People Are Losing Their Life Savings in Whisky Scams

Whisky casks have become an increasingly popular investment in recent years, but experts warn that there are scammers galore in the industry. A BBC investigation found that at least three companies are being investigated for selling whisky that was massively overpriced—or nonexistent.

• Some people, who were promised that the whisky would soar in value as it aged, lost their life savings. Among them is health worker Jay Evans, 54, who sold her home in 2021 after learning she had terminal cancer. She spent around $100,000 on seven casks after being promised lucrative returns from Whisky Scotland, a company that later disappeared without a trace. She found out that five of the casks were worth far less than she had paid and two never existed.

• Another dodgy whisky broker is being run by a man who was jailed in 2019 for an $8 million rare earth metals investment scam, the BBC discovered.
• Kenny Macdonald, a legitimate whisky broker in Scotland, tells the BBC that there are "good guys" in the industry, some that are profiteering, "and then you get the ones who are downright nasty. And they're selling somebody a piece of paper, for a cask that just never existed." "The sharks are circling. They know there's blood. They can smell it," MacDonald says. "And unfortunately, in this particular case, the blood is whisky."
• Last year, whisky writer Felipe Schrieberg, co-founder of the Protect Your Cask anti-scam effort, told Drinks International that with more people eyeing casks as a long-term investment, scammers could cause a "reputational car crash" for the industry. "The Scotch whisky community relies on informal relationships and the assumption that whoever you're dealing with has integrity," he said. "But when you have people come in without integrity and decide that there's money to be made through breaking the law, on top of being a criminal, you're disrupting this industry and community."

(More whisky stories.)