The Insolvency Service has warned investors of schemes that have gone bust to be vigilant as fraudsters have been posing as Official Receivers. Find out how to keep yourself safe.

Will Official Receivers ask for a fee to recover some or all your investment in an insolvent company?

According to The Insolvency Service, fraudsters have been contacting investors in insolvency schemes claiming to be Official Receivers or claiming to have been instructed to act on their behalf to help recover funds for a fee. These approaches are always fraudulent and under no circumstances should you pay a fee.

Official Receivers or any agent legitimately instructed to act on their behalf will never ask for a fee to recover some or all your investment in an insolvent scheme. The Official Receiver can only make a return to you as a creditor in failed schemes if it is possible to identify and sell any remaining assets owned by the liquidated company you bought your investment from.

What should you do if someone asks you to pay a fee to get your investment back?

The Official Receiver does not charge investors a fee to get money back and does not employ anyone else to do this on our behalf. If you are asked to pay a fee to recover your money a scam is being attempted.

If you think you are being scammed, you should do the following:

• report all fraudulent contact from individuals via Gov.uk
• report these approaches to Action Fraud

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also publishes a list of known fraudulent claims management companies you can check online. However, if the company that has contacted you is not on the list it does not mean that they are not attempting to scam you.

See also

How insolvency affects companies in the construction sector

How will HMRC's preferential creditor status affect the insolvency process in 2020?

Find out more

Complain about a limited company (Gov.uk)

Unauthorised firms and individuals (FCA)

Action Fraud (Police.uk)

Image: Getty Images

Publication date: 15 January 2020