Ward & Co Insolvency Practitioners Scam

Ward & Co Insolvency Practitioners Scam.

We have been contacted by a few investors and by a genuine Claims Management Company called ACL Consultancy regarding an attempt by scammers to persuade victims to send them “insurance” money. The scam company is operating under the name of Ward & Co Insolvency Practitioners and here is a LINK to their scam website. It operates under the domain name of wardinsolvencyservices.com.  This domain was purchased by the scammers in March 2022. The website has only been in existence for three months at the time of writing this article.

The website looks very credible and professional.  That is because it has copied pages from genuine websites. For example, the page on High Street GRP has been copied from this page on the ACL Consultancy website – LINK.  ACL Consultancy is a genuine FCA-regulated claims management company which is handling claims on behalf of High Street GRP investors.  The owner of ACL Consultancy has reported this matter to the Financial Conduct Authority.

A check on the UK’s Insolvency Service website reveals that they have no record of Ward & Co being authorised as a licensed insolvency practitioner.  Genuine insolvency practitioners NEVER charge investors.

An investor who we have helped in the past recover money from a different scam, also contacted us about the Ward & Co Insolvency Practitioners scam.  His email and the letter he received is below.

Hi [Name],

I was recently contact by a guy called Richard Yates from this company called Ward & Co. They claim there is an amount of GBP XXXXXX payable to me from High Street Group which will be paid in 2-3 days, but to enable payment I need to take out an insurance (see letter attached) which will cost me in excess of GBP XXXXXX. This seems like a scam to me, do you have any knowledge of this?

To which our reply was brief:

Hi [Name],

It’s a scam. You don’t need any insurance policy to receive a payout. There isn’t any payout.

A redacted version of the letter he received, where all text potentially identifying him has been removed, can be seen below.

Ward & Co Insolvency Scam – Letter Requesting Insurance Payment – REDACTED

Never pay any money to any party claiming to be an insolvency firm or claiming to be representing an insolvency firm.