Elderly father who was duped into £25k debt by scam company Marks Art: And TONY HETHERINGTON finds the culprit in Cyprus
Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
Ms F.M. writes: My father, in his late 80s, has art apparently worth about £78,000, purchased from Marks Art.
Last year he was duped into paying more than £25,000 in fees linked to a promised sale.
He was told to pay VAT, then insurance costs, then bank charges, and finally he was told the deal fell through.
Tony Hetherington replies: Marks Art was a scam when I first warned against it last September. And it is still a scam today. Its website boasts: 'Since early 2017, we've been the pioneers of innovation, setting a golden standard for artists, investors, and galleries alike.' Not bad for an investment business whose accounts show it was dormant until 2020.
Spotted: Tony traced Mark Steven Smith to a village called Incesu in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
But the lies told to victims are worse. Marks Art issued forged media reports – said to be from the BBC and the Daily Telegraph – praising a woman artist nicknamed 'Mrs Banksy', and your father, Mr W, invested £15,520.
Mark Steven Smith, who owns the scam company, protested that he had been given the forgeries by someone else. I told him point blank that this did not give him the right to profit from fraud, and he returned your father's £15,520.
This was just one small part of your father's losses though. He paid £7,500 to Art Store and Insure Limited so his pictures would be safe. Yet this business told Companies House it was not trading. I wonder whether it told the tax man the same thing. The company was compulsorily struck off last year. Who owned it? Surprise, surprise – it was Mark Steven Smith.
Under pressure from Marks Art, your father ended up deeply in debt. You appealed to the banks and card issuers he used to pay Marks Art. They were Lloyds Bank and M&S Bank, so I contacted them and offered evidence that the art company cheats its investors.
This cannot have been an easy investigation for either bank. They had to decide whether your father had been cheated over every separate purchase. But the refunds began to flow. Lloyds had already decided to refund more than £13,000, it said, and then it went further and repaid almost £3,000 for two art purchases made as far back as 2018.
M&S Bank told me it looked into 18 transactions. Four recent deals were refunded under chargeback rules. The rest have since been investigated under the Section 75 consumer protection rule and your father has been repaid in full except for one purchase which unfortunately exceeded the £30,000 allowed by Section 75.
Lloyds found some payments went to other companies connected to Smith. Although chargeback rules did not apply, the bank generously repaid a further £27,500 as a gesture of goodwill. It told me: 'Keeping our customers safe from fraud is our priority and we have a great deal of sympathy for Mr W as the victim of a scam.'
You told me: 'I honestly can't thank you enough for all you are doing. Dad turned 89 this week and treated himself to a new hearing aid. He has been able to clear all his debts, and has some left over to keep in the bank. The difference this has made to him is hard to put into words.'
One final point. When I first sounded the alarm, I reported that Marks Art was recruiting a telephone sales team, offering earnings totalling £120,000. The jobs were in Northern Cyprus, and Smith explained: 'The warmer climate and lower expenses make it more attractive than the prices and weather in London.'
Now though, I can reveal the real reason for Smith's choice of location.
Meanwhile...
Wanted: Mark Steven Smith
Mark Steven Smith is a wanted man. Not for the art fraud he runs, but for doing a runner from a court hearing which sentenced him to four years in jail. I traced him to a village called Incesu in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
In March 2017, he was driving his Range Rover on the M25 in Surrey when it was in a minor collision with a Renault Clio. Minutes later, the Range Rover stopped at traffic lights on an exit slip road. A woman passenger got out of a Mercedes which was also at the lights, and reports say there was an argument about the earlier collision.
The Range Rover then hit the woman and drove away. She was taken to hospital with multiple broken ribs, a fractured shoulder and an injury to her leg. Police later arrested Mark Steven Smith for offences including driving while disqualified, driving while uninsured and failing to stop after an accident.
In June 2018, Smith was convicted at Kingston Crown Court of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He failed to appear for sentencing, and was given a four-year jail term in his absence. Victims of his art scam say they have been contacted by police in London who are investigating Marks Art.
And police in Surrey want him so he can begin four years behind bars. Smith himself told me: 'Tony, this was not me. I had nothing to do with this. I myself and my team have researched it. Seems there is another Mark Smith with this offence.'
Well, here is a police custody picture of Mark Steven Smith the dangerous driver. He is from the same area as Mark Steven Smith the art fraudster. And they share the same date of birth. What are the odds?
The UK has no extradition treaty with Northern Cyprus, though the authorities there could kick Smith out. Or he could get on a plane and return to England. I'll meet him at the airport, and I am sure Surrey Police would be glad to attend. If the police have got the wrong man, I'll even write the headline myself: Art Fraudster Framed. How about it, Mark?
If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email [email protected]. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.