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emAil sCAms
On tHe Rise
Graham Wolverson, an Independent Financial Advisor with Pinnacle Asset and Wealth Management, has over 20 years’ experience in dealing with expatriates’ financial concerns. This month, Graham casts his eye over a number of queries from our readers.
I received an email from the ‘tax authorities’ back home telling me that I have an income tax rebate and they need my bank details to transfer the money. The last time I paid tax there was years ago, surely this can’t be genuine? It isn’t genuine and is one of many scams doing the rounds at the moment. Quite simply, someone is trying to get your bank account details and should they get them, they will no doubt attempt to liberate some of your money. A recent scam included the name of a prominent Middle East bank which was offering to double your salary for six months if you register with them. Registration required you to give all your banking details but fortunately the authorities are onto it and are closing down the website links from the email. More creatively, an email we saw recently, supposedly from VISA, was asking for verification of your details for security reasons. Having looked at the information they were requesting, they could have easily emptied a bank account. Disturbingly, in the region very little information is required to purchase goods or services using someone else’s bank account. You may have noticed that when using a card to make a purchase you are not always required to enter your PIN. Also, the sales assistant fails to check that the signature on the invoice matches the signature on your card.
I have been offshore for many years and have recently been contacted with regards to moving my old UK pension schemes overseas. I have done 30
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some of my own research and there do indeed appear to be advantages to this. My concern is that a lot of what I have found does not always match and I want to make sure I am making the right decision. Under the right circumstances there are many benefits in moving a pension scheme overseas but there is no generic answer to this. Attempting to buy one of these solutions ‘off the shelf’ is not wise. When legislation was introduced in the UK to allow you to move your pension money out of the control of the authorities, many companies offered services to provide a solution. It is an easy concept to sell and the main advantages are generally for tax purposes. However, because these solutions are quite expensive to set up, not all product providers give the full range of offshore solutions and therefore the advisor is limited to what they can offer. It is a minefield and care should be taken as well as professional advice. Simply looking at a website is not going to be enough to make sure you are making the right decision which has expensive consequences if you get it wrong.
I am considering buying a property for investment purposes in my home country and while back in the summer, I checked to see if I could get a mortgage. As I have been away for so long I was told that I couldn’t. One bank did say that even if they could, they would charge me extra interest as I would not be living in the property. Is there a solution?
International mortgages are available to purchase property in a large number of countries and the rates are favourable. Furthermore, they won’t charge you extra if you choose to let the property. If you are employed, you need to show six months’ bank statements from the bank that your salary is paid into. If you are self employed, you need to have two years’ audited accounts. Both scenarios require other various documents on top.
My family and I came to the Gulf with the intention of returning home after a few years, that was 10 years ago. We are now very much settled here and have no intention of leaving. It has occurred to us that although we have a Will that we took out before we came over here, we don’t know if it is suitable for us here? A lawyer would suggest that it is prudent if you have a Will in all of the jurisdictions that you have assets. It has also been suggested by a Will specialist that a single Will should be sufficient as wherever a Will is written, the courts will want to see that your worldwide affairs have been put in order. Should you die here, a local judge will make the decision on how your estate is carved up. A Will would give him a clear indication of what your wishes are. We understand that in the event of a death, the Will can be translated into Arabic and attested before being presented to the judge. The Will specialist we know does this for you as part of their service n Graham welcomes enquiries for financial advice at: graham@yourmoney-matters.com. Peruse the website at: www.yourmoney-matters.com
Qatar Today october 10
9/30/10 3:19:02 PM