Three Scotch whisky companies have come under the police scanner after hundreds of people were reportedly conned of millions of pounds in a whisky barrel investment scam in the UK, BBC reported.
According to the report, hundreds of people were conned into investing their life savings and pension into casks which didn’t exist, were overpriced or were sold to multiple people.
Some of those affected by the whisky barrel investment scam include National Health Service staff members, and a woman who is suffering from terminal cancer.
Reports suggest the woman with cancer who invested £76,000 and another woman who spent more than £100,000 on casks were valued only a fraction of the price they paid.
The scotch whisky market investment had gained popularity in the recent times due to an assertion that the value of whisky rises as the spirit ages in the barrel.
One of the persons behind the companies, identified as Craig Arch, is a convicted fraudster who is actually banned by the authorities from becoming director of any company.
Due to no official regulation in the United Kingdom related to the industry, the segment has become one of the top targets for fraudsters.
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Alison Cocks, who hails from Montrose, invested close to £103,000 in one of the three suspected companies, Cask Whisky. Cocks initially bought only a single whisky cask for £3,000 and everything appeared legal to her.
She then bought another three casks for a total sum of £100,000 but the problems started after she contacted the company and said that she wanted to sell.
“On my certificates, it showed where my casks were, allegedly. When I actually contacted those warehouses, they weren’t there,” Cocks said, as per BBC.
(with inputs from BBC)
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