Elderly father duped into £25,000 debt by Marks Art scam: And TONY HETHERINGTON finds the culprit in Cyprus

Tony Hetherington is the Financial Mail on Sunday's top researcher, taking on readers' corners, uncovering the truth that lies behind closed doors and delivering victories for those left out of their own pockets. Below you can read how you can contact him.

Mrs FM writes: My father, in his late eighties, bought art apparently worth about £78,000 from Marks Art.

Last year he was duped into paying more than £25,000 in fees for a promised sale.

He was told he had to pay the VAT, then the insurance costs, then the bank charges, and finally he was told the deal was off.

Tony Hetherington replies: Marks Art was a scam when I first warned about it last September. And today it is still a scam. The website states: 'Since early 2017, we have been the pioneers of innovation and have set a gold standard for artists, investors and galleries alike.' Not bad for an investment company whose accounts show it was inactive until 2020.

But the lies told to the victims are worse. Marks Art released fake media reports – allegedly from the BBC and the Daily Telegraph – praising a female artist nicknamed 'Mrs Banksy', and your father, Mr W, invested £15,520.

Mark Steven Smith, owner of the scam company, protested that he had received the counterfeits from someone else. I told him point blank that this did not give him the right to profit from fraud, and he returned your father's £15,520.

However, this was only a small part of your father's losses. He paid £7,500 to Art Store and Insure Limited so his photos would be safe. Yet this company told Companies House it was not trading. I wonder if the tax authorities told you the same thing. Last year the company was forced to close down. Who was the owner? Surprise, surprise – it was Mark Steven Smith.

Under pressure from Marks Art, your father ended up deeply in debt. You appealed to the banks and card issuers with which he paid for Marks Art. They were Lloyds Bank and M&S Bank, so I contacted them and offered evidence that the arts company is defrauding its investors.

This could not have been a simple investigation for either bank. They had to decide if your father had been cheated on every single purchase. But the refunds started flowing. Lloyds had already decided to refund more than £13,000, the company said, and then went further, refunding almost £3,000 for two art purchases made back in 2018.

M&S Bank told me they investigated 18 transactions. Four recent deals have been refunded under chargeback rules. The rest have since been investigated under the Section 75 consumer protection rule and your father has been fully refunded, with the exception of one purchase which unfortunately exceeded the £30,000 allowed by Section 75.

Lloyds discovered that some payments went to other companies linked to Smith. Although the chargeback rules did not apply, the bank generously refunded a further £27,500 as a gesture of goodwill. It told me: 'Protecting our customers from fraud is our priority and we have great sympathy for Mr W as a victim of fraud.'

You said to me, “I honestly can't thank you enough for everything you do. Dad turned 89 this week and treated himself to a new hearing aid. He was able to pay off all his debts and still has some left to keep in the bank. The difference this has made for him is difficult to put into words.'

One last point. When I first raised the alarm, I reported that Marks Art was recruiting a telephone sales team, with a total income of £120,000. The courses were in Northern Cyprus and Smith explained: 'The warmer climate and lower costs make it more attractive than London prices and weather.'

Now, however, I can reveal the real reason for Smith's choice of location.

In the meantime…

Mark Steven Smith is a wanted man. Not because of the art fraud he commits, but because he was a runner during a court hearing in which he was sentenced to four years in prison. I traced him to a village called Incesu in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

In March 2017, he was driving his Range Rover on the M25 in Surrey when he had a minor collision with a Renault Clio. Minutes later, the Range Rover stopped at traffic lights on an off-ramp. A female passenger got out of a Mercedes that was also on the lights, and reports say there was an argument about the earlier collision.

The Range Rover then hit the woman and drove away. She was taken to hospital with several broken ribs, a broken shoulder and an injury to her leg. Police later arrested Mark Steven Smith for offenses including driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and failing to stop after an accident.

In June 2018, Smith was convicted at Kingston Crown Court of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He failed to show up for sentencing and was given a four-year prison sentence in his absence. Victims of his art scam say they have been contacted by police in London investigating Marks Art.

And police in Surrey want him so he can start four years behind bars. Smith himself said to me, “Tony, this wasn't me. I had nothing to do with this. Myself and my team have done research into it. It appears there is another Mark Smith involved in this offense.”

Here is a police photo of Mark Steven Smith, the dangerous driver. He comes from the same area as Mark Steven Smith, the art fraudster. And they share the same date of birth. What are the chances?

Britain does not have an extradition treaty with Northern Cyprus, although authorities there could kick Smith out. Or he could get on a plane and return to England. I'll see him at the airport and I'm sure Surrey Police will be happy to attend. If the police catch the wrong man, I'll even write the headline myself: Art fraudster framed. What about it, Mark?

If you believe you have been a victim of financial misconduct, please write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email [email protected]. Due to the large number of questions, personal answers cannot be given. Only send copies of original documents. Unfortunately, these cannot be returned.