Last week I received a phone call from ‘John Martin from Manchester’ who sounded more like Mukesh from Mumbai. He said that his company, ‘Claims Advisory Group’, had been commissioned by the Government to find people who had paid excessive Bank Charges. If this proved to be the case ‘Claims Advisory Group’ would pursue a claim and compensation. In my case the cash-back would be somewhere between £3000 and £5000.
Expecting the usual devious attempts to get my personal bank details I was surprised when all ‘John Martin’ wanted was to confirm my address, the name of my bank and my date of birth. (Oddly he also wanted to know if I could physically get to the bank to pay in a cheque!) He asked his questions in a rather unusual way. He would read out his question followed by an abrupt “Right? …Your date of birth is the 28th December 1944. Right? You bank with the Nationwide. Right?”
He closed the call by giving me a ‘Personal 8 Number Passcode’ and telling me that his manager would phone me tomorrow. Once that was done his company, ‘Claims Advisory Group’, would send me a cheque.
Now this really did sound too good to be true. All I had to do was confirm my address and date of birth and they would send me a cheque. I phoned up my bank to ask if they knew of any government scheme to pay back excessive bank charges. They didn’t - and neither had my financial adviser. The advice from both parties was the same. ‘Claims Advisory Group’ didn’t seem to be doing anything illegal or underhand but I should steer clear. Finally I looked up ‘Claims Advisory Group’ on the web. They did exist. They were based in Manchester and they did appear to be above board - but their website was surrounded by others warning ‘Scam’!
The following day ‘Sean’, Mr Martin’s manager from Manchester, phoned me back and asked for my ‘Personal 8 Number Passcode’. After rechecking my personal details again. “Your date of birth is the 28th December 1944. Right? You bank with the Nationwide. Right?” he said that the cheque would be shortly on its way and it would be worth £3,600. Then came a hiccup. The manager said that the actual claim request had been put to my bank by a solictor Mr Graham Robinson. The cheque was signed and was ready to post on to me… which was odd because when they had asked for the name of my bank the day before I had deliberately mislead them. I had said ‘Nationwide’ rather than ‘NatWest’. Mr Martin’s manager from Manchester then said that the only formality needed to compete the claim was I had to pay the solicitor Graham Robinson 8% of the total reimbursement = £288. I chewed the matter over for a moment or two and then said, “Do I really have to pay this money before I receive the cheque?”
At this point the phone was firmly put down convincing me that I was caught up in a scam. I phoned ‘Claims Advisory Group’ in Manchester. Their representative told me that the company was a bona fide ‘claims recovery’ organisation and would never ask for any payment before the claimant had actually received their claim. They added that they were also suffering from the scam as the fraudsters had effectively stolen their identity and bona fides.
Claims Advisory Group in Manchester have invited any readers who have experienced similar scams using their company name to contact them on 0800 027 9592 or:- info@claimsadvisorygroup.co.uk
Anyone affected by other types of scams or frauds should contact the Action Fraud Helpline on 0300-123-2040 or www.actionfraud.police.uk
Comments
Great advice.
Peter @ stmgrts.org.uk on 2017-04-01 09:08:01 +0000I've just written to "Claims Advisory group" using the link you provided, thanks for headsup I did not take the second call from these crooks it was exactly the same as yours. I hope this guy gets caught. he rang me from 01506493509
Andy Martin on 2018-06-16 09:42:08 +0000Exactly the same as above happened to my 90 year old mother in law, outrageous reported as suggested and also to police. Many thanks for your advice.
Mart on 2018-06-21 10:08:47 +0000I've just had the same thing happen to me. Two calls one from John giving me a 6 figure number and asking the same questions, the second from a Micheal going over the questions and saying l'll receive another call tomorrow telling me how much l'll get, he also asked if l had l.d. as l would need this for the cheque and what l.d. l'd be using. I thought this has to be a scam, and found your message. Thanks. I didn't catch the 1st number, but the 2nd was 01384410370.
J Beard on 2018-06-25 11:24:16 +0000I have had exactly the same this week everyday for the last 4 days. On every call I have told them I'm not interested and put the phone down but still they try again. They don't appear to take the rather unsubtle hint.
MC on 2018-08-25 02:17:03 +0000DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY THIS IS A SCAM REMEMBER IF ITS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT US A SCAM MARK BENSON ON 0161 818 6328 BEWARE YOU WILL BE CAUGHT I HAVE REPORTED YOU
Lisa Henderson on 2018-10-16 15:44:49 +0000Morning just had a phone call from mark benson stating that I have 3;000 pounds from the Bank of England and all I had to do was to claim my 3;000 pounds was to buy an Argos steam card for 150 pounds . Is this a scam ?
Muriel baldwin on 2019-01-21 11:16:33 +0000These guys are still at it !!!! T They tried to get me to take out a new Life insurance company before they would send me a cheque and the government would only accept their company. Reported them to Action Fraud. Graham
Graham Nutt on 2019-05-08 15:51:21 +0000I have had the same calls for the last few weeks now telling me I'm owed compensation from the Government regarding my PPI Claim and that and I'm entitled to between £3,500 - £5,000 - they then go through all the usual scripted notes - the first/second time they rang I did half believe them as they had my name and previous address that I lived - the first phone call they went on to say that the only way I could have the full amount is if had some investment plan in place like life insurance, funeral plan, savings etc. which I said I hadn't - don't worry I will put you through to my colleague who can sort a life insurance policy for you and before the first payment is taken out cancel the policy - they then said please don't tell anyone about this which at the time I thought was a bit dodgy - when they went to transfer me to sort out taking a life insurance policy out i put the phone down - they must ring me from different mobile numbers once maybe twice a week - I received another call yesterday let him go through it all - then said to him I need to check this out as this might not be legitimate to which he gave me the following phone no. 0161 8261 725 (i haven't rang it) and confirmed he was from Claims Advisory Group and told me his name was Steve Roger bearing in mind please excuse me I'm not being derogatory but he was Indian - reading all your comments I shall certainly be reporting this
Tracey on 2019-05-30 10:21:38 +0000Got a call saying I was owed £3600 as a result of excessive bank charges levied in the past. The caller was called Donald with a very very thick Indian Accent, very hard to understand. He said you will be contacted with full details by his supervisor. This guy was pretty easy to understand, and he said that I had to go to Morrisons or Tesco and purchase a Google Playcard to the value of £200 and a Mr Robinson would would come later to my home, I would handover the Playcard and then receive a cheque for £3600. So I contacted police on 101 and was told they had been inundated with calls about this. Well as expected Mr Robinson did not appear,I did not of course buy Playcard,but wonder has anybody fallen for this scam. Nick.
Nick Rogers on 2019-07-12 22:23:33 +0000Had 2 calls from claims advisory group One in the morning which he put the phone down on me because I wouldn't give my date of birth ( told him you just gave me all my details so you already know it and you said you wasn't going to for personal details which that is ) . Second one in the afternoon same day said all the same but this time I give my date of birth, she said I will get a cheque in the post at this point ask for her details ( Hazel Smith from claims advisory group but I'm not authorised to give any numbers out ) ok so put your manager on to then she put me on hold and the phone went dead. Morning call was a male 02075385348 Afternoon call Hazel 01202594266 Please don't fall for their scam.
Rebecca chamberlain on 2019-08-07 12:42:54 +0000I've just had a call from a Michael white saying he was from claims advertising group exactly the same gave me a ref no I'm waiting for the call back to tell me how much the check will be for
Brenda obrien on 2019-09-18 15:24:57 +0000Same as others . Claims advisory group John Baker( ha ha! ) 01642284015 called. Will block any more calls. Will report to 101
Louise on 2019-10-11 15:15:34 +0000Yes I have had the same problem several phone calls and told that I must go to Tesco and get an Amazon card for £200 as a solicitor Alan Robinson will be calling to give me the cheque.
Pat.Kinsella on 2019-10-12 11:26:03 +0000I received a call today from a foul mouthed individual. When I asked her not to phone this number again (we have been phoned several times every day for sometime now) as it was a scam, she let loose with an attack of some of the worse swearing I have heard in some time and then accused me of wasting her time and that I would have to answer to Jesus. Theses creatures have now sunk to an all time low.
patricia on 2019-10-16 15:00:50 +0000today 16-10-19 had the same two calls as in above mentioned article.asking for personnel details to be confirmed, about which they already held, so as to give you money on behalf of the government, due to the improprieties of any financial bodies you yourself may have had dealings with over the past "twenty years". on receiving the second call i was told i would receive another call from "micheal"this time in regards to how much the cheque amount they would be sending me was and so on. having read the article above before i got the second call "i smelled a rat". I called the number given at the end of the article 08000279592 and drew a blank , no longer in use. so i then went onto call the ACTION FRAUD line 03001239592 to report what was obviously an ongoing repeat SCAM being sold. they were very helpful and attentive with good advice to follow up. a long long wait to get through. when the second call came through again" john"went through some basic repeated details ,at which point i cut him short, and asked" do i have to pay you money before you pay me", he responded with" WHAT"! I then told him that i had reported them to the fraud office and hung up. still two or more years down the line there are a group of asian fraudsters claiming to be working on behalf on the government/ hmrc in the manchester area, please be very aware. if government were to refund monies to you they would write to you on official headed letters stating the reasons why and the amount you would be awarded. adjustments to your exsisting accounts security advisable. brian entwistle 16-10-2019, 1716hrs.
MR BRIAN L ENTWISTLE on 2019-10-16 16:21:23 +0000I am receiving lots of phone calls from someone called James who says he is calling from" uk government advisory group" telling me I am owed money from my bank, and that I would receive a tel. call to give my bank details, I have not given any information to these people. The tel. no's they are calling from are 01685 and 01689
Mrs j Evans on 2019-12-02 17:15:15 +0000I have just had the same call from Mr Micheeal White? Every thing was exactly the same as previous comments.He his phoneing back on Saturday 11th July 2020 at 11am.BEWARE.
david charlton on 2020-07-10 10:11:11 +0000My brother has just had the same experience with the same story. It is a scam and has been going on for years. Beware! My brother did not fall for the scam luckily but I am sure others will and have.
Linda Bolton on 2020-07-14 09:54:11 +0000I have just had a call from James from the UK Claims advisory group Manchester telling me about the government scheme to rienburse bank charges ,after being almost scammed once before irefused to give personal details ie date of birth. He couldn't understand that as he was not asking for personal details!! I ended the call. Definite scam.
Lilian Ottery on 2020-07-20 09:21:57 +0000I have just received the same call said they would ring back Tuesday with cheque amount . phone no.was 0115692005 and is located in Nottingham.
Mrs Jean Smith on 2020-08-01 15:50:19 +0000I just had a call from Asian James. I gave him my (wrong) birthdate & (wrong) name of my bank. Am now awaiting a call from his supervisor to confirm this before they send me a big fat cheque!
Angela Thomas on 2020-08-08 12:21:31 +0000So they are still at it!!! Had a phone call yesterdy, 5th Oct 2020, a Michael Mathew, to say they were Claims Advisory Service of Manchester, working for the UK Government to pay back irregular bank charges taken over the last 20 years. I was due a cheque in repayment. He knew my address & date of birth and after giving me a cheque ref. number, said a senior manager would call me. Later a Richard, who after prompting said he last name was Brown (very original!) asked for my cheque ref number and said I would be contacted next day regarding payment. I had suspected this was a scam from the first call, but as I had nothing else to do, let it play out. Next day a Susan called (name ring a bell?) who, after prompting, said her last name was Murphy, obviously the continental branch of the Murphy clan!!! She said a Solicitor, Hugh Jones, would visit me that day with my a cheque for £3,600 (again ring a bell) and that he would ask for payment of £700 for admin. I then asked for the company website address and was told to just put www.. before the company name. I asked what came after (that expecting maybe '.org') but she said that was it. It was then I asked to cancel Hugh Jones visit as this was a scan. She immediately rang off. Interesting exercise, but worrying for some people not having a suspicious mind like mine.
Lingard Prendergast on 2020-10-07 14:41:39 +0000Fairly sure that I just had the same call today from Mark? He stated that a PPI claim that we had made on HSBC had been agreed in the sum of £4500 He gave me a 4 figure reference number and asked if I would like to receive my cash by transfer or cheque. So as I know my wife has made claims for PPI on HSBC in the past and as He had not requested any personel details so far,I thought that a cheque through the post would allow me to cash it without any risk. Mark agreed to the cheque "but then came what I think must be the sting" A representative will call at my house tommorow morning to see a driving licence photo identification before handing over the cheque. I await in anticipation! I have tried to contact action fraud without any success, I spoke to the local police who just suggested that if anyone did turn up dont give them anything and phone the police line 101 if the caller got aggressive, then they connected me to action who after waiting 10 minuetes without contact the line rang dead. I am just trying to give the relevent authorities chance to catch these scammers in the act but to no avail.
Terence Carney on 2020-11-09 15:40:35 +0000Same call from 01506674750 today 5th February 2021. Knew my address and asked for birthdate. Then wanted to know my bank name, so I told her to look it up on her data. Came back with two different banks one correct the other not. I'm located in Milton Keynes. I await the next call when I will tell them they are scammers. Alex Brown was the ladies name.
Angela Norris on 2021-02-05 14:13:24 +0000They are still at it...have had 4 phone calls over weekend from this company saying am owed £3600, latest was just now wanting confirmation of name, DOB and postcode. Said have the cheque ready and a Micheal Royson will deliver it to me personally today. As soon as I questioned the legality of this, click the call was cut off. Makes my blood boil that I was for a few seconds taken in. Have reported to fraudline, these scammers need to be stopped.
Patricia Watt on 2021-04-26 09:11:31 +0000