Hunter Jones Investment Review - Is it a Scam?

A company called Hunter Jones Investments are advertising on Facebook for bonds that they claim are paying 24% fixed return over 24 months for a managed property portfolio bond. It makes no mention that it is now breaking the law to sell unregulated bonds to retail investors. So is this investment opportunity from Hunter Jones a scam or genuine investment? 

Hunter Jones Facebook advert - Is it a Scam?

The name makes it sound like you're dealing with a person called Hunter Jones but it's actually a trading name for a company called Osborne Baldwin Limited. 

There is no mention of any risks involved in lending money to Hunter Jones investments - if you think you are putting money into safe savings as per a bank then you are at risk of being misled. Hunter Jones are not FCA regulated. There is no FSCS protection and you could lose 100% of your money if the company you lend money to was to fail.

From information online there are unhappy previous Hunter Jones investors who used them to put money into a scheme called MAGNA which has gone bust owing thousands of pounds to investors. 

Hunter Jones make their money from commission selling these bonds to investors so they get their cash regardless of how the investment performs. Unlike some bond marketing companies (Blackmore perhaps?) they seem to be more proactive in trying to recover money for their investors from failed schemes at least according to their replies on Google.

It's unclear what this money would be used for to generate this return but reviews online suggest that it is then invested in other companies which may not pay back the money if they fall into financial difficulty. Either way it is unregulated so there is no recourse to the FCA or to FSCS for compensation if the company you have lent money to goes bust.

Hunter Jones are also using the same tactics as failed mini bond provider London Capital & Finance by presenting the money repaid to previous investors as a selling point. As with LCF their track record was 100% until they went bust and then over 11,000 people were owed a total of £237million. That's not to say that Hunter Jones will fail like LCF but that there is a very high risk lending money to very small companies when you have no control over their assets. Asset backed does not equal safe.

Although it refers to being a property bond, you are not owning property - you will be lending money to a small company and will not own any assets - you are making a loan to a third party.

Hunter Jones investment review - Is it a Scam?

The adverts should make absolutely clear that this is an unregulated investment that cannot be sold to anyone who is not high net worth and cannot be marketed to the general public. It also should be very clear that your money is at risk and you may not get some or any of your money back. 

That isn't saying that you will lose money but that it is an inherent risk with lending money to a small company with limited assets. As previous investors of Hunter Jones have found this risk of losing money is real and some have lost their capital through their investment via Hunter Jones in a company  called Magna.

Beware that many of the reviews on Trustpilot appear to be from investors who do not seem to be aware of the risks of what they have invested in. As with LCF and Blackmore Bond the reviews make plenty of mention of how easy it was to invest and that interest payment was received on time which are not criteria to judge an investment that you could lose all your money on.