Information on Fast Tax Rebates Ltd and the EIS scam

[Schipoo]

So, Dixon is correct these are the questions they ask on the initial email.
  

What we need from you 

Who introduced you ?  

Name 

Full Address and postcode 

Date you moved into your address 

Date of birth 

Clear copies of your 2017/18 and 2018/19 P60 

Mobile number 

National Insurance Number 

Have you been self employed before Y/N

If yes 

Do you have unique tax reference number  ? 

Do you have a government gateway account ? if Yes 

What is the gateway number and password 

 

 

[Blog81]

4 hours ago, slick132 said:

And Blog81,

 

Can you please tell us the amount you rec'd from FTR and the amount HMRC are reclaiming from you.

Yes I received £5600 and HMRC want £19000

[slick132]

Hi Schipoo,

 

Please confirm, do you have this email saved if it is required by us or others involved ?

[slick132]

Hi Blog and thanks for that.

[dixon2094]

Just as an FYI, I’ve kept copies of absolutely everything - see attached

 

png2pdf.pdf

[Schipoo]

Hi Slick

Yes I do, I also sent a copy to HMRC when they first contacted me, I gave copies of the email trails and texts. 

[Alvinsmalvin]

Hi Please complete so we can start your tax rebate claim 

 

Name

Full Address and postcode

Date you moved into your address

Date of birth

Clear copies of your 2017/18 and 2018/19 P60

Mobile number

National Insurance Number

Have you been self employed before Y/N

If yes

Do you have unique tax reference number  ?

Do you have a government gateway account ? if Yes

What is the gateway number and password 

 

 

 

[slick132]

Thanks Alvins,

 

Please confirm you have the original copy saved on email or text msg.

[Alvinsmalvin]

Hi yes. I have it in my emails. 

[slick132]

@Fountain9219

 

Please confirm the amount HMRC are demanding you repay, and the amount you personally received.

[dixon2094]

What’s interesting is both Alvin’s and Schipoo’s initial email - were you two

not asked if the “scheme was fully explained to you”?

 

Perhaps at different times in their ‘sign up’ process, they amended the email they sent to potential ‘clients’ to include/remove this question?

 

You’d have to look into what times people contacted FTR and whether the question was added/removed I suppose?

 

For example, my email was forwarded to me from a friend in March 2020 and it had that question in it and I filled it in and sent to FTR on 31/03/20

[Schipoo]

Hi @dixon2094

 

No I wasn’t asked that question, I was told it was for expenses I hadn’t claimed but was entitled to which is why on my SAR HMRC note that I called in with regards to that. If they had mentioned a scheme I would have questioned it. 
So what did they tell you the scheme was?

[honeybee13]

I was going to ask the same question. I wasn't sure if the scheme meant the EIS or the general service. 

 

HB

[dixon2094]

They didn’t - this was just a question on the initial email which was a yes/no answer.

 

I understood the question to be “do you understand what we are doing for you” - as in the general service - and since my friend told me they could do a tax rebate for past 3 years’ tax payments, (which is what he thought they were doing) I said yes.

 

At no point did FTR directly tell me what they were doing, how, or why.

[honeybee13]

The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group has put out a press release about tax refund companies misusing taxpayers' information. CAG gets a mention at the end in Notes for Editors.

 

Press release: LITRG’s urgent warning to taxpayers about refund companies

WWW.LITRG.ORG.UK

---

The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) is warning taxpayers never to share their Government Gateway username and password details with...

 

HB

[Schipoo]

Hi HB

 

Do you think this will help us in anyway? 

[honeybee13]

Well, we would hope so but I suppose it depends on how much notice HMRC take of this. It certainly can't hurt to have the issue in the open and the lady from the LITRG has understood exactly what's happened here.

 

I expect Slick will be along to comment when he can get here.

 

HB

[dixon2094]

Is it worth me sending this link to police, to highlight the scale of the fraud that’s been done and the attention it’s getting? I have an email thread with them.

 

By email thread, I mean they haven’t replied yet; but I’ll reply to myself.

[honeybee13]

I think any attention this gets from the authorities is worth doing, Dixon. Ideally, you'll get a contact in Northumberland police and then other people can send in their complaints as well, to show the extent of the problem as you say.

 

HB

[slick132]

@dixon2094 and @Schipoo

 

No harm in drawing this to the attention of the police and pester them for a response too - don't simply sit back and wait for them to reply. You really don't have time on your side.

 

Also, please note the following carefully - our contact at the LITRG has been approached by a journalist/researcher working for  BBC television about maybe including this subject in a consumer issues programme due to be aired at the end of January 2022.

 

Please see and reply to the PM I will send to you both in the next few days.

[slick132]

@Alvinsmalvin  @sleigh30 @BradX @Fountain9219 @Blog81 @Mickla

 

Would each of you please confirm with a simple Yes or a No here, would you be willing to speak with a BBC TV journalist/researcher if we made your contact info available to them.

 

If this issue gets exposure on a mainstream UK TV consumer programme, it may be the best publicity you can get.

 

Please respond here with a Yes or No - thanks

[Fountain92]

5 minutes ago, slick132 said:

@Alvinsmalvin  @sleigh30 @BradX @Fountain9219 @Blog81 @Mickla

 

Would each of you please confirm with a simple Yes or a No here, would you be willing to speak with a BBC TV journalist/researcher if we made your contact info available to them.

 

If this issue gets exposure on a mainstream UK TV consumer programme, it may be the best publicity you can get.

 

Please respond here with a Yes or No - thanks

Yes

[dixon2094]

23 minutes ago, slick132 said:

@dixon2094 and @Schipoo

 

No harm in drawing this to the attention of the police and pester them for a response too - don't simply sit back and wait for them to reply. You really don't have time on your side.

 

Also, please note the following carefully - our contact at the LITRG has been approached by a journalist/researcher working for  BBC television about maybe including this subject in a consumer issues programme due to be aired at the end of January 2022.

 

Please see and reply to the PM I will send to you both in the next few days.

I’ve passed the link on to them.

 

And no problem, I’ll keep an eye out for the DM.

[slick132]

Update for all and new victim @DWJo

 

A further article appeared in The Times on 27th November featuring victim Mike Grogan - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/im-being-hounded-for-11-500-over-a-tax-rebate-i-never-had-krmrh8xxw

 

 

An article has also been published by @TaxWatch here - https://www.taxwatchuk.org/eis_fraud_victim/

 

 

Again, there may be a chance that jounalists are interested in speaking to individuals so please let us know if you do NOT want to be contacted about this.

[slick132]

A further Briefing article has been published by TaxWatch which summarises the case highlighted recently in The Times and suggestions of how HMRC could change their attitude.

 

It's linked here - 

 

EIS_Tax_Advisor_Fraud_Briefing_FINAL[6668].pdf