I lost my entire life savings by falling for investment scam after selling our family home – here’s how I was tricked
A DAD has told how he lost his entire life savings when he fell for an elaborate investment scam after selling his family home.
Borja Ares, 37, feels he has “failed his wife and children” after being duped into handing over £160,000 to professional con artists.
The health worker, who lives in New Zealand, has been tortured by a feeling of “impending doom” since he was tricked by scammers.
He explained that he and his wife Alfiya Laxmidhar, 35, had sold their home on May 1 and wanted to put the cash aside until they had found their dream property.
After paying off their mortgage and combining the total with their savings, they were left with £160,000 to play with.
Borja then began scouring the web for investment opportunities that could grow his savings stash without a lot of risk.
“The idea was to keep it safe,” he told the New Zealand Herald.
The dad soon came across a site that compared term deposit interest rates and entered his details to gauge the potential reward.
But he had unknowingly set the wheels in motion for fraudsters to pounce – and he was quickly contacted by two supposed investors.
Borja says he was approached by two men – one who called himself Simon David and another who went by the name James Higgins.
The pair competed with each other to convince the Spanish-born health worker to take a chance on their investment portfolios.
Simon took the lead in the race after convincing Borja he was sincere and trustworthy, disabling the dad’s wariness.
He said: “He got me in his net from the first second. He was like a really educated and softly spoken Englishman.
“He seemed really sincere and I think that put me off guard. It was like something emotional was activated in me. There was a trust.
“I don’t know how he manipulated me to trust him in this way.”
Simon claimed to be a Citibank investment broker based in Auckland and sent Borja a prospectus detailing a range of investment options.
He insisted his options were triple-A rated, low risk and backed by the renowned bank, before convincing the dad-of-two to sign up for one.
Borja settled for Yorkshire Building Society bond which promised a generous interest rate of 13.5 per cent – but still didn’t spot any red flags.
“It was perfect. I was fully convinced. I felt my money was very safe,” he said.
He also did an online search for Simon David and found a legitimate LinkedIn profile which stated he was a vice president of corporate banking at Citibank – which has now been removed.
Borja, who is waiting to get his New Zealand citizenship, said he intended to do further due diligence to confirm it was legit.
He planned to phone Citibank directly to verify his investment, but was sidelined by work commitments and family affairs.
“And I was truly trusting,” the dad said. “I think I am not a particularly gullible man. I try to be careful. But they got me, they tricked me.”
Alfiya had left the investment in her husband’s hands, who was convinced by David to hike his initial proposal up by £50,000.
The crook even advised Borja on how to split the funds into two transfers as his bank BNZ wouldn’t allow him to transfer the full £160,000 in one day.
But the dad had unknowingly lost his entire life savings – a process that took the scammers just 12 days from the first point of contact.
Borja only realised he had been duped over a week after sending the money while discussing his investment over a family dinner.
When he mentioned the attractive 13.5 per cent interest rate, he came to the horror realisation that it sounded too good to be true.
The father then did an online search for “Citibank scam”, to find a host of other victims who had been conned by the same ruse.
He said: “I was full of delusional ideas that I was going to get my money back. I was like, ‘No, Simon wouldn’t do that to me’.”
After contacting Citibank, his own bank, New Zealand’s Banking Ombudsman and the police, Borja then realised his money was long gone.
He was told the trick was a well-known method of deception and that his bank BNZ should have flagged it when he mentioned he was sending the funds to a Citibank account.
A spokesman for BNZ told the NZ Herald: “While he did mention the transfer was for an investment at Citibank, as he said he was transferring the funds to his own account, our banker processed the transaction.”
Despite their finances being left in tatters and the devastation of being swindled, Borja said his wife has been his rock.
“We are safe, the children are safe, so that’s the solace we take,” he said.
BNZ are now working to see if it can recover any of the family’s money.
Citibank warned scammers were impersonating it and that it did not offer financial products or services to retail clients, or send unsolicited investment offers.