Avoiding Fraud

Sadly, despite much work and many warnings, clients of mortgage brokers and IFAs are losing money to unscrupulous fraudsters.

Adam Tyler
27th April 2010
Adam Tyler - NACFB

Advisers, looking to do the best by their clients, are unwittingly handing over large fees to commercial brokers who look plausible enough at the start, but who eventually, after having availed themselves of a significant amount of a clients money by way of fees, decide that this isnt a deal they want to do after all.

Sorry. Oh, and by the way, those fees were non-refundable.

The threat of advance fee fraud is still present one poor mortgage broker introduced several clients to one of these fraudsters and managed to lose a combined 20k of their clients money. They are now in the unenviable position of having to try and pay those clients back.

If you do have a case you are not sure about, by all means use another broker to place the deal (commercial finance is a complicated area, after all) but please be careful about who you use.

We would always suggest that your first port of call should be an NACFB member,  but if you choose someone else, make sure you have done all your due diligence checks first.

I never cease to be amazed at advisers willing to hand over clients money on the basis of an unsolicited email and a single meeting. A few checks could save both you and you clients a fortune.
More like this
Latest from Property Reporter
Latest from Protection Reporter
CLOSE
Subscribe
to our newsletter

Join a community of over 30,000 intermediaries and keep up-to-date with industry news and upcoming events via our newsletter.