The Equity Release Victims Association

While we all hope that Antonio Flores is going to have success with his legal action in Spain there is an alternative course of action that quite a few people have now been taking in the UK. There is no contradiction with what Antonio is doing but should be seen as supplementary to what he is doing and is certainly not in conflict with his actions. IF YOU ARE SIGNED UP WITH THE FLORES GROUP, THERE IS NOT REASON WHY YOU SHOULD NOT REPORT THE CRIME TO THE POLICE IN THE UK AS WELL.

That report of the scam (or fraud to give it the proper name) should be made to the Police “Action Fraud” office in Manchester who are indeed extremely sympathetic and helpful. The website is http://www.actionfraud.police.uk and you should click on the red box “report Fraud”. On the next screen click on the red box “report a fraud” and then on “Financial and Online Fraud”. You will then be asked 2 questions and the answer to the first is obviously “No” and the answer to the second one will be dependent on whether you are resident in Spain or the UK. If Spain then obviously “Only one of the parties in UK” is the answer – that one being Rothschild. You then click “Submit” and then the first option and “Submit” again. You will then be asked to type in the letters and or numbers you see in a box (yes – one of those security things) and follow through with the rest of the questionnaire. It is quite time consuming and it is suggested you have your file handy so you can quote dates and other things such as how much it has, or will, cost you in total.They know that all the victims are elderly and that some are having difficulty filing the report but they have stressed that if people are having difficulty with the computer form then there is always someone ready to help on the phone and if the elderly are having difficulty they do not have to make the call themselves but a friend or relative can do it for them as long as they have the consent of the victim, and they would just have to identify themselves and provide the details of the victim’s name, phone number, date of birth, address, date and amount of loan and general purpose of the complaint etc. He also stressed that they are anxious to help and we should remember that, especially for people who have trouble doing the reporting, they are open on weekdays from 8.00 am till 9.00 PM, and at weekends from 9.00 am till 5.00 PM. All you really have to report, as well as your name address and personal details, is something to the effect that:

“Rothschild conned us into an equity release scheme which they said they had tailor-made for their clients, which would avoid having to pay Spanish Inheritance tax, which was very low risk and used an ultra-cautious approach with a 100% capital guarantee. The truth is that it was all a pack of lies and it was in fact high risk, totally unsuitable for OAPs and the only guarantee was that Rothschild would not lose any money, whereas we now face losing our home due to foreclosure as we cannot pay the interest on the loan and the investment has gone down the pan.” You should also report the date the loan was taken out and the amount involved. Do not complicate matters by mentioning the IFA involved or Guernsey who are irrelevant to this issue in the UK. They were only acting as agents for Rothschild, selling a Rothschild product, and the contract is with Rothschild and that is what we are complaining about.