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Massive Insider Wine Fraud

by Giles Cadman

Wine Fraud usually takes one of two forms. The first is selling wine or wine investment that doesn’t exist or at vastly inflated prices. The other is counterfeiting, creating wine that is not what it is said to be. Unfortunately both are relatively common.

Another form of fraud, misrepresenting wine by a reputed supplier is not so common but in many ways worse than the other forms. A trusted producer is above suspicion. In France Labouré-Roi is being investigated for two huge frauds.

Labouré-Roi, owned by Cottin Freres since 1974, is the largest supplier of Burgundy wines to airlines. It has also supplied major retailers, deriving 50% of net sales from exports, and works with hundreds of Burgundy growers.

Public Prosecutor Eric Lallement said during a press conference held in Dijon last night (13 June) that the fraud office was first alerted due to a disparity in figures between what the company was actually bottling and what it should have been, given the yields declared at harvest time. ‘It was as if the company was managing to vinify 100% of its musts, which is impossible,’ he said. 

On investigating this, he said police found evidence of several specific frauds: firstly bypassing legal blending limits, affecting every level of the production from Grand Cru, Premier Cru and Village appellations, and adding table wine to wine musts to top up the ‘angel’s share’, Lallement said. He said the suspected fraud related to 500,000 bottles of wine, worth €2.7m in sales.

The second fraud detailed was over wine quality and labeling. ‘When the company needed to fulfil an order of a wine that it had run out of, it swapped labels with other wines,’ said Lallement. The magnitude of this fraud is estimated to be around 1.1m bottles.

This kind of unethical behaviour needs to be policed heavily.


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Decanter on Wine Fraud

 

by Giles Cadman

Decanter have a very good article on self regulation and regulation of the wine investment industry in the United Kingdom. The impact of the new regulations on the market is unknown, with my view being it is a good first step that protects both the investors and genuine wine investment companies.

Perhaps the most telling point is about the timing of the sanction of the law.

The sanction of the law in these cases comes, almost by definition, too late — once victims exist. No ruling made by the FSA will ever inhibit those who have no intention of playing by the rules in the first place. Wine investment scams will continue, therefore, as long as legitimate wine investment continues to provide attractive returns, thereby furnishing scamsters with their chat-up lines and the gullible with their illusions.

This is correct, but limited. By putting barriers up to fraudsters helps the industry as a whole, as well as protecting investors. It is not a silver bullet, but it is part of a broader approach to preventing wine fraud.Regulations need to be enforced, as without enforcement fraudsters believe they can get away with their fraud.

 

 


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Wine Fraud Hurts the Industry

by Giles Cadman

The Daily Mail reports on a group of alleged fraudsters who used wine as the vehicle for their fraud.

A brother and sister have been accused of conning almost 100 investors as part of a £2.5million wine investment fraud, a court has heard.  

Daniel Snelling, 37, and Dina Snelling, 34, are said to have conned the investors into handing over money while working for Nouveau World Wines and Finbow Wines.

Prosecutors say they plotted with their cousin Rebecca McDonald, 42, Simon Dempsey, 43, and Daniel Snelling’s girlfriend Kelly Humphreys, 31.

It is claimed all five persuaded their alleged victims to invest in top end Australian wines that did not exist and to capitalise on plans to export cheap alcohol to China.

Fine wine is an asset backed investment that has performed well over the long term, but it has attracted a number of unscrupulous people who have no intention of doing anything other than defraud “investors”. There are many forms of wine fraud, with this being the most simple, selling a product that does not exist.

This type of fraud casts aspersions on the entire industry. A few bad people have given fine wine a murky reputation as an investment vehicle, which detracts from the rest of the industry.


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Common Types of Fraud and How to Avoid Them

by Giles Cadman

There are many unscrupulous people trying to sell fraudulent investments, and This is Money has a good guide on what to avoid.

Share fraud (boiler room scams) - Where fraudsters cold-call investors offering them worthless, overpriced or even non-existent shares.

- Never give bank or personal details to anyone you don’t know.

- Always check the credentials of the company you’re dealing with. Check for firms and organisations that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has warned people from dealing with at: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/warnings  

- Don’t agree to offers or deals straight away and seek independent/legal advice before making a decision. 

Carbon credits - Where fraudsters sell carbon credit certificates or the opportunity to invest in a green scheme. However, money can be lost when trying to sell these on. 

- Seek independent financial advice before investing in this complex form of trading. 

- Check whether the company has the appropriate authorisation and is based in the UK

- Note that holding a Voluntary Emissions Reductions (VER) certificate is no indicator of quality, and that it is not recognised by any UK financial compensation scheme. Many projects with VERs are based overseas.

Wine investment - Where fraudsters sell large amounts of fine wine, still in the barrel, and offer to store it with a bonded warehouse company so that when it is ready to be bottled it is worth a lot more. The wine is often poor quality or doesn’t even exist. 

- Only trade with an established and reputable wine merchant who has a proven track record. 

Land banking schemes - Where a plot of land is divided into smaller plots and sold on, with the promise that once it’s available for development it will soar in value. Often, the land may never be ready to be developed.

- Check that the company actually own the land on the Land Registry website: http://www.landregistry.gov.uk  

- Check with the relevant council that the land is likely to receive planning permission for development.

All of this makes sense and is good advice. Investors can protect themselves from fraud by following the simple guidelines above.


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Wine Investment Association Launched

by Giles Cadman

The wine investment industry has reacted to ongoing problems with fraud affecting the reputation of reputable businesses by forming an industry association. Harpers cover its launch.

The Wine Investment Association was officially launched today promising to set up regulations and processes that protect wine investments of private individuals.

The new self-regulatory body has been set up in response to a series of high profile wine fraud cases relating to investments in fine wine.

The WIA‘s initial members hope to attract some of the biggest names in fine wine investment so that it carries the authority of the entire fine wine market. It today published its first code of practice for consultation, outlining the standards and procedures to which its members must comply.

Any investment company joining WIA must agree to operate robust systems and controls all geared to protect investors and prevent fraud, and be open to independent audit from Mazars, a leading auditng and accountancy company.

This is a positive step for the wine investment industry.

 


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Three Jailed for Fine Wine Scam

by Giles Cadman

In a major wine fraud in the Netherlands, three people have been jailed for defrauding investors of €19.4m.

Three people have been jailed for their role in an investment fraud based on allegedly rare wines, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Wednesday.

John T, said to be the brain behind the scam was jailed for 3.5 years. Judith D, the director of the investment group Bordeaux Advisory, was jailed for 20 months and English national Richard W, who bought the wine, for 18 months.

The Amsterdam court said the fraud was extremely serious and jail terms were merited because ‘a lot of people were conned out of gigantic sums of money’. In total 360 people invested €19.4m in the company, which promised people a return of 30%.

Investment company Bordeaux Advisory was started up with one aim: ‘to rip off investors and get rich,’ the public prosecution department said in a statement at the start of the trial.

Cheap

Victims of the scam paid more than €1,100 for a case of wine which Bordeaux Advisory bought for €4.75 a bottle, the prosecution said.

Wine-lovers’ website Decanter.com says one Ontario investor bought eight cases of 2002 Château Lagrave Paran Bordeaux Supérieur for €1,170 a case – a wine which is available for around €140 a case.

The Financial Services Authority AFM issued a warning to investors not to put money into the company in 2007. The company was declared bankrupt in 2008.

Anyone purchasing wine as an investment should check prices on reputable web sites like Winesearcher to avoid this kind of fraud.

 


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New York Times on Financial Fraud

by Giles Cadman

The New York Times has an interesting article on how regulators are finding it tough to deal with financial fraud, even as new regulations are enacted.

And the challenge of oversight is not becoming any easier, with the ranks of financial advisers swelling. As new regulations crimp profits, big banks like Wells Fargo are ramping up their brokerage businesses in an effort to make up for lost revenue.

Amid the renewed focus, banks have spent millions of dollars to beef up their compliance systems and improve their oversight. Regulators, too, have bolstered their efforts, increasing enforcement and adopting new measures.

Every month, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a Wall Street watchdog, penalizes more than 100 brokers for various actions, including unauthorized trading and fraudulent activities, as well as smaller violations.

The difficulty for regulators is separating minor compliance issues from major issues where investors lose money. The latter not being discovered early makes a regulator look bad, yet it is often hard to detect financial fraud before it has run for some time.

 


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Most Commonly Used Fraud Phrases

by Giles Cadman

Detecting fraud in large organisations cannot be easy, and it is not surprising that the FBI and Ernst & Young have developed email monitoring software to seek out terms commonly associated with fraud.

The software, which was developed using the knowledge gained from real life corporate fraud investigations, pinpoints and tracks common fraud phrases like “cover up”, “write off”, “failed investment”, “off the books”, “nobody will find out” and “grey area”.

Expressions such as “special fees” and “friendly payments” are most common in bribery cases, while fears of getting caught are shown in phrases such as “no inspection” and “do not volunteer information”.

In total more than 3,000 terms are logged by the technology, which monitors for conversations within the “fraud triangle”, where pressure, rationalisation, and opportunity meet, said the FBI and Ernst & Young.

The analytics software also scans for “out of band” events such as “call my mobile” or “come by my office”, suggesting the individual does not want to be overheard.

The software can also flag uncharacteristic changes in tone and language in conversations, and has been tailored for specific sectors, particularly traders.

This will be just one more tool in the fight against fraud, relying on fraudsters making the same sort of mistakes previous fraudsters have made. This is a proactive approach that may uncover frauds earlier, or at least give an indication of where to look.

Rashmi Joshi, director of Ernst & Young’s fraud investigation and disputes services, said: “Despite being the prime means of all conversations unstructured email data plays almost no role in the compliance efforts of firms.

“Most often such email traffic is only seized upon by regulators or fraud investigators when the damage has been done. Firms are increasingly seeking to proactively search for specific trends and red flags.”


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Former Sandford Executive Gets 5 Years for Fraud

by Giles Cadman

Allen Sanford’s fraud and the subsequent collapse of his companies left many, many people in tough positions. A fraud of $7B is going to affect a large number of people, and those responsible deserve to feel the full force of the law.

The star prosecution witness at the fraud trial of Texas financier R. Allen Stanford expressed remorse Tuesday before being sentenced to five years in prison for helping to bilk investors out of more than $7 billion in one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history.

James M. Davis had faced up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2009 to three fraud and conspiracy charges. At Stanford’s trial last year, Davis testified that as chief financial officer of Stanford’s companies he helped the financier to fake his bank’s profits and fabricate documents to hide the fraud.

In a brief statement, Davis said he will feel remorse and regret for the rest of his life.

“I am ashamed and I’m embarrassed,” Davis, 64, said at the sentencing hearing in Houston federal court. “I’ve perverted what was right and I hurt thousands of investors. I betrayed their trust and also associates and neighbors and friends and my family.”

Many of the dramatic details at Stanford’s trial — including testimony about bribes and blood oaths — came from Davis, who portrayed his ex-boss as the leader of the fraud who burned through billions of CD deposits. Stanford, a one-time billionaire, was convicted in March on 13 fraud-related counts and sentenced to 110 years in prison.

The short sentence will concern people who lost money in the ponzi scheme, especially since Davis only helped the prosecution when there were no other options.

Prosecutor Jason Varnado had asked for Davis to get a 10-year prison term. He told U.S. District Court Judge David Hittner that while Davis’ cooperation in the case was outstanding, he only came to authorities after Stanford’s business empire was shut down and he had no other options. Davis’ sentence should reflect the severity of his crimes, Varnado said.

“Mr. Davis for 20 years lied and deceived thousands of investors, employees and the public, and helped Allen Stanford commit one of the largest frauds in American history,” he said.

Defense attorney, David Finn, said Davis’ cooperation contributed greatly to the government’s efforts to locate and secure funds for investors.

 

 

 

 


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Wine Company Fraud Lawsuit

by Giles Cadman

The wine industry has a number of unscrupulous people in it, including investment fraudsters, counterfeiters and thieves. A New York based company has two business partners in court over an alleged $500,000 fraud.

An Iranian prince has filed a lawsuit against his French business partner claiming the latter stole US$500,000 from their New York-based wine importer for his own use.

Charles Moreau, used company funds to pay for his rent in New York’s Financial District, his clothing, his cable bills and his daughter’s tuition.

Furthermore, Moreau is alleged to have taken thousands of dollars worth of wine from the cellars of Lions Wines and bartered them for meals at expensive restaurants such as Cipriani Downtown on West Broadway and Georgica in East Hampton.

General manager of Lions Wines, Alex Herringshaw, said in the affidavit that: “He (Moreau) would pay for his personal expenses but would not pay for business expenses like the rent, the storage, the phone bills, employees and taxes.”

It appears that Charles Moreau has done this kind of thing before.

The prince also claimed that Moreau is being pursued in France for a similar fraud case and for roughly the same amount of money, as well as being pursued by another business partner for failing to repay a $60,000 loan.

 


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Berry Bros and Rudd on Wine Fraud

by Giles Cadman

One of the oldest wine merchants in the world, Berry Bros & Rudd, claims that the European wine trade is being bombarded by UK based Wine Scams.

Wineries across Europe are being scammed out of hundreds of thousands of Euros by conmen impersonating buyers at bona fide wine merchants such as Berry Bros & Rudd.

A fraud unit set up by the UK Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) has tracked attempted wine scams worth an estimated £1.6m since May 2011. Around a third of those have been successful, the trade body has told Decanter.com.

‘There are probably more which have not been reported,’ said the WSTA’s David Tromans.
 
Scammers commonly pose as buyers at genuine wine merchants, such as Berry Brosor Bibendum. Recently, a person calling himself Sam Cocks has been emailing wineries, including Bordeaux chateaux, and negociants and posing as an employee from Berry Bros’ marketing department.

The level of fraud includes senior staff being impersonated by fraudsters.

‘They use headed paper, VAT numbers and Coface insurance,’ said Berry Bros’ Bordeaux buyer, Max Lalondrelle, who has himself been impersonated by fraudsters. ‘If someone doesn’t know us, it’s very easy to get caught out.

Some of the fraudsters are not particularly sophisticated or au fait with the industry.

Spelling and grammatical errors are also a giveaway. One scam email passed toDecanter.com requests ‘Crystal Roederer’ Champagne, instead of ‘Cristal’, and Henri Jayer ’Richbourg’, which should be spelt ‘Richebourg’.


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The Telegraph on Ten Scams on the Rise

by Giles Cadman

The Telegraph has a great article on ten financial scams that are on the rise in Britain.

Recent figures from the National Fraud Authority show that the total lost to individuals from fraud and other scams is more than £6bn a year. Here are our top 10 scams to watch out for this year.

1 Rare metals

2 Pension liberation fraud

3 Mobility aids

4 Dodgy job offers

5 Lotteries

6 Truancy fraud

7 Wine scams

8 Love

9 Landbanking

10 Carbon credit trading

Truancy fraud is a new one to me.

Essex County Council warned last month that a parent of a pupil in one of its schools received a phone call purporting to be from the Education Welfare Service. The parent was told that as their child had not attended school that day they would be fined £340 and they were asked to give their card details over the phone.

The council pointed out that the Education Welfare Service does not phone parents demanding payment over the phone: it sends penalty notices by post and it would not phone parents demanding immediate payment.


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US Seeking Extradition of Hedge Fund Manager Accused of Fraud

by Giles Cadman

The FBI has accused German Hedge Fund Manager Florian Homm of defrauding investors of at least $200m. He was recently arrested in Italy after five years in hiding.

Mr. Homm was one of Germany’s best-known financiers before he disappeared in 2007 as his portfolio of hedge funds, Absolute Capital Management Holdings, was collapsing.

According to the F.B.I., Mr. Homm earned commissions as a result of trades between a broker in which he owned a stake and the hedge fund. The trades inflated the prices of penny stocks and made Absolute Capital Management look more valuable than it was, the F.B.I. said in a statement, in a practice known as “portfolio pumping.” Mr. Homm and people he worked with are accused of earning $53 million through the scheme.

Mr. Homm faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and securities fraud.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has already taken action against him.

Since 2011, Mr. Homm has been the target of a civil suit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused him of manipulating share prices by buying and selling thinly traded shares between entities he controlled. Last week, prosecutors in Los Angeles filed criminal charges against Mr. Homm based on the same circumstances. The Italian police arrested Mr. Homm at the request of the U.S. authorities.


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The Mirror on Wine Investment Fraud

by Giles Cadman

The Mirror keeps up its good work reporting on United Kingdom based Wine Fraud.

Fine Wine Vintners Limited claimed to be “One of the UK’s leading fine wine traders” and boasted: “We combine financial discipline, market insight and wine knowledge to optimise returns.”

In reality it used high-pressure coldcallers to con £1.5million out of victims, while spending less than £450,000 buying wine on their behalf.

More than £550,000 was used for business costs including paying those coldcalders, while £520,000 disappeared in “non-business related expenditure”.

Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the last wine fraud the mirror writes about.

The bottles that were bought were hugely over-priced meaning, said the Insolvency Service, “There was therefore no realistic prospect of a return to investors in either the short or the medium term and, in 50% of cases, wine was not purchased at all.”

Two of the culprits have now been banned from acting as directors for 12 years – John Evans, 29, from Orpington, Kent, and 26-year-old Bradleigh Caley from Bromley, the UK’s capital of investment fraud.

I was not aware that Bromley was the capital of investment fraud.


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Enron Fraudster Doing Deal to leave Prison Early

by Giles Cadman

The Enron collapse was one of the worst cases of corporate fraud in history, and CEO Jeffery Skilling was sent to prison for 24 years for his part in the fraud. Now it appears he is negotiating to get out of jail early.

The US Department of Justice posted a notice indicating that prosecutors are considering entering an agreement with Skilling that could result in his being resentenced.

The notice gives former Enron employees, stockholders and other victims of Skilling’s fraud that led to Enron’s 2001 bankruptcy a chance to object.

The note said Skilling’s lawyers and the Justice Department were negotiating a reduced sentence.

Skilling’s sentence was deemed too long by a federal appeals panel in 2009, but a reduction in the sentence has yet to be finalised.

Those talks had been a closely guarded secret, but Thursday the Justice Department quietly issued a notice to victims required under federal law:

“The Department of Justice is considering entering into a sentencing agreement with the defendant in this matter,” the notice reads. “Such a sentencing agreement could restrict the parties and the Court from recommending, arguing for, or imposing certain sentences or conditions of confinement. It could also restrict the parties from challenging certain issues on appeal, including the sentence ultimately imposed by the Court at a future sentencing hearing.”


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National Fraud Intelligence Bureau and the Wine Investment Associate

by Giles Cadman

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, which is hosted by the City of London Police has released a press statement to correct any misunderstanding about its relationship with the Wine Investment Association.

In seeking to be supportive of the efforts of the WIA to establish an auditable framework of self regulation, the NFIB had previously suggested it was working in partnership with the new trade body.

While the NFIB cannot establish partnership arrangements of this nature, the bureau does thoroughly support any industry sector organisation that seeks to prevent people from becoming victims of fraud.

The NFIB welcomes the Wine Investment Association’s work to set out standards and procedures through the creation of a Code of Practice for its members and, likewise, it supports the WIA’s core aim to seek to safeguard the general public against fraud, malpractice and misrepresentation.

NFIB Director, Det Supt Dave Clark, says: ‘I am sorry if there has been any misunderstanding in relation to the suggestion that we are in partnership with the WIA. We have contact and association with a wide range of industry sector businesses as part of our work to combat fraud in all its forms.

This unfortunate and minor misunderstanding should not undermine the potential good that can come from a strong working relationship between the WIA and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. 

‘We have seen examples of wine investment fraud, malpractice and misrepresentation which includes people being duped into buying wine or investing in vineyards and any work that the industry itself does to help prevent individuals becoming victims of crime can only be applauded.

Wine fraud detrimentally affects the industry and it is recognised the Wine Investment Association is acutely aware of this and looking to play its part in tackling the problem.’


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EU Losing Billions in Massive Fraud

by Giles Cadman

The European Union is an organisation with an inflated sense of self worth. It wanted to increase its budget when the individual nations of Europe were being forced into austerity, which the Eurocrats could not see as hypocrisy.

Now the European Union Select Committee has found fraud against the taxpayer is far higher than the Eurocrats will admit to.

More than £4 billion of taxpayer cash is “disappearing” from the European Union budget every year because officials are failing to get a grip on fraud, a damning parliamentary report said today.

This is a massive amount of money in tough times, and the EU needs to start policing fraud better.

The committee said it believes frauds ranging from cigarette smuggling to bribery and corruption “never see the light of day” because the EU has failed to grasp the scale of the problem. This is because some member states are reluctant to report suspected cases and others fall through the gaps of a “tangled web” of EU investigation agencies.

It estimated against the European Union budget is likely to be around €5 billion (£4.3 billion) every year, or “maybe even more”.

Official European Commission figures reporting fraud of €404 million show just a “glimpse” of the scale of the problem, the committee said.


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Armstrong Sued by US for Alleged Fraud

by Giles Cadman

Lance Armstrong‘s fall from grace is well known. What may be less well known is that many drugs cheats are not just suspended from their sport but they are also pursued on the grounds they have committed fraud by doping.

The United States Government is suing Armstrong accusing him of defrauding the Government by taking millions in sponsorship money.

The U.S. government filed court documents Tuesday laying out its case against cyclist Lance Armstrong, who is accused of defrauding the Postal Service by taking millions of dollars in sponsorship money while flouting professional cycling rules by doping.

Armstrong took huge amounts of money from sponsors and in prize money during his career. Now sponsors want it back.

Armstrong and his teammates from Tailwind Sports were paid $40 million by the Postal Service from 1998 to 2004, according to the suit. Armstrong’s salary during that time, excluding bonuses, was $17.9 million, according to the complaint.

The government is suing under the False Claims Act and can recoup up to three times the amount it lost as a result of the fraud. The complaint also alleges breach of contract, unjust enrichment and fraud.

The government may take over a law suit currently in the name of a former team mate of Armstrong, Floyd Landis.

The complaint echoes Landis’ claims that Armstrong and others defrauded the U.S. government by falsely denying the doping accusations and continuing their sponsorship relationship with the Postal Service.

When the government believes a suit has merit, it may take over the litigation. The individuals, or whistleblowers, get a portion of the proceeds if the case is successful.

The U.S. complaint accuses Armstrong of using at least one prohibited substance or method in connection with every Tour de France between 1999 and 2005. “Moreover, he knew that his teammates were engaged in similar doping practices, and he actively encouraged and facilitated those practices,” the complaint said.

“(T)he United Stated suffered damage in that it did not receive the value of the services for which it bargained,” the complaint said.

 

 


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How to Avoid Wine Investment Scams

by Giles Cadman

Despite the efforts of the Wine Investment Association and regulatory bodies there will continue to be wine investment frauds. Yourmoney.com has a good article on the most common frauds.

Wine fraud is arguably one of the oldest cons around. For years, fraudsters have swapped the labels on cheap bottles for more high-brow names.

Now, as the popularity of investing in fine wine continues to grow, so too does the number of con artists looking to take advantage.

Investing in fine wine has become popular over the past decade as investors seek alternative shelters for their money away from the ups-and-downs of the stock market.

A recent BBC investigation estimated that as much as £100m may have been lost by investors over the past four years, making this form of investment a very risky one; not just in terms of financial risk.

Unfortunately the patterns for many of these frauds are the same, and many of the fraudsters are repeat offenders.

red24 has been involved in several investigations of wine investment scams recently. This type of scam follows the usual pattern of cold calling the client. The victim is then pressed into making an investment with the promise of large returns.

Victims are continually called with offers on ‘great deals’ and ‘not-to-be-missed opportunities’. The scam can go on for weeks or months and the victim will receive many calls at all times of the day and night. Many victims are targeted because of their age and financial status.

The victim receives the paperwork and sometimes the wine too, often with everything appearing normal; that is until the victim decides to cash in their investment.

It is at this stage the fraudster prolongs the procedure with excuse after excuse such as ‘we would advise you to wait three weeks for a better price’ or ‘there is no one buying this wine at the moment’.

There are so many traps for the unwary to fall into. Wine counterfeiting is a huge problem as well.


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The Wine Forger’s Handbook

by Giles Cadman

Dr Noah Charney and Stuart George have written a fascinating book about wine forgery, The Wine Forger’s Handbook. Amazon’s description is appropriate for a very good read.

Fine wine is a multi-million dollar industry, and is fraught with peril. From forged bottles to fraudulent contents, from mislabeled wine to misled consumers, wine has been faked, forged, and used for fraud for as long as it has been consumed. This long read eBook provides a brief history of forgery and fraud in the fine wine world, including case studies on Kurniawan and Rodenstock and many others, from America to China. But this eBook also functions as a guide, both on how fraudsters have been found out, and tips on how to avoid being fooled in your own wine purchases. Written by a pair of award-winning writers, wine expert Stuart George and best-selling art crime expert Dr. Noah Charney, The Wine Forger’s Handbook is a fun, informative, engaging read, and one which could potentially save you from being fooled in your own wine investments. Ideal for anyone from wine collectors to casual drinkers, or those who enjoy true crime stories of forgery, deception, and detection against the vivid backdrop of the world of wine.

The more knowledge of wine fraud of all forms the more the industry can do to protect itself from criminals. Wine Fraud can take many years, or even decades, to discover, and the best defense against fraud is to deal with established businesses who have wine that comes with good provenance.


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