Although we are in the middle of a pandemic, I believe that another one is on its way — this time financial investors being scammed.

Earlier this year I responded to an advertisement on how to make vast sums of money by investing in crypto currencies and bitcoin.

I very soon felt backed into a corner by smooth-talking salesmen.

Briefly, it cost me thousands, all on false promises, such as the price will double this weekend, don’t miss out, invest another £1,000 now.

So given my experience, I would like to help people to ignore these scammers. It is totally impossible to draw money out, meaning I had lost, literally thousands.

So, rule number one, ignore any unsolicited invitations. All financial matters in this country have to be conducted by a firm regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Ask them who they are regulated by. If operating from abroad, that helps them get around the law.

Yet nobody, in high office wants to take control of this huge scam. The policing of such a situation is carried out by a national police group, known as the National Fraud office.

They are not able to deal satisfactorily due to the mountain of complaints in front of them. They receive 300-350 new complaints a week and the amount concerned can easily exceed £300m.

So I decided after chasing other routes to get my money back, to contact the MP. I had heard that the situation would be debated in parliament.

Sadly he doesn’t seem to have taken my complaint seriously. He passed my emails to a member of staff who made no mention of a debate, but suggested I contact the Citizens Advice Bureau.

I don’t think so, Mr Seely, not good enough, in fact, not good enough by a long, long way, taking away any faith I had as my MP.

It turns out, the matter was debated in April this year: go to “Hansard online scam, consumer protection”.

Finally, through the good offices of the Fraud Dept-of HSBC Bank who negotiated a full refund for me.

Mr Seely, I doubt that the CAB would ever have achieved such a result. Perhaps you should have treated my complaint in a more professional manner?

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