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The 20% gains promise that was your loss
• I have been watching currency movements for some time in the hope of profitable trading. I had nearly £220,000 to invest and I assumed the best way was to use a professional trader. I found Lloyds Capital Group LLC online. It promised "high returns with an exceptional risk management strategy" so I invested £187,500 (all but £30,000) into its aggressive fund. But a week later, I lost everything. Where is my money?
JG, Hertfordshire
Your alarm bells should have rung when Lloyds (no relation to the UK bank or insurance concern) offered 1 to 5% gains a day or 20% a month with "no work involved". Returns at this level are all but impossible.
It claimed the "worlds (sic) leading traders", but managed to lose £190,000 in five trading days despite promising a stop-loss to limit risk to 10% a day. Lloyds says it was unable to place the stop-loss - so why did it trade when it could have stayed out of the market?
Lloyds is run by Tom Yoos, previously with Fortune Financial Management and Global Financial Investors Group. He last appeared in Guardian Money in November 2002 working for Florida-based World Market Advisors, which offered to turn $10,000 into $135,000 in 60 days. In September 2008, Yoos was ordered to "disgorge ill-gotten gains" in an action brought by US regulator Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In August 2007, an Oklahoma court cautioned him for threatening an act of violence involving a Smith & Wesson pistol and also for carrying a firearm while under the influence of alcohol.
Your money apparently went to Dukascopy, a Russian-owned Geneva online brokerage. But just why a senior Dukascopy employee should have spent time with Yoos in his Oklahoma home, and told you that to increase your confidence, is unclear when Dukascopy is intended as an automated platform. Yoos did not return calls.
Who really is who in this sales pitch?
• I have been sent a letter by a US firm operating from a Hampshire address, which tells me I was "recently proposed to represent Freshwater (the town where I live) in the online Cambridge Who's Who among Executives and Professionals". What is it about?
KJ, Isle of Wight
You are retired and not a "representative" of your town. But many others - possibly also in Freshwater - have received similar letters.
Cambridge Who's Who (CWW) says it is "proudly not associated or affiliated with any other Who's Who publication or organisation".
All that this statement says is that CWW is not part of the only Who's Who that counts - the UK book published by A&C Black which never solicits money from those who appear.
The CWW Hampshire address is a maildrop. CWW is a New York company, also associated with Manchester Who's Who. Those who respond to CWW receive high-volume sales pitches designed to get $1,000 (£670).
In December 2006, CWW Publishing sued Rip-Off Report and Bad Business Bureau - two US consumer websites - alleging extortion, violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, defamation, trademark infringement, and conspiracy to injure. It dropped this in January 2008.
Why you are not in the pink with Amazon
• I recently purchased a pink electronic moneybox ATM on Amazon for a niece. It was supposed to keep a record of coins by their weight and keep a running record of the total.
But when it arrived, it only worked in dollars and not sterling.
I called a UK phone number but all I had was rudeness and a refund refusal. Surely Amazon can do better than this?
PH, Surrey
Items intended for UK use should be fit for purpose, so a moneybox that only worked in a non-UK currency should not be sold unless there is a clear warning.
The problem here is that you did not buy the box directly from Amazon but from one of the many vendors selling items on its marketplace.
This consists of third-party firms offering goods in much the same way as newspaper or television advertisers.
Amazon told Capital Letters, however, that it would be willing to take on the firm on your behalf. But you have not responded with your personal details, despite this column's efforts.
It is difficult - and here, impossible - to help readers who fail to send contact details such as phone numbers. So you are stuck with your moneybox.
Don't pay, needn't pay NI contributions
• My children keep receiving letters from HM Revenue & Customs, asking if they want to pay the gap in contributions for the last tax year.
My youngest daughter is in her second year at university and has only had temporary vacation employment.
HMRC says if they don't pay, it will go up in April. Is it advisable to pay?
AP, Lancaster
No. Your children are being asked to pay for voluntary Class 3 national insurance contributions. Their main purpose is to fill up gaps in your records for the basic state pension.
But there is little point, as your children only now need 30 years of contributions for a full payment - to be paid when they are 68, so they have plenty of time. HMRC sends out these letters routinely.
The only point of paying would appear to be for bereavement benefit, but that seems pointless as this is only paid to survivors of those in marriage or civil partnerships. The current rate for a Class 3 stamp is £8.10 a week - due to rise to £12.05 in April.
The colour of a pebble was the burning issue
• I purchased a Polaris flame-effect fire in June this year from B&Q for £1,200. One of the pebbles burnt through. B&Q gave me an ex-display pebble which is black - the rest of the pebbles are white or grey. I telephoned Polaris and sent my details and a receipt. Despite promises, no replacement has arrived.
Since then, I have emailed, written and telephoned without response.
MK, London
This may only seem a small pebble, but there is no reason why - especially when spending a substantial sum - you should have to put up with the wrong colour. You had no luck. But when Capital Letters intervened with B&Q, the ripples seem to have grown and you should by now have received a new supply of correct colour pebbles.
Giving ... and then taking away
• Two weeks ago, I bought The Daily Telegraph because it had an offer of a free £5 pack of Christmas wrapping at Marks & Spencer. Its value was much higher than the paper's cost.
But when I went to my local M&S on the Sunday, it had run out of the wrapping paper. It told me it would honour the coupon the following week but when I returned, there was still no stock. Please help.
CM, Middlesex
It appears your branch only received 30 boxes to start with, and no more at all the following week.
M&S should have been able to gauge demand better and admits they "made mistakes in terms of stock amount and are seeking to rectify this error". It has already written to say sorry - and has posted you a box of wrapping paper. Best stick to the Guardian in future.
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