An Irish business magnate and three friends conned thirty-two older citizens out of a £3.5 million life savings scam.
A court heard how three colleagues and an Irish millionaire conned senior customers out of £3.5 million by promising big returns on fake carbon offsets and subpar diamonds.
Jurors stated that seniors were persuaded to give up on their money by Matthew Mansell, Andrew Rowe, and Matthew Navin.
Dylan Creaven is said to have been the ‘main mover’ behind the creation of two fake companies and the funding of opulent ‘boiler chamber’ offices at Buchanan House in Saint James’s Square, central London.
The judge claimed that they provided carbon credits, which lessen greenhouse gas emissions or balance an individual’s or company’s environmental effect.
They, Agon Power Limited, boasted of being a ‘industry champion’ and used fake comments from Forbes to support their impressive brochure including images of their St James’s site. For Christmas, they offered their clients writing instruments, flasks, caps, and cards.
Distributors called potential customers they thought were believable, articulate, and astute, but they were also persistent and, if pressed, aggressive.
An event involving two distinct but connected criminal falsehoods, perpetrated by fraudsters commonly referred to as “oiler chamber frauds,” prosecutor Angus Bunyan stated.
The phrase “boiler room” describes a workplace arrangement where staff members work inside an office that has both laptops and phone lines.
These guys cold-call people and forcefully pitch them shoddy or dubious-looking investment opportunities. It was sophisticated, painstakingly planned, and unrelenting.
Three guys, Dylan Creaven, Matthew Mansell, and Andrew Rowe, who run Agon Energy Limited, pledged in 2012 and 2013 to provide carbon offsets to shareholders.
With carbon offsets, you can successfully offset the ecological impact of an individual or organisation by paying someone else to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases they emit, which are primarily produced in developing or semi-developed economies.
Along with Matthew Navin, the fourth defendant, those three individuals also had a hand in running another company, Lanyard Capital Ltd., between 2013 and 2014.
The aforementioned firm claimed to be engaged in the sale of gemstones, providing customers with the option to purchase them. Even more, Navin broke into an elderly man’s house and took him to his bank.
The Metropolitan Police Department and Trading Standards received multiple complaints, which allowed the police to secure documentation against 32 investors.
According to Mr. Bunyan, the prosecution’s stance is that none of these companies served as a conduit for fraud. None of the three ever existed or were regarded as legal business entities.
The gemstones sold through Lanyard had either been insufficient or of very low quality, and the carbon credits issued and traded by Agon Ltd. were almost useless.
Regardless of their retirement age, almost all of the individuals who left with their financial assets were more mature, and we think this was no accident.
At that time, a lot of individuals were in their 70s or 80s, so they sincerely invested their money on things they believed would benefit them and their loved ones.
Both Mansell, of Uckfield, East Sussex, and Creaven, of Markham on Fergus in County Clare, who is Rowe and lived on Hadley Green Road in Barnet, north of London, deny the accusations of conspiring to conduct fraud and of transferring unlawful property. Navin, an Essex County resident from Hornchurch, is charged with one count of conspiracy to deceive.
Concerning Scams in Carbon Credit Trading
A carbon emission credit is a licence and certification that denotes the capacity to emit one metric ton of CO2.
Several investors have claimed that even while they are able to trade or sell their credits for carbon credits, they are unable to profit from the exchange of carbon offsets for cash.
How do trading programs for carbon credits work?
Although they can also be contacted by email, articles, word-of-mouth, conferences, or exhibits, investors are often contacted in an unexpected way.
You may be offered carbon credit documentation, confirmed emission reductions, voluntary emission reductions, or the opportunity to get started right away in a “green” plan or operation that generates carbon credits as a potential return on investment.
The term “certified” is commonly used to describe carbon credits and VERs certificates; however, this certification is completely optional and requires a variety of bodies and quality standards that are not accepted by the UK reimbursement program.
It is possible to advertise carbon credits as the “new big thing” in resource trading, stressing that businesses must now offset their carbon footprints, that the federal government is prioritising environmental changes, or that the sector is expanding.
Buyers have, however, complained that because they no longer have the money, they are unable to sell or swap their credits for carbon credits.
Scammers frequently target customers who hunt for investments online using search engines like Google or Bing. They might provide large profits to get you excited about investing, but many may also make more reasonable offers to make themselves seem to be more trustworthy.
How to Protect Yourself
Carbon credits are not yet subject to FCA regulation. This implies that the Banking and Financial Services Compensation Scheme will not accept complaints from you.
even in the event that a business with FCA approval buys greenhouse gas credits. For example, an administrator is not entitled to compensation in the event that something goes wrong.
Since carbon credit projects are mostly located overseas, UK authorities have no way of verifying the legitimacy and integrity of the programs.
When you receive unexpected calls, are urged to make rash investments, or are presented with incentives that seem too good to be true, you should always be wary.
Make sure to reply to any unexpected approaches from financial firms or individuals using the email address you registered with the FS.
If someone has been tricked
Please let us know if you have any concerns about an impending scam or think you may have been contacted by one. Contact us by phone at 0800 111 6768 or via our inquiry form.
If you have previously fallen victim to a scam, the con artists can try to lure you in again and sell your details to other thieves.
The next scam might be a proposal to take your money in full or to buy back the stock after someone has paid a fee; it could be totally unrelated or connected to the previous one.
In summary
In summary, it seems evident that Dylan Creaven, together with a few friends, including Matthew Mansell, Andrew Rowe, and Matthew Navin, founded fraudulent businesses in London. They mostly advertised carbon offsets as having the ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Nonetheless, the jury concluded that all four of the men had cheated senior citizens out of almost £3.5 million.
Almost the majority of these people never received any of their money. It is evident that many of those impacted are unable to make up such large deficits. Therefore, with promises of large returns for phoney carbon offsets & inferior jewels, the criminal probe into “boiler room fraud” will continue.
