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Fraudster company imitates Diageo to scam investors
A criminal organisation operating under the name Diageo Partners Ltd has been scamming customers out of money by pretending to be the genuine article.
A corporate piracy scam involving a company calling itself Diageo Partners Ltd has been rumbled. The fake organisation has been passing itself off as the genuine Diageo in order to scam would-be investors out of money.
As reported in The Mirror, the scam begins with emails that claim to be from Martin Lewis’s Money Saving Expert, recommending that the reader invests in Diageo to secure up to 3.5% interest with bonds that “come with Financial Services Compensation Scheme protection”.
However, the messages sent from the email address sales@diageopartners.co.uk have no connection with either Money Saving Expert or the real Diageo.
According to Companies House, the body through which all UK companies must officially register, Diageo Partners Ltd was formed in October 2021 with one director listed, 36-year-old Adem Bessim.
A fake office address was registered for the company and a video on the Diageo Partners Ltd website has an embedded 0208 phone number that is different to the one on its contacts page.
The Financial Conduct Authority flagged a warning over this same number in January, saying it was being used by scammers cloning finance giant Wells Fargo Securities International.
Website developer Nxt Generation, which created the Diageo Partners website, told a reporter that “We are in the digital creative business and whilst we do run promotion campaigns on behalf of clients, we believe it’s up to clients to ensure their business does what they tell us it does and do.”
The spokesperson for Nxt Generation continued: “I personally know brands like Johnnie Walker and Guinness, but before I Googled ‘Diageo PLC’ I didn’t know that Diageo PLC was the owner.”
Diageo proper has been alerted to the imitation scam and external lawyers acting on its behalf have issued cease and desist notifications to Diageo Partners Ltd.
“We are aware of the unlawful use of our company name and have taken appropriate legal action, including reporting the matter to the Financial Conduct Authority and Action Fraud,” a Diageo spokesperson told the drinks business.
However, according to The Mirror, a Company Names Tribunal takes a minimum of three months to make a ruling – longer if there’s an objection. During this time, criminals can continue to hoodwink consumers and reap the rewards through imitating a genuine company.
The UK government is looking into holes in the Companies House registration process that allowed for such a similar name to be registered in the first place. It is thought that a new ‘querying power’ may come into play to prevent such scammers targeting consumers in future before they are permitted to join the register. Diageo is said to be in favour of this action.