Thoughts on Finance, Current Affairs and General Consumer Ripoffs - Damn Lies and Statistics

 Investment Synergy Ltd Review - Secured Property Bonds - Is it a scam? It's quite unclear what Investment Synergy actually is so it's not very easy to review them other than being clear what they aren't. They have some glowing reviews but it's very easy to fake such things and you have no guarantee that these are genuine or that the people investing have any idea of the risk they are taking. Reviews of London Capital & Finance were all positive until it collapsed and lost their money. Interestingly the photos they've added on their Google review show some offices interiors and desks but not a single person is visible in any photos. The only people visible are 2 decorators having a fag break outside their front door! The offices they list are actually serviced space offered by Regus so are only rented short term and as mail drop off. Not exactly the sign of a company that has been established long term.  Investment Synergy   aren't FCA regulated and their of

 I've checked my credit card statement this month and found a transaction that I didn't recognise on there that was shown as ENGHERI*Giftcard Hurley. Searching online suggested that this was a clothing store called Hurley that sells giftcards but I'd never shopped there and couldn't find any record of this place in my emails.  Tracking back through I also couldn't find any purchases around the date that the transaction appeared on my statement so it was all a bit of a puzzle. ENGHERI*Giftcard Hurley Credit Card transaction - Scam? Out of nowhere a flash of enlightenment came to me about what I'd spent on that particular day! It was my English Heritage membership renewal that was mainly paid using Tesco Clubcard vouchers with the balance paid by credit card. Very confusing transaction details on the statement which I suspect generates a lot of queries to the banks. ENGHERI = ENGlish HERItage and it's paid as a gift card as the balance was paid using vouchers.

 I've just moved house and the previous resident was with SSE (Southern Electric) so I need to register with them at least for a period of time before moving to another supplier - unlikely in the current climate! Fortunately I know what I am looking for so was very surprised to see that the only 2 tariffs that SSE were offering were fixed rate ones. There was no option at all to take the variable standard tariff that the price cap applies to. Only reason I can see is to stop customers being able to get the best rate. Why are OFGEM allowing this!?

 It's been announced that Fluid ISA Bond Ltd has been placed into liquidation meaning investors are now in the line of creditors to wait for any possible recovery of funds. Unfortunately the administrators have advised that they do not foresee any money being available to distribute to bondholders. It appears that the Fluid ISA website being "down for maintenance" some months ago was the prelude to this as it never actually came back from maintenance. You can see the previous post about lack of redemption payments here Sadly another mini bond saga where investors have lost money, some of whom don't appear to have really known or understood what they were investing their money into. The liquidators will need to assess whether Fluid ISA bond was genuine or whether it was a scam that needs further investigation. You can read the Gazette notice here https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/4046635 Fluid ISA Bond Liquidation - Was it a Scam?

 A firm called Kudona are advertising on Facebook that are offering 3.8% savings interest. This is way above the market rate so is this a scam? Interestingly there is no result returned on Google if you look up "Kudona 3.8% savings Interest" which is very odd. If there is no way to check the info online through Google and Kudona have no online presence then that is a very big warning sign. If you look up Kudona on the FCA website there is no company listed by that name so it would appear that your money is at risk and you will have no recourse to compensation from FSCS. With these warning signs our advice would be to stay well away. If Kudona are genuinely offering 3.8% savings interest on a FSCS protected account we're happy to update this information if they can provide details of the company Kudona 3.8% savings Interest - Is it a Scam? Update - there is a website for Kudona but the same caveats apply. It isn't FSCS protected so your savings are at risk. It appears

 I received a text message recently telling me that someone I knew had tested positive (presumably for Covid19) and that I needed to order a test kit. The message wasn't shown as coming from the NHS and the website link had no NHS details in the URL but the website displayed was branded to look like NHS. This is a scam and nothing to do with the NHS. The number 07759 129388 / +44 7759 129 388 is used as sender ID but is likely to be a fake number. NHS Covid Omicron Test Kit Scam text If you click on the link you are taken to a website that claims to be an NHS one but has some obvious clues apart from the web address that show it is fake. The tests for Omicron are exactly the same as for other Covid19 variants, there is no suggestion that the variant "appears dormant" as the scammers are claiming. In the UK at least there is no isolation requirement for anyone who is a contact and this is unrelated to having a test or not. The wording of the scam text SMS message is purely