(Employment Scam) - Smith&Neats - Accounting company
Help everyone hope you’re all doing well and sadly the same can not be said about me.
As a fresh accounting graduate I did what every normal graduate would do…. Job search on sites like indeed. Unfortunately for me I stumbled across a fraudulent company who prey on fresh graduates like me and I’m here today to warn graduates who may also fall victim to these scams, as I and many many other people did.
The firm goes by the name of “Smith&Neats” and they go after young graduates, promising a 25k salary job (trainee accounting role) after completing a set of training months with them. Their website is filled with spelling mistakes, random texts about unrelated things and the whole site is a laughable nonsense. They have rebranded severely times over the years previously being known as “Blackhill accounting”, “Taslondon accounting” and “Aspec focus”, in order to continue the scheme and not get caught.
I was desperate for a job and applied to loads and loads of places so as u can imagine I was ecstatic when they phoned me up to say I have an interview with them.
The man who done my interview was smartly dressed and spoken but this was all part of the scam and to make it more believable. The scam involves paying for a “training fee” upfront and in my case this was a sum of £800. The man who done my interview said this was needed because people used to “run away” after completing their training and this contribution would enable a full commitment to the company. I found all this A LOAD OF **** and absolutely shocking! Since when did people have to pay for their own development. The man was very pushy about paying for the training.
I eventually “got the job” , if we can even call it that and unfortunately for me and many other innocent graduates and jobseekers, I paid for the training because I had no other job offers and I was desperate to start my journey as an accountant as soon as possible. BIG BIG MISTAKE…!
The company is being run by only a handful of people and unfortunately due to legal matters I can’t name them. They don’t even have a proper office as the address listed if u dive deep into their company history takes u to a random block of building in central London where they don’t even reside and I do wish I had done my proper research before I paid….
During the course of my “training” (I’m on week 2) the lady who carries out the training, makes u meet her online for a few hours where she shows u a bunch of nonsense slides talking about accounting topics I learnt back in my first year at uni. When I asked the lady about my job contract and my salary she would always try to differ the topic and this soon made me suspicious. The phone number she used to call me on, I looked into that phone number and found it was the same phone number linked to the previous companies used to scam others ( Blackhill accounting, Taslondon accounting and aspec focus accounting ) and now under the name of Smith&Neats.
I stumbled across a similar thestudentroom forum posted titled “ [Employment Scam] - TASLondon - Aspec Focus” and this forum goes into even more detail about this scam they are doing, even dating back to 2019/20 when they were called other companies.
This woman is a big time fraudster and her partner from another company back in 2019/20 (can’t mention his name) was given an 18 month suspended prison sentence after being apprehended and taken to court regarding this exact same scheme that’s deceived me now and probably many many other innocent graduates/jobseekers. Just search the previous company names (Taslondon/aspec focus) and you'll find the fraud conviction article in City of London.
I have now reported this to the police and I’m working with them that’s why I can’t say much more about this case and I have also reported them to the trading agency and Fraud Alert. As well as my bank who are working to get my money back.
The money is not important for me it’s the fake promises and deception and crushing the hopes of many graduates and genuine people who want to go somewhere in life. I have wasted a month and a half with these useless people now and also lost a lot of money.
Please guys be careful when applying to jobs or being approached by companies as these scams are on the rise and will target innocent and naive people. I am gonna go hard on these people and guys remember never give ur money away unless ur 100% sure and always trust your gut!
Stay safe guys
As a fresh accounting graduate I did what every normal graduate would do…. Job search on sites like indeed. Unfortunately for me I stumbled across a fraudulent company who prey on fresh graduates like me and I’m here today to warn graduates who may also fall victim to these scams, as I and many many other people did.
The firm goes by the name of “Smith&Neats” and they go after young graduates, promising a 25k salary job (trainee accounting role) after completing a set of training months with them. Their website is filled with spelling mistakes, random texts about unrelated things and the whole site is a laughable nonsense. They have rebranded severely times over the years previously being known as “Blackhill accounting”, “Taslondon accounting” and “Aspec focus”, in order to continue the scheme and not get caught.
I was desperate for a job and applied to loads and loads of places so as u can imagine I was ecstatic when they phoned me up to say I have an interview with them.
The man who done my interview was smartly dressed and spoken but this was all part of the scam and to make it more believable. The scam involves paying for a “training fee” upfront and in my case this was a sum of £800. The man who done my interview said this was needed because people used to “run away” after completing their training and this contribution would enable a full commitment to the company. I found all this A LOAD OF **** and absolutely shocking! Since when did people have to pay for their own development. The man was very pushy about paying for the training.
I eventually “got the job” , if we can even call it that and unfortunately for me and many other innocent graduates and jobseekers, I paid for the training because I had no other job offers and I was desperate to start my journey as an accountant as soon as possible. BIG BIG MISTAKE…!
The company is being run by only a handful of people and unfortunately due to legal matters I can’t name them. They don’t even have a proper office as the address listed if u dive deep into their company history takes u to a random block of building in central London where they don’t even reside and I do wish I had done my proper research before I paid….
During the course of my “training” (I’m on week 2) the lady who carries out the training, makes u meet her online for a few hours where she shows u a bunch of nonsense slides talking about accounting topics I learnt back in my first year at uni. When I asked the lady about my job contract and my salary she would always try to differ the topic and this soon made me suspicious. The phone number she used to call me on, I looked into that phone number and found it was the same phone number linked to the previous companies used to scam others ( Blackhill accounting, Taslondon accounting and aspec focus accounting ) and now under the name of Smith&Neats.
I stumbled across a similar thestudentroom forum posted titled “ [Employment Scam] - TASLondon - Aspec Focus” and this forum goes into even more detail about this scam they are doing, even dating back to 2019/20 when they were called other companies.
This woman is a big time fraudster and her partner from another company back in 2019/20 (can’t mention his name) was given an 18 month suspended prison sentence after being apprehended and taken to court regarding this exact same scheme that’s deceived me now and probably many many other innocent graduates/jobseekers. Just search the previous company names (Taslondon/aspec focus) and you'll find the fraud conviction article in City of London.
I have now reported this to the police and I’m working with them that’s why I can’t say much more about this case and I have also reported them to the trading agency and Fraud Alert. As well as my bank who are working to get my money back.
The money is not important for me it’s the fake promises and deception and crushing the hopes of many graduates and genuine people who want to go somewhere in life. I have wasted a month and a half with these useless people now and also lost a lot of money.
Please guys be careful when applying to jobs or being approached by companies as these scams are on the rise and will target innocent and naive people. I am gonna go hard on these people and guys remember never give ur money away unless ur 100% sure and always trust your gut!
Stay safe guys
(edited 7 months ago)
Original post by No_eral34
Help everyone hope you’re all doing well and sadly the same can not be said about me.
As a fresh accounting graduate I did what every normal graduate would do…. Job search on sites like indeed. Unfortunately for me I stumbled across a fraudulent company who prey on fresh graduates like me and I’m here today to warn graduates who may also fall victim to these scams, as I and many many other people did.
The firm goes by the name of “Smith&Neats” and they go after young graduates, promising a 25k salary job (trainee accounting role) after completing a set of training months with them. Their website is filled with spelling mistakes, random texts about unrelated things and the whole site is a laughable nonsense. They have rebranded severely times over the years previously being known as “Blackhill accounting”, “Taslondon accounting” and “Aspec focus”, in order to continue the scheme and not get caught.
I was desperate for a job and applied to loads and loads of places so as u can imagine I was ecstatic when they phoned me up to say I have an interview with them.
The man who done my interview was smartly dressed and spoken but this was all part of the scam and to make it more believable. The scam involves paying for a “training fee” upfront and in my case this was a sum of £800. The man who done my interview said this was needed because people used to “run away” after completing their training and this contribution would enable a full commitment to the company. I found all this A LOAD OF **** and absolutely shocking! Since when did people have to pay for their own development. The man was very pushy about paying for the training.
I eventually “got the job” , if we can even call it that and unfortunately for me and many other innocent graduates and jobseekers, I paid for the training because I had no other job offers and I was desperate to start my journey as an accountant as soon as possible. BIG BIG MISTAKE…!
The company is being run by only a handful of people and unfortunately due to legal matters I can’t name them. They don’t even have a proper office as the address listed if u dive deep into their company history takes u to a random block of building in central London where they don’t even reside and I do wish I had done my proper research before I paid….
During the course of my “training” (I’m on week 2) the lady who carries out the training, makes u meet her online for a few hours where she shows u a bunch of nonsense slides talking about accounting topics I learnt back in my first year at uni. When I asked the lady about my job contract and my salary she would always try to differ the topic and this soon made me suspicious. The phone number she used to call me on, I looked into that phone number and found it was the same phone number linked to the previous companies used to scam others ( Blackhill accounting, Taslondon accounting and aspec focus accounting ) and now under the name of Smith&Neats.
I stumbled across a similar thestudentroom forum posted titled “ [Employment Scam] - TASLondon - Aspec Focus” and this forum goes into even more detail about this scam they are doing, even dating back to 2019/20 when they were called other companies.
This woman is a big time fraudster and her partner from another company back in 2019/20 (can’t mention his name) was given an 18 month suspended prison sentence after being apprehended and taken to court regarding this exact same scheme that’s deceived me now and probably many many other innocent graduates/jobseekers. Just search the previous company names (Taslondon/aspec focus) and you'll find the fraud conviction article in City of London.
I have now reported this to the police and I’m working with them that’s why I can’t say much more about this case and I have also reported them to the trading agency and Fraud Alert. As well as my bank who are working to get my money back.
The money is not important for me it’s the fake promises and deception and crushing the hopes of many graduates and genuine people who want to go somewhere in life. I have wasted a month and a half with these useless people now and also lost a lot of money.
Please guys be careful when applying to jobs or being approached by companies as these scams are on the rise and will target innocent and naive people. I am gonna go hard on these people and guys remember never give ur money away unless ur 100% sure and always trust your gut!
Stay safe guys
As a fresh accounting graduate I did what every normal graduate would do…. Job search on sites like indeed. Unfortunately for me I stumbled across a fraudulent company who prey on fresh graduates like me and I’m here today to warn graduates who may also fall victim to these scams, as I and many many other people did.
The firm goes by the name of “Smith&Neats” and they go after young graduates, promising a 25k salary job (trainee accounting role) after completing a set of training months with them. Their website is filled with spelling mistakes, random texts about unrelated things and the whole site is a laughable nonsense. They have rebranded severely times over the years previously being known as “Blackhill accounting”, “Taslondon accounting” and “Aspec focus”, in order to continue the scheme and not get caught.
I was desperate for a job and applied to loads and loads of places so as u can imagine I was ecstatic when they phoned me up to say I have an interview with them.
The man who done my interview was smartly dressed and spoken but this was all part of the scam and to make it more believable. The scam involves paying for a “training fee” upfront and in my case this was a sum of £800. The man who done my interview said this was needed because people used to “run away” after completing their training and this contribution would enable a full commitment to the company. I found all this A LOAD OF **** and absolutely shocking! Since when did people have to pay for their own development. The man was very pushy about paying for the training.
I eventually “got the job” , if we can even call it that and unfortunately for me and many other innocent graduates and jobseekers, I paid for the training because I had no other job offers and I was desperate to start my journey as an accountant as soon as possible. BIG BIG MISTAKE…!
The company is being run by only a handful of people and unfortunately due to legal matters I can’t name them. They don’t even have a proper office as the address listed if u dive deep into their company history takes u to a random block of building in central London where they don’t even reside and I do wish I had done my proper research before I paid….
During the course of my “training” (I’m on week 2) the lady who carries out the training, makes u meet her online for a few hours where she shows u a bunch of nonsense slides talking about accounting topics I learnt back in my first year at uni. When I asked the lady about my job contract and my salary she would always try to differ the topic and this soon made me suspicious. The phone number she used to call me on, I looked into that phone number and found it was the same phone number linked to the previous companies used to scam others ( Blackhill accounting, Taslondon accounting and aspec focus accounting ) and now under the name of Smith&Neats.
I stumbled across a similar thestudentroom forum posted titled “ [Employment Scam] - TASLondon - Aspec Focus” and this forum goes into even more detail about this scam they are doing, even dating back to 2019/20 when they were called other companies.
This woman is a big time fraudster and her partner from another company back in 2019/20 (can’t mention his name) was given an 18 month suspended prison sentence after being apprehended and taken to court regarding this exact same scheme that’s deceived me now and probably many many other innocent graduates/jobseekers. Just search the previous company names (Taslondon/aspec focus) and you'll find the fraud conviction article in City of London.
I have now reported this to the police and I’m working with them that’s why I can’t say much more about this case and I have also reported them to the trading agency and Fraud Alert. As well as my bank who are working to get my money back.
The money is not important for me it’s the fake promises and deception and crushing the hopes of many graduates and genuine people who want to go somewhere in life. I have wasted a month and a half with these useless people now and also lost a lot of money.
Please guys be careful when applying to jobs or being approached by companies as these scams are on the rise and will target innocent and naive people. I am gonna go hard on these people and guys remember never give ur money away unless ur 100% sure and always trust your gut!
Stay safe guys
Hello
I had interview to smith neats at few days ago .I wondered about company fake .He told me wait we call you . but now I so scarred .what can I do when if they call me ?Because he told me , we gonna call you than you need send cv after that you gonna start to job ..if company fake please real information
Original post by busy-pruning
Hello
I had interview to smith neats at few days ago .I wondered about company fake .He told me wait we call you . but now I so scarred .what can I do when if they call me ?Because he told me , we gonna call you than you need send cv after that you gonna start to job ..if company fake please real information
I had interview to smith neats at few days ago .I wondered about company fake .He told me wait we call you . but now I so scarred .what can I do when if they call me ?Because he told me , we gonna call you than you need send cv after that you gonna start to job ..if company fake please real information
Have you paid any money?
Original post by Muttley79
Have you paid any money?
Have you paid any money?
Nope because I'm still waiting to they call me?
Original post by busy-pruning
Nope because I'm still waiting to they call me?
Don't fall for the scam ....
When will they take money from me? I had interview he doesn’t discuss about money .how can understand scam this company? I don't want to scam from this company he was very positive when my interview .
Original post by busy-pruning
When will they take money from me? I had interview he doesn’t discuss about money .how can understand scam this company? I don't want to scam from this company he was very positive when my interview .
Just apply to another role elsewhere.
Original post by busy-pruning
Hello
I had interview to smith neats at few days ago .I wondered about company fake .He told me wait we call you . but now I so scarred .what can I do when if they call me ?Because he told me , we gonna call you than you need send cv after that you gonna start to job ..if company fake please real information
I had interview to smith neats at few days ago .I wondered about company fake .He told me wait we call you . but now I so scarred .what can I do when if they call me ?Because he told me , we gonna call you than you need send cv after that you gonna start to job ..if company fake please real information
Whatever you do DONT accept the role and inform the police/action fraud and DO NOT send money to them. Yes they are a scam and if they havent mentioned the money now they will later. they are not a legitimate company and im so glad people are stumbling across this forum as when i fell for the scam, there was no forum and it was hard to notice the scam being carried out.
Original post by TERGZ202
Hey guys any update on this? I have just been contacted by the company and I wanted to know what was the outcome if there was one.
The outcome is that they are a bunch of fraudsters and the two individuals, who I won’t name because I’m currently taking legal actions, have previously been caught and sentenced to prison but are still scamming jobseekers and innocent graduates. DISGUSTING!
Original post by Sajid2k
Is there any way to get your money back?
How did you send the payment?
Original post by Admit-One
How did you send the payment?
Debit card
Original post by Sajid2k
Debit card
That gives you the option of disputing it via your bank. To do so, you’ll need to evidence that you tried to get a refund directly. Or, if you did get some training that it was missold in some way.
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