'Tipster' has 'misleading' advertisements banned
A bogus racing tipster who conned thousands of customers in a scam that earned him £300,000 (€371,993) has been banned from placing misleading advertisements by the High Court, it was revealed.
Denis McCarthy sent out mailings offering expert horse racing tipster services under the name D&E Associates, with membership costing up to £397 (€492).
The Office for Fair Trading (OFT) said it believes that more than 4,000 people sent money in response to the letters, netting Mr McCarthy an estimated £300,000 (€371,993).
When the OFT investigated, no trace was found of the supposed “experts” behind D&E Associates – ’Peter Deegan’ and ’Christopher Emmerson’.
The letters claimed that ’Deegan’ “had been involved with horse racing for nearly 40 years”, and had worked as a “private handicapper for the biggest punter/owner in the UK”, while ’Emmerson’ was “extremely well known within the racing fraternity” and knew “all the horses in training in the UK”.
The OFT said further misleading claims were made about the past success of the tipping service. The letters claimed that the company had netted “over £350,000 (€434,148) clear tax-free profit in the previous six years” and promised members huge returns of “over £2,000 (€2,480) per week tax free”.
Following action by the OFT, the High Court granted an injunction against Mr McCarthy when he failed to provide any evidence to substantiate these claims.
The injunction prohibits the West Sussex-based trader from continuing to publish misleading advertisements promoting tipster services. If he breaches the injunction he can be held in contempt of court and fined, imprisoned or have his assets seized.
Mike Haley, director of consumer protection at the OFT, said: “These mailings used fictitious names and false claims to mislead thousands of consumers into sending money in the belief they would have access to a successful tipster service. We will continue to take strong action against those behind such scams.”
The OFT said it estimates that the public lose at least £5m (€6.2m) every year to bogus racing tipsters.
