Wine scam victim's warning as fraudsters are jailed

Terry Fleming, 81, invested £40,000 over two years in what he thought was a profitable scheme

A pensioner who ploughed £40,000 into a fraudulent wine investment scheme has warned others not to fall for similar scams after three men were jailed.

Terry Fleming, 81, from Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, said he invested the money over two years believing he would make a profit, but eventually had to sell the bottles at a considerable loss.

Three men who stole at least £6m from 41 victims in the scheme were given prison terms to at St Albans Crown Court on Friday.

Mr Fleming said the scam "sounded believable" but the men only "cared about how much money they were going to make".

Benjamin Cazaly, 43, of Coach House, Orpington, south-east London, was jailed for six and a half years; Dominic D'Sa, 46, of Oxford Avenue, Wimbledon, south-west London, for four and a half years; and Gregory Assemakis, 40, of Plaistow Grove, Bromley, south-east London, for three and a half years.

They had been found guilty of fraudulent trading in August.

Cazaly founded Imperial Wines of London in 2008.

It claimed to be a family-run investment house with offices in Paris and Hong Kong.

In reality, it was a call centre in an office building in Groveland Court, London, which was raided by trading standards in November 2018.

An investigation by Hertfordshire Trading Standards found £37m passed through Imperial Wine & Spirits Merchants' accounts during the 10 years it was trading.

The company had the mantra "no means yes" written on the wall

The mantra "no means yes" was written on the wall, and they used films such as The Wolf of Wall Street to learn manipulation tricks.

Cold callers used fake names and followed scripts - found when the office was raided - to persuade pensioners to hand over their money.

Victims were sent glossy brochures that used logos from the Daily Telegraph and the Financial Times without permission.

Hertfordshire County Council said the jury was played a recording where a confused woman was asked for payment card details despite not knowing what a card was or who she banked with.

It said the long-running scam saw pensioners convinced to spend their life savings on wine investments which had vastly inflated prices.

Investors were told the company did not make money unless the wine was sold at a profit.

Mr Fleming said: "It sounded believable.

"It didn't seem like you were paying a small price and getting a huge return, it would be an average purchase price and a reasonable profit selling price."

But staff from Imperial Wines of London kept contacting him.

"They offered me better and better deals," he said.

"Instead of just a slight profit, these were really good wines that were going to make a lot of money. I said 'no, no, no' and they kept coming back trying to sell me more and more wine."

What Mr Fleming didn't realise was that the bottles he was paying £2,000 for were only worth £400. In the end he had to sell them at a loss.

"They sold some of it for me at a loss but some of the wine just disappeared," he said.

"I just gave up in the end. All they cared about was how much money they were going to make. "

Victims were overcharged in the wine investment scheme, sometimes by 400%, National Trading Standards said

Trish Burls, from National Trading Standards, said: "Victims in this case lost thousands of pounds through a co-ordinated scam of lies, deceit and manipulation.

"The criminals exploited people's passion and enthusiasm, preying on them to invest while stripping many of their life savings and causing significant emotional distress."

Ajanta Hilton, executive member for community safety at Hertfordshire County Council, added: "The stories of those targeted with this investment scam are devastating.

"I'd like to thank them for their bravery in telling their stories so that these callous criminals could be brought to justice."

Mr Fleming said he is speaking out to prevent other people from falling for similar scams.

"However smooth and nice they seem, they're not," he said.

"The nicer they seem, the worse they are.

"A lot of people I know didn't cope, and it must have been terrible for them because their lives have been ruined.