The Carbon Platform is a Dubai-based company offering investment in the Carbon Compliance Market, as well as the opportunity to make yourself carbon neutral or your company green. The company is currently updating its website. “Too busy making everyone green…!” an announcement explains.
The Carbon Platform website was registered on 12 June 2012, by Mark Wallingford, chief executive of a real estate company called Dubai Property Portal. Wallingford has close links with Smith & Ken, another real estate company in Dubai. (Between them, the two companies have registered a large number of Dubai real estate websites. Wallingford would probably call this search engine optimisation, others call it link farming – a way of increasing the companies’ ratings in Google searches.)
The Carbon Platform’s phone number is listed on Smith & Ken’s website as belonging to “Smith & Ken’s preferred Mortgage partner, Oxygen Home Loans”.
Smith & Ken claims to have “gone green” by buying carbon credits from The Carbon Platform.
I tried to download the company’s brochure, but after filling in my details and clicking the “Download” button, nothing happened, except that a message appeared congratulating me: “You’ve taken your first most important steps in being green!” I wrote to the email address on the company website, but it bounced, with the following error message:
According to its website, The Carbon Platform has an office in London. But the company is not (as far as I can tell) registered in the UK, and there are 1,743 companies registered at the postcode in London. It is almost certainly a mail forwarding address or a virtual office.
Last year, The Carbon Platform was recruiting. The company’s adverts say a great deal about the company’s planned operations:
The successful candidates will be working closely with the Sales Manager, based in our Open Plan Dubai Office, selling the services of the company to corporate and private individuals who wish to either go green or have a green ethical investment into the compliance market to help diversify their portfolio. Day to day activities involve Telesales to the company’s client base.
Employees will make sales calls, increase their knowledge of carbon market, educate people about the importance of going green and inform “prospects” about the carbon market and how and why it was created. The company provides “Guaranteed Leads and Database to contact” and offers 10% commission on all transactions (which it claims is the highest in the market) and added commission “for Brokers on Re-Sales by Sales Manager”.
Skills needed for the job include sales experience. Apparently no experience of carbon markets is necessary – The Carbon Platform explains that it “can train anyone with sales experience”. The ideal candidate, according to the job advert, will (amongst other things):
- Have a Good Telephone Manor [sic] (as will be speaking to clients mainly over the phone)
- Have an Ability to Work as a Tam [sic]
- Demonstrate Objection Handling Skills
From this description, The Carbon Platform sounds an awful lot like a boiler room carbon credit operation. REDD-Monitor recommends neither working at The Carbon Platform, nor buying carbon credits from this company. Here’s the advert in full:
Job Title: Carbon Sales Broker / Investment Sales Broker – Dubai
Salary/Rate: £50000 – £100000/annum
Location: Dubai, Non UK
Posted 25/10/2012 (13:09)
Description: Carbon Sales Broker – OTE GBP 60,000 1st Year Based in Dubai, UAE
The Carbon Commodity Market is being talked about as the new Gold! Carbon Sales Brokers are earning between GBP 50,000 – GBP 60,000 in their 1st year!
The Carbon Platform, a Carbon Brokerage focused on helping individuals and corporates becoming green, is looking for Carbon Sales Brokers to join our dynamic and very successful sales team.
Originally from the UK, The Carbon Platform has opened an office in Dubai to cater for the growing demand from companies looking to become Green!
Therefore in order to achieve its 2013 objectives, opportunities are available for:
* 10 Carbon Sales Brokers
* 2 Carbon Sales Managers
Are you ambitious?
Are you hungry for financial rewards?
Do you want to earn GBP 100,000 per year? And all tax free?
Does your current job role offer you the above? Or do you fancy a change? Imagine a life of earning large sums of money, tax free, and in the sunshine every day!
You don’t need to imagine any longer – The Carbon Platform provides this opportunity – Now it’s your turn to take advantage of it.
These exciting roles offer limitless earning potential and great career aspects as we promote only from within. All our existing Compliance Brokers started as Carbon Brokers!
The successful candidates will be working closely with the Sales Manager, based in our Open Plan Dubai Office, selling the services of the company to corporate and private individuals who wish to either go green or have a green ethical investment into the compliance market to help diversify their portfolio. Day to day activities involve Telesales to the company’s client base.
The Carbon Platform is a target driven, innovative and energetic company that offers its employees the right environment to achieve their full potential and personal financial goals. Ongoing training is given to ensure The Carbon Platform remains the leading carbon brokerage in the market place providing the correct information and investment opportunities to its clients.
There are many benefits to being a part of The Carbon Platform team such as:
* Monthly Incentives for Top Performers providing Tailored suits, Luxury cars for the weekend and Weekends Away!
* Quarterly Incentive for Top Performers including holidays to New York, Venice, Paris to name a few!
* Monthly Team Nights Out!
* Bi Annual Company Party!
* Annual Christmas Party!
Hard work does not go unnoticed or unrewarded in The Carbon Platform. The office is a motivational workplace in itself, with a thriving, lively atmosphere with background music and a buzzer and the applause of team mates making successful transactions! To aid the fast paced environment a masseuse visits weekly, a punch bag offers some relief and there is a “Chiller” with massage chairs, internet and X-box to play Fifa 13!
The role includes:
* Educating people of the importance of going green
* Informing prospects of the carbon market and how and why it was created
* Informing prospects on the benefit of going green to their business
* Making Sales Calls
* Servicing Clients
* Increasing own knowledge of carbon market
* Competing for role of team leader
The benefits of this role include:
* 10% commission on all transactions (Highest in market!!)
* Over ride on Teams Monthly Figures for Team Leader
* Company Mobile Phone with SIM Card
* 20 Annual Days Leave + Additional Guaranteed Christmas Leave
* Employment Visa
* Guaranteed Leads and Database to contact
* Monthly incentives for Top Performers
* Added Commission for Brokers on Re-Sales by Sales Manager
The ideal candidate will:
* Possess Sales Experience (We can train anyone with sales experience)
* Have a Good Telephone Manor (as will be speaking to clients mainly over the phone)
* Have an Ability to Work as a Tam
* Demonstrate Objection Handling Skills
* Excellent Work Ethic
* Be Target Driven
* Be Able to Work in a Fast Paced Fun Sales Environment
The Carbon Platform is a Carbon Brokerage with offices in London, UK and Dubai, UAE that specialize in reducing corporate and private green house gas emissions by performing emission audits and offsetting the emissions produced by that company or individual respectively through green energy projects. The Carbon Platform also provides ongoing green strategies through PAS2060 standards and green branding for our corporate clients. The Carbon Platform only recommends investing into the Carbon Marker via the Compliance Market only.
Dear Sir,
I own 1.700 Carbond Credits.
Are you interested in buying them.
If not, could you point some interested addresses ?
Please contact me :
[email protected]
Kind regards,
Eddy vandenberghe
@Eddy Vandenberghe (#1) – Sorry, I’m not interested in buying your carbon credits. In any case, I think you need to provide more details. At the moment, you’re a bit like someone selling a car, who doesn’t say what make of car, how old it is, how many miles it’s done, what price you want, or what condition it’s in.
So, if you could provide the following information, I think that would help:
1. From which project where the carbon credits generated (please include the name of the project and whether it’s a hydropower dam, wind farm, HFC-23 destruction project, or whatever and the country).
2. What is the vintage of the credits? (i.e. when were the credits generated?)
3. Are the credits certified, e.g. under the Verified Carbon Standard, Gold Standard, Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance etc.
4. Where are the credits registered?
5. Where did you buy the carbon credits? Did you buy the carbon credits as a result of a telephone call from a company offering them as an investment?
If you bought the carbon credits from a company based in the UK and you believe that you are the victim of fraud, please contact Action Fraud (telephone number 0300 123 2040).
Thanck you Mr Chris Lang,
Your answer was very instructive : direct and informative.
Kind regards,
Eddy Vandenberghe
Chris
I appear to be a victim of the carbon credit scam. In August 2012 I was approached by a Mr Alan Roscoe of New Frontier Partnership Ltd advising the opportunity to make good returns and also at the same time also contribute to the green programme, He also claimed that their Broker company had been in business for four years and were regulated by the FSA.
After a number of email exchanges and a lot of information on VCS credits, in September 2012 I agreed to invest and paid £3,450.00 for 500 Carbon credits through Eco Synergies for the Sichuan Xixi river Hydro scheme Luogu Hydroelectric Project in China and was sent the certification. Everything appeared to be above board and when I was contacted again by Mr Roscoe in November with a proposal with a high potential profit with Hyundai credits I advised him that I was not able to invest further, he proposed to sell 50% of the Eco Synergies holding that would pay a good proportion of the cost of the Hyundai credits, I agreed and paid the £2,300.00 for the 500 credits, the purchase was through CNI which again appeared to be genuine with their association with a number of major companies and were again regulated by the FSA. When I received the certification in January from CNI I fond that the credits were for the 439 Yingpeng HFC23 power generation Project in China I contacted CNI who stated that the instructions for purchase from New Frontier was for the above project.
I have been constantly in touch with Mr Roscoe about the sale of 50% of the original purchase and the sale of the Eco Synergies credits I was kept being advised that he was dealing with the issue up to the point where he did not respond to calls, letters and emails up to the point now where the companies New Frontier, CNI and Eco Synergies are not contactable and appear to have disappeared back into the woodwork.
Apart from loosing my savings I feel quite an idiot for being scammed this way, I am sure that there are people out there who feel too embarrassed to publicly reveal the scams. I would certainly welcome any advise you could give in this matter.
Regards
Tom Arnott
@T C Arnott (#4) – I’m very sorry to hear about this.
There are various things you can do. First read about the companies involved – I’ve written four posts on REDD-Monitor about Carbon Neutral Investments and associated companies:
28 November 2012: Another boiler room scam? Enviro Associates’ “misleading” claims about carbon credits
8 December 2012: Response from Paul Seakens, Director of Carbon Neutral Investments and Enviro Associates
27 February 2013: Is the Knifton family behind Carbon Neutral Investments?
24 April 2013: “Beware when an investment involves Carbon Neutral Investments,” warns the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority
And all the posts on REDD-Monitor about carbon credit boiler room operations are collected here.
Second, contact Action Fraud: 0300 123 2040. Give them the details of the various companies that sold you carbon credits and where the credits were registered. As well as registering a complaint about the companies involved, you can ask Action Fraud for advice.
Third, a couple of people have given their email addresses in comments on REDD-Monitor in response to questions about filing a class action law suit: here and here.
Hope this is useful!
Steve
Thank you for your response.
Do you think that any of the credits purchased are genuine and is there a register and if so can it be accessed.
Kind Regards
Tom Arnott
@Tom Arnott (#6) – Thanks for your comment.
The problem you have is that you bought carbon credits that are available very cheaply (for well under £1) and you paid very much more than they are worth. The credits may be genuine, but the problem is that you will find it extremely difficult to sell them. I think you should contact the police via Action Fraud and contact other people who are in the same situation as you.
The problems with buying carbon credits as an investment are explained here:
Why you should not buy voluntary carbon credits as an investment: A carbon trader explains
@Tom Arnot (#6) @Chris Lang
Tom,
Below is a comment from HMRC and a link to their brief, I am afraid there is no secondary market at all therefore irrespective if they are genuine or not, there is no possibility to sell them. I am sorry to hear about your situation however, I can assure you that you are not alone. Boiler rooms rely on the fact that victims will keep silent and prefer not to ‘feel an idiot for being scammed’ as you put it.
@Chris Lang’s advice is sound, I would contact Action Fraud and get in to touch with one of the many groups that are starting to form. Once you have dealt with a boiler room your personal contact details become a form of currency for fraudsters and will be sold on to other scammers. Do not be surprised if you are called or emailed regularly with other wonderful offers, such as Rare Earth Metals, Fine Wine, Teak Tree Plantations and the list goes on.
Further, and in marked contrast to the situation with compliance market credits, we have seen no evidence of the existence of a genuine secondary trading market in VERs
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/briefs/vat/brief2810.htm