A callous Ponzi fraudster ripped off pensioners to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds through a fake investment scheme and then fled to America.
Alexander Martin Idris Hind set up a company and bank account with a similar-sounding name to the legitimate Aberdeen financial firm where he worked so that victims would be fooled into paying him money.
The cruel 44-year-old used his company to scam a number of pensioners out of retirement money and life insurance pay-outs totalling more than half a million pounds – then fled to the US before law enforcement could catch up with him.
But Hind, who lived in a $400,000 South Carolina home, complete with swimming pool, was eventually arrested by US Marshalls and hauled back to Scotland to face justice.
Fiscal depute Alan Townsend told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that, in October 2011, a woman searching for assistance in re-mortgaging her house completed an online form requesting a callback and was contacted by Hind.
Hind, who gave the first name Martin, said he was a financial advisor with Albyn Associates Financial Management.
‘Money laundering regulations’
The pair discussed re-mortgaging her home and, on Hind’s advice, she also set up an insurance plan with Prudential, which provided her with life assurance cover and critical illness cover.
In November 2011, she began paying £220 per month for the policy that was put in place by Hind.
In early 2012, the woman became unwell and was diagnosed with cancer. Sadly, she later passed away in 2018.
Mr Townsend told the court: “She had major surgery in June 2012 and, within a week of leaving hospital, the accused had attended at her home address to discuss progressing a critical illness claim with Prudential.
“In July 2012, she received a critical illness pay-out from the Prudential policy to the value of approximately £320,000.”
Shortly afterwards, Hind attended at her home to discuss her financial plans.
The woman stated she wished to pay off some of her mortgage, however, Hind told her she could not do that until two years had passed. This was incorrect.
Mr Townsend said: “The accused suggested a short term, high-return investment and encouraged her to invest £200,000, claiming that she would get £220,000 in return.
“When she agreed to this, the accused told her to make the cheque out to pay ‘Albyn Associates’.”
She did this, however, was never given any paperwork.
‘Tax efficiency’
At the time, she had no reason to believe the investment was anything other than through Albyn Associates Financial Management.
There was no further contact until November 2012, when the woman started contacting Hind looking for the return on her investment.
Mr Townsend said: “On occasion when the accused accepted her calls, he stated that he could not give her all her money back at once and could only give £5,000 at a time due to money laundering regulations.”
Between then and January 2014, she repeatedly phoned, texted and sent emails to Hind in attempts to have her money returned, but was met with “various excuses”.
Over time, Hind paid the woman back £181,209.51 of her £200,000 investment.
In February 2014, she received a cheque from Hind for £25,000 to be drawn in the name of Albyn Associates Ltd, however, this was returned to her as unpaid.
The following month, the woman received a letter from Albyn Associates Financial Management informing her that Hind had been sacked.
She contacted the firm to advise that the cheque had bounced, but was told this was unrelated to the legitimate company. The firm then contacted the police.
As police began to investigate Hind’s financial activity, the true scale of his deception started to become clear.
Mr Townsend said: “It was apparent that the accused had set up the company and bank account with a name so similar that cheques could be paid into either without query from the bank.”
Search warrants were granted for Hind’s bank accounts, home and former workplace, which led to the identification of no fewer than six other victims.
One of the other victims approached Albyn Associates Financial Management for pension advice in January 2012 and had a meeting with Hind.
‘Royal Bank of Scotland account held in Jersey’
After several meetings, discussions turned to investment opportunities and the man told Hind he had funds available after re-mortgaging his house.
Mr Townsend said: “The accused advised he could invest it in a high-interest Royal Bank of Scotland account somewhere in the Channel Islands in the name of Albyn Associates.”
The man gave Hind a cheque for £40,000, who advised he would set up ISAs in both of their names and transfer money on a monthly basis from the RBS account into these until all the money had been moved.
Hind explained this was for “tax efficiency” reasons.
Of the £40,000 invested, the man received £36,319 back, resulting in a loss of £3,681.
Mr Townsend said: “Police reviewed the bank statements of Albyn Associates Ltd, which showed that the £40,000 was never invested into a Royal Bank of Scotland account in the Channel Islands and the payments made to the witness were actually made from the ‘Albyn Associates Ltd’ account set up by the accused and funded by other ‘investments’.”
Another victim, along with his wife, approached Albyn Associates Financial Management in February 2013 about re-mortgaging their property and were contacted by Hind.
After a number of meetings, Hind advised the couple they could gain a better return with a two-year investment as opposed to a bank account.
The man agreed to invest £5,000 per month and set up a standing order on Hind’s instruction to Albyn Associates Ltd.
He did not receive any paperwork in relation to the investment and nothing was ever put in writing by Hind in email or letter.
The victim was contacted by the police and immediately stopped the standing order from April 2014.
Low-risk, high-interest, short-term scheme
He also contacted Hind seeking the return of his money but received no replies.
He suffered a loss of £55,000.
A retired couple were next to be targeted by Hind after retiring in 2011 and 2012 and receiving lump sums from their pensions.
In October 2013, the couple were discussing buying a house in Cornwall and using the husband’s lump sum as a deposit.
They approached Hind for financial advice after someone gave them his business card.
Mr Townsend told the court: “He suggested to them he could provide an investment that would give a higher rate of interest than the banks with a Royal Bank of Scotland account held in Jersey.”
The wife agreed to invest and wrote two cheques totalling £43,037.03.
She was advised there was a withdrawal period after after the six-month investment and it should be returned around the end of June 2014.
In February 2014, Hind also persuaded the husband to invest his pension payment on the same terms.
Hind said the money would be invested alongside his wife’s and would be returned at the end of June 2014.
Hind drove the man to Barclays on Union Street where he made an electronic transfer for £115,000 to Albyn Associates Ltd.
The couple had no reason to reason to suspect Hind was acting other than in his role with Albyn Associates Financial Management and they were unaware of any issues until they were contacted by the police.
‘In total, accused has appropriated £533,037 from the witnesses’
Hind then ignored requests to return their money, leaving them with a devastating loss of £158,037.03.
Yet another victim, the director of an IT consultancy business, was looking for ways to assist his sister with a property purchase and provide her with funds.
The man’s business had money in its bank account and Hind advised him to take some of it out and place it in a high-interest bank account in Jersey or Guernsey.
He agreed, with the investment to be returned around October 2014, and transferred £40,000 to Albyn Associates Ltd.
The man did not suspect anything was wrong until being contacted by police. He did not get any of his £40,000 back.
Another victim had recently separated from his wife and was looking to arrange a mortgage to buy a new property when a friend recommended Hind.
A mortgage was never actually arranged for various reasons, but between September 2013 and April 2014, the pair remained in dialogue and Hind advised he had left Albyn Associates Financial Management and now worked for True Potential.
In April 2014, the man’s marital home was sold and Hind suggested he invest the money in a low-risk, high-interest, short-term scheme.
The man agreed and transferred £25,000 to what he thought was a True Potential bank account, before sending another £15,000 the next day.
Two months later, having been unable to reach Hind, the man contacted True Potential, who advised he contact Zurich Insurance.
They told him there was no such investment and, on going back to True Potential, the man was told he had been the victim of fraud and should contact the police.
He lost his full £40,000 investment.
‘Significant sentence of imprisonment’
Mr Townsend told the court: “In total, accused has appropriated £533,037 from the witnesses who all believed him to be a financial advisor working for either Albyn Associates Financial Management or True Potential.
“Instead of paying money into a bank account controlled by either of these registered companies, they instead paid the money into a bank account bearing the name ‘Albyn Associates’ which had been set up by accused for the sole purpose of deceiving investors into believing they were paying money into a secure bank account held by Albyn Associates Financial Management.”
While some victims received some money in return on their investments, Hind benefitted to the tune of £315,508.49.
When police turned up at Hind’s home to speak to him about the matters, his wife answered the door and said he’d gone to the USA and had “no plans to return”.
Hind evaded justice for years, but in October 2022, police attended Glasgow International Airport to arrest Hind, who was being extradited from the US as a result of an international arrest warrant issued by Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Hind, whose address was given in court papers as Denburn Court, Aberdeen, pled guilty to forming a fraudulent scheme.
Defence agent Shane Campbell asked for his client’s bail to be continued while background reports are prepared, explaining he lives with his elderly mother.
He added Hind suffers from sleep apnea and uses a machine to sleep.
Sheriff Graham Buchanan told Hind the offence was “extremely serious” and said a “significant sentence of imprisonment” was the likely outcome.
He deferred sentence for reports but remanded Hind in custody.
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