Barkingside Premier Storage/TMT Investments: more cloning (Part 2)

 

Home page of the TMT Investments site 

the site is a scam using a company name that has also been cloned 

 

 

This second post on the Barkingside Premier Storage scam includes coverage of TMT Investments Ltd, a company that has also been cloned by these fraudsters, who have also cloned the London City Bond site calling it Barkingside Premier Storage. See first post here. 

The fake TMT Investments Ltd site was
registered on 24th August 2020 

 

The legitimate TMT Investments Ltd company was incorporated at Companies House on 16th March 2017 and its registered office is at 55 Station Road, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom, HP9 1QL. The sole director is Raymond Terence Stocker at Berkhamstead. Stocker became aware that his company had been cloned some three months ago and has subsequently been trying to get it closed down.     

 

 

More screen grabs from the scam TMT Investments Ltd site

 

Fraudsters' virtual office on 37th Floor, 1 Canada Square, London. E14 5AB
The real TMT Investments Ltd has not have an office at Canary Wharf

 

RZ, a client of bust European Fine Wines, who had sparked my first post on the Barkingside Premier Storage scam was duly contacted by 'TMT Investments Ltd'. They were told that they had a buyer for their four cases of Bordeaux that had miraculously turned up at Barkingside Premier Storage....

RZ told investdrinks: 'They claim Waldorf Astoria hotel group has offered £22,894 for the wine. Buyer will pay them 7% fee. I have to pay £2,747 deposit first They are sending through terms. There’s an escrow arrangement so my wine is safe (LoL) until buyer pays. TMT will the inspect. If OK I will sign ownership over to buyer and get paid. If not OK - I will get my deposit back.They are sending terms now and want deposit today.....

RZ correctly concluded: 'I think the con is that I have to pay a 12% refundable deposit - which they claim I get back if the deal doesn't go through...'

The whole 'deal' is a complete fantasy – the wine doesn't exist nor does Barkingside Premier Storage. The four cases of Bordeaux could be bought from legitimate wine merchants for £19930 (checked through wine-searcher) – substantially below the offer of £22,894 through 'TMT' . RZ challenged the higher valuation 'TMT' salesman played up the higher value as the end user (ie Waldorf Astoria group) will be selling on at "the sort of prices you would see in hotel/bars"!! LOL!! 

TMT soon sent their invoice, terms and conditions and a letter apparently signed by Ronald Terence Stocker (director).

 

 

It was this letter that made me think that TMT Investments Ltd might well have been cloned. It is rare for fraudsters to use their real names but here was Stocker signing a letter promoting an advance fee fraud!  

Checking through Companies House showed that 70-year-old Stocker was a director of 10 companies including Screen & Music Travel Ltd and D.T. Properties, which all looked to be legitimate companies. Furthermore TMT Investments Ltd is a property company and none of Stocker's companies are connected to wine. It seemed highly unlikely and curious that a 70-year-old based in Berkhamstead would be actively involved with these fraudsters, who are probably in their 20s and 30s and likely to be based in Bromley or Croydon. 

The signature on the letter was the real giveaway. Looking at Stocker's actual signature on a number of documents filed with Companies House over more than a decade the signature on the letter (26.8.2020) bears no relation to Stocker's habitual signature, which has remained consistent.

 

Terence Stocker's signature: 17.3.2020 

 

Signature 13.12.18

Scam letter – 26th August 2020: 

Signature on advance fee fraud letter
Clearly not the same person

 

 

Telephone: 020-7459 4463 

Searching 020-7459 4463 on 'Who called me?' brings up several warnings about this scam. The number has an overall rating as dangerous. See below:

 

 
 

investdrinks has passed these details of this advance fee fraud onto  the Serious Fraud and Cyber Unit of Hertfordshire Police based at Welwyn Garden City. Anyone aware of a company being cloned or this type of advance fee fraud should submit a report to Action Fraud.

The more complaints received about a particular fraud/scam the greater likelihood of it being taken up by the police . 

Warning scam clone site: Barkingside Premier Storage

 

 

About us: Barkingside Premier Storage 

Last week I was contacted by RZ, a former client investor of now bust European Fine Wines. They had been contacted and told that miraculously they had some additional wines that had been bought by EFW (European Fine Wines):

 

'EFW bought wines with my money, they may have not been totally transparent with the use of my funds and may have bought additional wines and stored them in my name. These wines appear to have been kept in store at Barkingside - which I have never heard of - and for data protection reasons, Barkingside has sent me a list of wines that appear to be in their store under my name.'

The investor then received an email from a Mr Daniel Wickman, 'storage manager' at Barkingside Premier Storage:

'As requested, we are writing to you in regard to your request for a stock report, we have therefore documented below your stock rotation report (*******) inclusive of the wines that we are currently storing under our administrator account on your behalf:

Chateau Haut Brion 2009 (12x75cl)
Chateau Haut Brion 2010 (12x75cl)
Chateau Montrose 2011 (12x75cl)
Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2009 (12x75cl)'

The investor doubtless had mixed emotions when they received Wickham's message. Delight that unknown to them they had four cases of wine that EFW had kindly bought for them. Suspicion that that this unexpected windfall was part of a scam, so they contacted investdrinks to ask what I knew of Barkingside Premier Storage.   

It soon became clear that the investor was wise to be suspicious. There is no such business as Barkingside Premier Storage and the four cases of wine is the figment of a scamster's imagination. 

The Barkingside Premier Storage website is a clone of the London City Bond (LCB) website. LCB is a legitimate company and is the UK's largest bonded warehouse business, which was founded in 1870 and has a fine wine division with storage available at a number of sites as well as providing bonded warehouse facilities for the wine and spirit trade. Alf Allington is a director of LCB and Ben Jones is a former director. Neither have any connection with Barkingside Premier Storage.

It is instructive to compare the two websites to see that Barkingside is a direct copy of LCB.     

 

 

 

The scamsters behind Barkingside Premier Storage website, which is hosted by godaddy.com, have used the text from the LCB with out their permission and knowledge. 

 

Details of Barkingside Premier Storage site
(registered 27th May 2020) hosted by GoDaddy. 

 

However, LCB is now aware of the scam Barkingside Premier Storage site and on 29th July 2020 they wrote to all of their private customers warning them Barkingside Premier Storage was a scam. Although Barkingside copied LCB's text they have no access to LCB's customers' data. 

So what's the scam?

 

The four case of Bordeaux do not exist and Barkingside Premier Storage, which has  no entry on the register of UK companies, certainly does not have a warehouse at 565 Ripple Road, Dagenham RM6 4QL – Barkingside's address included in Wickham's email. As the satellite photo above shows No 565 is a private house beside the busy A13 hardly a suitable premises for the 'largest and most successful privately-owned tax warehousing company in the UK'....... However, the postcode (RM6 4QL) given by Wickham is not for Ripple Road but for The Coppins, Chadwell Avenue, Romford RM6 4QL.

This is 'white knight' operation and almost certainly an advance fee fraud. The investor will be told that to sell or get hold of their 'wine' they will need to pay a fee .... The wine, however, is very unlikely to be sold nor and it is equally unlikely that will they see these four cases of fine Bordeaux.  

The telephone number (020-7971 1208) for Barkingside is listed by Who Called Me? as 'dangerous': 

  

Barkingside Premier Storage claim that 'We trade under the current conditions and contracts of the UK Warehousing Association and Road Haulage Association'. Another highly unlikely claim.

 

I trust that LCB can get the Barkingside scam site closed down. They have been in touch with godaddy who host the Barkingside scam site. My strong advice is to steer well clear of Barkingside Premier Storage. 

Update: victims of other companies contacted

Following a tweet about the Barkingside Premier Storage scam, it is now clear that clients of Imperial Fine Wines Ltd, which changed its name on 10.1.2017 to Imperial Wine & Spirits Merchant, has also been contacted by Barkingside. The accounts and confirmation statement for Imperial are both overdue and a compulsory strike off has been suspended (8.5.2019). 

 

 

A client of the well-established and legitimate Ditton Wine Company also received an email (above) from Daniel Wickham (unlikely to be his real name) claiming that Barkingside had some stock for him. The client was advised that this was a scam. 

 

Warning of this scam sent to members of Wine Owners (24.8.2020): 

 

 

 

 

   Barkingside Premier Storage has been invited to comment.