‘Advisers are well placed to help the misadvised or defrauded’

If a client can log on to a website and see that “their account” is live and the value has gone up — this can be very convincing. They do not want to accept that there are bad reviews online, scam warnings from the Financial Conduct Authority, and that this investment company is not authorised. It can be difficult to accept.

In our experience, many victims of fraud blame themselves for the loss and this is one of the biggest obstacles we have to overcome.

Clients have told us how they feel ashamed and do not want to tell friends or family because they also feel foolish.  

Having the courage to come forward and speak to us about what has happened is usually the first and the most difficult step they take.

Sometimes, they will confide in a friend or family member and they will have encouraged them to seek help.   

We have to visit most of our clients at home and sometimes just getting in the door is difficult

We find that building trust with a prospective client who is coming to terms with losing their life savings through fraud or poor financial advice can take a long time. 

Why would she trust someone in the very profession that has caused the loss in the first place? We all get cast in the same light, and we have to spend a lot of time explaining why and how we might be able to help.  

We have to visit most of our clients at home and sometimes just getting in the door is difficult.  

They are wary of phone calls and smart-talking sales people. Those who have met an unregulated adviser in person will often comment on the flashy car they had.  

Our staff think very carefully about how they will appear to a client. It reminds me of the approach we had to take advising lottery winners when I worked in a private bank — it was very much jeans and T-shirts rather than suits.

I guess this is one of the reasons why I feel advice companies and financial advisers are well placed to help those that have been misadvised or defrauded.

We are used to spending time understanding client circumstances, we appreciate that we need to build trust and we have their best interests at heart.

It can feel like we are counsellors one day, forensic accountants the next, and solicitors the day after

Qualified financial advisers are well placed to understand what has actually happened and experienced enough to guide clients on the way to understanding whether everything is actually lost or to explain there is some hope of recovery.   

Even that confirmation of a total loss can be important, as fraudsters will continue to contact clients who have been defrauded and offer some scheme or other to get their money back if they pay a further fee.  

The bad guys are exceptionally good at this type of confidence trick and we find very well-informed clients have nearly fallen for this. The paperwork, the emails and phone calls are very professional and difficult to spot as fake on a first read.  

There are no Nigerian generals with $100m to share in a poorly written email these days.

Helping customers that have potentially lost everything is also some of the most rewarding work our team has ever done.  

It can be difficult and time-consuming and there is not much help out there from solicitors, the police or even regulators in some cases. It can feel like we are counsellors one day, forensic accountants the next, and solicitors the day after.

On the plus side, we have a wall filled with thank you cards from the customers and families we have helped over the years.  

I find I can be in a supermarket or filling station with a colleague and someone will approach him with tears in their eyes, give him a hug and explain to me how he changed their life.

Needless to say, I have never had a hug or a thank you card from the wealthy families who have saved £1mn-plus in inheritance tax from the financial planning we helped them with.    

Chris Bryans is a senior partner at Richmond Wealth, which is also affiliated with claims company Complaints SOS