We lost our £300,000 life 貯金 to an 投資 fraudster who spent it on jet 始める，決める lifestyle
September 3, 2018,?is a date that will stick forever in my memory. It was not 示すd by some joyous occasion ― the date one of our two daughters got married, or the 安全な arrival of a beloved grandchild.
Nor was it the date on which Gareth, 70, my husband of more than 40 years, retired from his 職業 as a ship’s 長，指導者 engineer.
No, it was the day we discovered our life 貯金 ― £300,000 ― had been stolen. Our world fell apart.
Gareth has worked for １０年間s in a high-圧力 職業 on the ocean to 供給する a good life for me and our two daughters. His 職業 means he has 行方不明になるd so much time at home with us in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.
So, in 早期に 2017, we started to think about his 退職, which would 許す us to see more of our daughters and grandchildren.
法廷，裁判所 fight: Gareth and Marilyn Hamblin lost their £300,000 life saving s to a heartless fraudster and were 軍隊d to take his bank to 法廷，裁判所 to recoup some of their cash
We decided to 投資する our nest egg to help make these 退職 dreams a reality. Gareth was browsing online when a company called CEX Markets popped up.
He filled out an 使用／適用 form and by April that year was in 正規の／正選手 接触する with a man who called himself Paul Kingsley from CEX. Paul talked the talk, but wasn’t at all pushy. We 設立する this 安心させるing.
We were told our 投資, which would be in foreign 交流, would 生成する 月毎の returns of around 1.48 per cent, 税金-解放する／自由な.
Gareth knew the foreign 為替市場 is volatile, but thought the return was favourable while not 存在 so high as to be unrealistic.
We decided to 実験（する） the water by depositing £5,000. We were 満足させるd with our 接近 to the account, the fact we had a point of 接触する with CEX, and that they weren’t 積極的な salesmen.?
Happy with the return on our 投資, we 投資するd a その上の £300,000 by the end of the year in two large deposits.
Although Gareth has always been more comfortable 取引，協定ing with our major 財政上の 問題／発行するs, I decided to do my own 研究, 含むing into Moorwand ― the company 指名するd on our invoices from CEX and to which we transferred our 基金s.
I searched for Moorwand on Companies House and didn’t like what I saw ― the 商売／仕事 had grown 速く and had a number of 指名するd (n)役員／(a)執行力のあるs, which made me worry there could have been too much change at the 最高の，を越す.
I 表明するd my 関心s to Gareth and he 接触するd Mr Kingsley at CEX, who 保証するd us the account was 規制するd by the 財政上の 行為／行う 当局.
This 明らかな 空気／公表する of legitimacy, I 収容する／認める, gave us peace of mind.
We were その上の 満足させるd when Gareth arranged to 会合，会う Mr Kingsley in London on shore leave.?
The CEX （警察，軍隊などの）本部 appeared to be in a swish, shiny office 封鎖する in the heart of the City, the 代表者／国会議員s wore expensive 控訴s, they were knowledgeable and 井戸／弁護士席 spoken. Everything had the veneer of respectability.
詐欺 中心人物: Jonathan Arafiena squandered his 犠牲者s' 貯金 on cars, watches, gold bullion and expensive 所有物／資産／財産 賃貸しのs
Gareth was told Mr Kingsley had been called away on 緊急の 商売／仕事 in Copenhagen ― we knew the company had links to Denmark, so it did not seem 怪しげな.?
Anyway, a 同僚 was able to 接触する Mr Kingsley on the phone from the office, and all seemed 井戸／弁護士席.
Over the next few months, Gareth continued to 監視する the account. Our nest egg was growing, and our 退職 dream was 辛勝する／優位ing closer.
But on September 3, 2018, when Gareth had a break while at sea, he tried to スピードを出す／記録につける on to the account but could not get on to the website.
CEX then 辞退するd to return telephone calls and emails. Our life 貯金 had been stolen. I remember the 緊急の, frantic phone call from Gareth. ‘We’ve been scammed’, he said. I could sense the 静かな panic in my usually 静める husband’s 発言する／表明する.
He was so distraught that I was 関心d for his safety ― 特に as we were separated by 6,000 miles. 最初 I was too traumatised to believe it could be true. ‘It must be a mistake,’ I thought. I felt helpless.
But I knew I had to 静める 負かす／撃墜する 十分に to think straight.
Then questions began flooding my 長，率いる: if it is a scam, what avenues do I have open to me to 回復する the money? Who should I 接触する first?
That’s when I decided we were not going to take it lying 負かす／撃墜する. We needed to fight 支援する. And so began a 戦う／戦い for 司法（官）.
Scam 犠牲者s 普通は go to their bank to ask for reimbursement. But we didn’t because we didn’t think we would have a 事例／患者 as we could not remember whether we had been given scam 警告s by our bank NatWest before we transferred our money.?
We also thought it would not be an 選択 because the bank could argue that we transferred our money of our own （許可，名誉などを）与える.
We 接触するd 活動／戦闘 詐欺, giving them as much 証拠 as we could.
We then went to our family solicitors to ask for help. They had no experience in this field, but put us in touch with 法律 会社／堅い BrookStreet des Roches and its 専門家 Philip Shaw, who soon 新採用するd his long 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 counsel, Alex Hill-Smith.
High roller: Arafiena's £205,000 Rolls Royce. He also spent £250,000 to 支払う／賃金 off his parents’ mortgage
At last, there was a 打開. 活動／戦闘 詐欺 began to sense we weren’t alone, and that there were dozens, 得点する／非難する／２０s ― hundreds even ― of people with a 類似の experience at the 手渡すs of CEX. City of London Police began 調査／捜査するing.
The 事例／患者 was 複雑にするd, so it was in February this year, nearly six years after we realised we had been scammed, that we finally got a taste of 司法（官）.?
Three men were 罪人／有罪を宣告するd of their 役割 in a sophisticated boiler room 詐欺, where 冷淡な 報知係s 説得するd would-be 投資家s into parting with their life 貯金 on the 約束 of handsome returns.
At least 350 people across the UK were known to have 投資するd in the scam, although police believe others have not come 今後 予定 to 当惑 or having died.
Some of us got to know one another, 株ing awful stories of how the ordeal has 影響する／感情d us ― there was talk of marriage 崩壊（する）, 破産 and suicidal thoughts. Our experiences couldn’t have been その上の away from the lifestyle of the 詐欺 中心人物 Jonathan Arafiena.
Those of us who went to Southwark 栄冠を与える 法廷，裁判所 to see Arafiena 刑務所，拘置所d for five years and nine months were aghast to learn that millions of 続けざまに猛撃するs of 犠牲者s’ money was blown on expensive cars, 高級な holidays and penthouse apartments. He even spent £250,000 to 支払う／賃金 off his parents’ mortgage. Our money was gone.
Looking at the 直面する of Arafiena, it was hard to believe such a seemingly innocuous character, raised in a good family, could be 主要な a ギャング（団） of fraudsters who had 原因（となる）d 苦しむing to the lives of so many hundreds of hard-working, honest people.
Arafiena was able to 搾取する us by giving the impression of running a reputable company. But in reality, 投資家s’ 身元s were 存在 used to open sham companies, which would then open bank accounts, to launder the money.
Most banks have 強健な 手続きs to 妨げる this type of 詐欺. But we felt Moorwand, with whom £160,000 of our money was banked and then 孤立した without our knowledge, did not have an 適する system in place. So we 告訴するd them. This was our last chance to get our money 支援する.
We were aware of the 規模 of the 仕事. We were two pensioners, with little knowledge of the 法律.
Trinkets: Some of Jonathan Arafiena's collection of expensive watches. In total the fraudster was 設立する to have stolen millions of 続けざまに猛撃するs from around 350 犠牲者s
So it was with trepidation that we とじ込み／提出するd into courtroom 57 at the 王室の 法廷，裁判所s of 司法（官） on the 立ち往生させる in central London over three 緊張した days this month. This （人命などを）奪う，主張する 関係のある to £160,000 that we lost when we 投資するd in the fraudulent 計画／陰謀 operated by CEX Markets.?
The sum was paid into an account in the 指名する of RND 全世界の ― a sham 会社／堅い run by fraudsters, and held with Moorwand. It was then 孤立した by the fraudsters, leaving us with nothing.
Our 事例／患者 was that the loss occurred as a result of a 違反 of 義務 by Moorwand in what we said were 失敗s to make reasonable 調査s before permitting withdra wals, and that Moorwand was therefore liable to 回復する the account to the 明言する／公表する in which it would have been had the 撤退s not been made.
That would have meant it could refund us the money. When our solicitor first approached Moorwand, its 態度 was that we were not a direct 顧客 and so it had no 義務／負債 for the money we had ゆだねるd to it 経由で CEX.?
Tranches of 文書s were submitted to the 裁判官, His Honour 示す Raeside KC, with both our lawyer Alex and Moorwand’s 代表者／国会議員 directing him to previous 事例／患者s and areas of 法律.
No 証言，証人／目撃するs were called save for me and Gareth. At times it almost felt like we were on 裁判，公判, the way Moorwand’s courteous but 法廷の lawyer 選ぶd 穴を開けるs in our argument.
Neither of us would consider ourselves stupid, but we left the courtroom at the end of that first day feeling deflated, as though we had done something wrong when our only error was our perceived ‘foolish naivety’, as our own counsel put it.
Our lawyer told the 法廷，裁判所 that Moorwand had behaved in a way which was ‘blind to dishonesty’, and said that if there was any 司法（官）, it belonged to Gareth and me. 最終的に, the 裁判官 支配するd yesterday that there was no 違反 of 義務 of care by Moorwand and 解任するd our （人命などを）奪う，主張する.
We are of course disappointed. This 戦う／戦い has been stressful, depressing and 高くつく／犠牲の大きい. We believe dirty money is rife in this country and it has to stop.
Going after our own money was always going to be a high-危険 戦略, financially.
We were able to have our day in 法廷，裁判所 after our 合法的な team kindly decided to take this 事例／患者 on the basis that we would not 支払う／賃金 them if we lost. Before we brought the （人命などを）奪う，主張する, we knew what the possible 結果s could be. Now, we stand to be 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d an enormous sum for the other 味方する’s costs.
Sadly, this means bringing this type of 活動／戦闘 is beyond the reach of many 詐欺 犠牲者s as the costs are just too high.
For now, I think, the fight is over. Gareth still 計画（する）s to retire. And after six years of 苦痛, sleepless nights, self-非難する, 怒り／怒る and 失望／欲求不満, we are ready to put this horrid 一時期／支部 of our lives behind us and enjoy life again.
As told to Ryan Hooper
