A company called Noble Rock Partners is cold calling people who have been scammed into buying carbon credits as an investment. The company claims it can sell their carbon credits, provided an upfront fee is paid. It’s a scam, of course.
Over the past couple of weeks, several people have left comments on REDD-Monitor, to say that someone from Noble Rock Partners has rung them up with offers to sell their carbon credits:
- Nicholas Young from Noble Rock Partners phoned “Jeremy” and told him he could convert his voluntary carbon credits into “Emission Reductions”. A “Swedish company” wanted to offset its emissions and was prepared to buy Jeremy’s carbon credits for almost double what they had cost Jeremy. For the deal to go ahead, Jeremy would have to hand over an advance fee of 32 pence per credit.
- Richard Atkinson from Noble Rock Partners phoned “rosemary oates” with an offer of selling all her carbon credits. Rather than paying an advance fee, she suggested paying a percentage on completion of the sale. She hasn’t heard from Noble Rock since.
- Peter James from Noble Rock Partners phoned “baj”. When the paperwork arrived from Noble Rock Partners, it mentioned a Swedish company called Asio Capital. But no contact details were given for Asio Capital. When “baj” asked why he couldn’t find the company’s website, James told him, “It’s because they are based in Sweden.”
- Richard Atkinson from Noble Rock Partners phoned “Vic. Outram” offering a “corporate re-diversion” of his voluntary carbon credits. The re-diverted credits would be sold on 10 June 2015, “at a huge profit”.
Noble Rock Partners’ expertise also extends to wine. Jim Budd writes on the investdrinks blog that a message from TJ was passed on to him from a wine company:
- Peter James from Noble Rock Partners phoned “TJ” and quizzed him about his wine portfolio. James said that he could “guarantee a sale around £58,000”. Provided TJ handed over an advance fee of £5,800, that is.
Noble Rock Partners started business two months ago
Noble Rock Partners Ltd was registered in the UK in December 2012 under the name 1st Network Limited. Philip Elman has been the company’s sole director since December 2014. The company changed its name to Noble Rock Partners on 10 December 2014 and its website was registered on 22 December 2014.
The company’s founding director was Darren Symes. The last time I wrote about Symes, in November 2014, I noted that he has a lot of directorships: 161 active, 59 closed, and 604 retired. These figures have now increased to 184 active, 60 closed, and 630 retired directorships.
Claremont Partnership and Noble Rock Partners
Symes was also the founding director of a company called Claremont Partnerships. And the similarities between Claremont Partnerships and Noble Rock Partners don’t end there.
The text on the two companies’ website is almost identical. (Claremont Partnerships’ website has now disappeared, but you can see an archived copy here.)
As Jim Budd points out on investdrinks, in places the two companies’ websites are actually identical:
Clearly someone at Noble Rock Partners wasn’t paying attention when they cut and pasted Claremont Partnerships’ website.
Claremont Partnerships and Noble Rock Partners offer almost identical company brochures (the main difference being the change of names). Noble Rock’s brochure includes the statement:
On behalf of our clients, we manage £27.4 million* and advise on over £132.6 million* through our NRIM (Noble Rock Investment Management) team.
The numbers were the same in Claremont Partnerships’ brochure. Let’s hope that the numbers are fictitious. (There is no explanation in either brochure of the asterisk after the word “million”.)
More than 500 companies registered in a house in North London
Claremont Partnerships and Noble Rock are 100% owned by Paramount Properties (UK) Ltd. Paramount Properties (UK) has 325 subsidiaries. (In November 2014, it had 284.) It’s run out of a terraced house in North London, and there are more than 500 companies are registered at this address. (That’s the house on the right, on google maps.)
If you have been contacted by Noble Rock Partners (or Claremont Partnerships) with offers of selling your carbon credits, or if you have handed over any money to Noble Rock Partners (or Claremont Partnerships), REDD-Monitor’s advice is to contact Action Fraud:
Thanks for posting this . I contacted FCA and reported NRP to them. Others might to do likewise as they will take action if a number of people complain. I suggest the Fraud Squad raid the N London house ….
Best wishes
@Jeremy (#1) – As I pointed out the last time I wrote about Paramount Properties (UK): “There are more than 500 companies registered at this address. There’s probably nothing illegal about that.”
Paul Seakens, formerly of Carbon neutral Investments, seem to be at the helm of OPUS CAPITAL or OPUS CARBON REGISTRY and is offering to sell my carbon credits. Sounds genuine – does anyone out there have any experience with these people?
@barry (#3) – There’s a search box at the top of the website. You’ll find lots of posts about Paul Seakens on REDD-Monitor.
Earlier this month, the High Court in London shut down 19 companies, including CNI (UK) Ltd:
Another 19 carbon credit boiler room scams bite the dust. Including (not before time) Carbon Neutral Investments