Banc 54/ Hortense holdings
Hi all
I registered for an account with Banc54 at b54.com on 4/12/2013
I waited a while for a registration/login email to come through but nothing arrived. Normally you get an instant email. After about 30 minutes, someone called Henry Shaw called me, said he was ‘my broker’ and stated that he would set my account up correctly for me.
I then stated that I would be depositing the minimum 500 Euros, and he stayed on skype with me whilst I filled out the details online, and paid the 500 euros with debit card.
He stated that he would call the next day and discuss various strategies etc (usual binary broker speak, I have a couple of other accounts so I know the system). So far so good.
At 17.50 GMT that day, someone called Steve then phoned, saying he was from Banc54. He said that he was calling to set me up with a demo account, so I could practise the strategies with Henry without risking any money. I told him I didn’t want one as i had a live account, but he insisted, and said he would set it up anyway, and send me an email to confirm. He also said that Henry would call me at 11.30am the next day for the strategy chat.
I did not receive an email from him.
The next morning, I happened to open my online banking to make a transaction, and noticed to my absolute horror that apart from the 500 Euros that I have set up the account with, another 4,500 Euros had gone out of my account!!!! I immediately went on to the online chat, and spoke to a Meredith Jones. She apparently went to listen to the call that the man Steve made, and according to her I absolutely agreed and authorised the removal of 4,500 euros from my account!
That’s pretty unbelievable by any stretch of the imagination. I might be getting on a bit, but I run a couple of businesses and have a degree of intelligence. I would never ever authorise that sort of transaction from my account.
I asked the bank to stop the pending debit card transfer, and they said they actually couldn’t. I would have to let the transfer go through, and then try and get it back afterwards. (I can see their point – I could have bought high value tangible goods and then cancelled the pending debit card transaction).
So – where do I go from here? I guess I have two choices. The first is to contact Barclays, and make an unauthorised transaction claim. The second is to get my documents verified with Banc54 and try and make a withdrawal. Somehow I don’t think that is going to happen.
none of my calls, skype calls and emails are being returned.
I will provide an update – in the meantime, I suggest you all stay well away from Banc54, or indeed, Hortense Holdings (which the payment was made to apparently).
Thanks for listening. I am still reeling from the shock of someone emptying my bank account without my permission. Stay well away!
