Dear LPG,

I want to repeat an age-old message by telling readers a true story that doubles as a variation on a well-used theme…

My story starts with a friend on the cusp of retirement, having lost her husband and some of her financial independence in the bargain. After years of caring for him unofficially, she has spent the past couple of years trying to prepare for her retirement.

I count myself as one of her friends trying to help, but one of the others saw an advert in the local paper that she thought might help. It suggests that we never check our tax situation, and your tax rebate might be hanging around in one of their suspended accounts, just waiting for you to claim it. The message with the heading ‘NO WIN NO FEE’ drew the eye, so she telephoned them.  

There was a period of silence followed by a letter informing her of excellent news. 
They had discovered some money owed to her, and an email would follow. It did, and the good news was that the tax office had sent the money to them, and all she had to do was verify a few details, after which the solicitors would send her a cheque.

This is where I came in because she is not good at online procedures and asked me to help her with the verification process. They needed the standard security details (date of birth, NI number, Address photocopies of her passport and a recent bill proving her address). We did all that, and an FAQ and its answer a little lower down on the computer form left her hopeful but me a little suspicious. It read…  

‘When will I get my cheque?

Any verification documents received by midnight Sunday will be processed for payment the following Tuesday.’

The implication was that a cheque would be forthcoming.

After a week, 40 minutes of waiting on the phone and then being passed from department to department, she was able to ask what happened to her cheque. 

She was told that they had posted it, but there was a problem with how it had been prepared, so they would now need her bank account number and sort code details so that they could send her money by bank transfer instead.  

So, they have, in effect, managed to get her bank details, name, and address. NI number and virtually half of the money that she was entitled to, and it was all above board because the details of the conditional 48% fee was in the small print.

Technically, they did not scam her because she contacted them having seen their advert, and all the details were hidden in that small print.

But there story is not finished yet!

KT, Beckenham

We at LPG thought this story worth serialising.  We will post part two a little later in the week…