Warminster man conned out of £6,200 in whisky scam

A Warminster pensioner has been refunded after losing his life savings in a ‘highly convincing’ whisky investment scam. 

The 72-year-old, who does not wish to be named, invested £6,200 in two casks of the alcohol with fraudsters from Whisky Scotland in 2021.

He was sent a professional looking 14-page brochure after seeing an advert on Facebook. The fraudsters convinced him he could earn up to a 40 % profit over the three years.

But when the three-year minimum investment period was up, Whisky Scotland’s account manager the man had been dealing with, who called himself Frank, disappeared along with his money.

The Warminster pensioner said, “It was just pure anger when I realised I was scammed.

“I’m only on a state pension, and that was most of the money I had in the bank, barring a little bit I kept back for emergencies.

“It took me a long time to save that money, and I thought ‘that’s it, it’s gone’.”

Whisky investments have grown sharply in recent years and are aided by the three-year period it takes for a new cask to mature, with criminals exploiting the time lag to take in as much money as possible before disappearing.

Investors are often encouraged to leave their casks to mature for five to 10 years to maximise returns.

After enlisting the help of National Fraud Helpline solicitors, the scammed Warminster man was refunded all of his money from Nationwide Building Society.

Lena Abuagla, a lawyer at National Fraud Helpline, said, “Whisky investment fraud is rife at the moment.

“These are incredibly sophisticated scams with lots of glossy and convincing investment literature and faked documents to trick victims.

“We successfully argued that the bank should have done more checks to prevent this fraud, and we are delighted that we got our client refunded in full.”