. Particularly if there are reviews suggesting the company is fraudulent.
We’re all foolish sometimes, and though it doesn’t mean you should lose your life savings, it does make it harder to get your money back.
Do you have a reader query, concern or question? Contact: grace.gausden@inews.co.uk
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