TONY HETHERINGTON: Lies behind an offer of 18 per cent interest a day

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HD frames taken from three trailers for services in development, viewable on YouTube here:

1 – Augmented Reality on the iPad: Pt 1 Recognition Business Opportunities – www.youtube.com/watch?v=A19Te3kCmVE

2 – Time Treasure – www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMQ5DFkU794

3 – Augmented World Pt.1 – iPad Business Recognition EXTENDED – www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDx3j9TeSvo

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TIME TREASURE
"They have returned" More at www.personalizemedia.com/future-of-location-based-augment…
A Location Based Augmented Reality Game in development for Android Tablets, planned release 2011 This is a conceptual prototype pre-coding & modelling © MUVEDesign.com 2009
Game, film & music created by GaryPHayes. Some placeholder animations World of Warcraft © Blizzard Entertainment. Tablet featured is the Samsung Galaxy

AUGMENTED BUSINESS RECOGNITION
Accompanying post www.personalizemedia.com/augmented-worlds-video-part-1-re…
Part One of my series of AR future videos ‘AUGMENTED WORLDS’ looking specifically at the Business Opportunities around type 3 of my AR types – Recognition (Outline). An ‘iPad 4.0 – like prototype’ stroll around an augmented Sydney. Video, music devised & created by GARY HAYES of MUVEDesign.com

TONY HETHERINGTON: Lies behind an offer of 18 per cent interest a day

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A.T.writes: Have you heard of EV Business Limited? It is offering daily interest of 2.8 per cent through trading in currencies and bonds and says it is all legal and above board, though I find this hard to believe.

EV Business says a lot of things, but most of them are lies. It claims to have been going for six years. Lie. It claims to have its HQ at 388B Prince Regent Lane in east London, not far from the Canary Wharf financial district. Lie. It claims to have hundreds of employees around the world. Lie.

And it claims its activities are ‘regulated by the United Kingdom international business authorities, and comply with United Kingdom business legislation’. More lies.

Now here is what we do know about EV
Business. It was registered at Companies House less than four months ago
on October 10. Its only director is its owner, 35-year-old Alexander
Wilson.

He says in
company filings that he has never been a company director before, yet he
also says he has pumped about £31 million into EV Business. The record
of the company’s first board meeting is a laugh a minute. As the only
shareholder, Wilson declared the meeting open. He then elected himself
chairman and noted that he was also director and company secretary.

He
decided to open a bank account and – presumably talking to himself –
reported to the meeting that he had paid $ 50 million for shares. He then
approved his own share certificate and declared the meeting closed.

On
its hugely amusing website (as long as you are not a victim), EV
Business offers 2.8 per cent interest per day on cash deposited for 60
days. Hand over £10,000 and you will make £280 a day. After a couple of
months, your account will be worth £26,800.

Introduce
friends who invest and you can notch up eight per cent commission. Mind
you, they could well turn into ex-friends after 60 days.

But
if you think 2.8 per cent per day is fantasy, take a deep breath. A few
days ago, EV Business launched a new offer – 18 per cent a day on
savings deposited for five days.

Fork
out £5,000 and get back £9,500. Risky? You might think so, but EV
Business claims everyone is safe. Investors’ money is guaranteed for up
to $ 10 million  per person by a London bank. Unfortunately, the name of
the bank is secret.

Mind
you, EV Business is pretty casual about such things. In response to a
question on its website about opening an account, the company replies
that it demands no proof of identity. Laws covering money laundering or
terrorist finance seem to have passed it by.

Or perhaps laws apply only to other people.

The
company’s promotional video is a hoot. A not very good actor with a
mid-Atlantic accent is introduced as chief executive David Walker.
Supposedly he is a ‘founding partner’ in EV Business, yet he is not on
the board of directors and has not invested a penny in the company’s
shares.

Walker is
supposed to have held senior positions in major British financial
institutions – none of them named – and he claims in the video that his
company is safe and legal. It is neither.

A
few days ago I went to 388B Prince Regent Lane, a block with commercial
premises on the ground and flats above. There was no sign of Walker or
Wilson. In fact there was no sign of EV Business at all. Mail for the
company was dumped in a cardboard box in the foyer of the building.
Another firm told me post was collected regularly, but EV Business was
not really there.

I left
a list of questions in the cardboard box. I emailed them too. EV
Business did not reply.  I called its support number (‘We are ready to
help you 24 hours a day’). It went straight to an answering machine.
Nobody called back.

To
take deposits from the  public, pay interest and offer schemes based on
trading in  currencies, shares, gold and bonds, EV Business must have a
licence from the Financial Services Authority. It doesn’t.

The FSA told me: ‘In our experience, the bigger the proposed return, the greater the risk.

You
should also be suspicious if you are promised a consistent return on
your investment. If the firm is not authorised then you are not covered
by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.’

The
FSA does not comment on its enquiries, but I find it impossible to
believe that it has not got EV Business under investigation.

Anyone who invested should try to reclaim their money now.  EV Business will not survive.

Chased for debt, but he hadn’t signed anything

D.U.writes:My son worked at a restaurant in Shropshire and lived in a house let by the restaurant owner for his staff.

He is now being pursued by debt collectors over an outstanding bill from Atlantic Gas & Electric.

The
company says the account is in the name of the restaurant owner and my
son. I can only guess that they have his name because he did
occasionally pay the utilities bill for the house, using his debit card.

But the debt is not even for a period that he was there. It covers some months after he left.

Atlantic
Gas & Electric is part of the big Scottish & Southern Energy
group, so I asked staff at the company’s headquarters in Perth whether
your son had ever signed a contract that would make him liable for the
£1,206 that he has been asked to pay.

Not
surprisingly, there is no contract. Your son’s name has been removed
from the account and will not be passed to any more debt collectors.
This should be the end of the matter, but if he faces any fresh demands,
let me know.

If you believe you are the victim
of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 2 Derry
Street, London W8 5TS. 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.

Tags: behind, cent', HETHERINGTON, Interest, lies, offer, Tony

Category: Business