Company Launches to Prevent Whisky Cask Fraud in ‘Inherently Risky’ Buying Game

A new website called protectyourcask.com launched to protect investors from whisky cask fraud. (Photo: Ian West/PA Wire URN:19631739)

On Thursday, Whisky Magazine reported that a whisky writer, Felipe Schrieberg, and an industry consultant, Mark Littler, launched a website called protectyourcask.com to protect individuals from whisky cask fraud. The website additionally shares information provided by the Scotch Whisky Association about the pitfalls to avoid in whisky investing.

Described by Littler and Schrieberg as an “educational anti-Scotch whisky cask investment scam site,” the website is intended to help educate individuals interested in entering the cask investment game.

“Investing in whisky casks is inherently risky as it is an unregulated and volatile market,” Littler said, according to Whisky Magazine. “When it comes to cask investment, one of the fundamental issues we’ve come across is ensuring an investor actually owns their cask rather than having rights to a cask through a third party. This is something that the SWA itself affirms in its own advice on the matter.”

Multiple incidents of whisky cask investment fraud have made media headlines of late, so much so that in December, the City of London tallied a total of 89 incidents in 2023.

The financial damages amounted to $3.8 million in losses.

“Every few decades, there [have] been waves of new companies, many of them incompetent at best or perpetrating fraud at worst, promising fast and profitable returns on the purchase of scotch whisky casks using aggressive sales tactics,” Schrieberg said, according to Whisky Magazine. “We’re seeing more than a few such firms today using similar techniques to generate enthusiasm and sales as fraudsters from over 20, 50, and even 100 years ago.”

In August 2023, the Cask Whisky Association was established. In September, Forbes reported on the Cask Whisky Association and referred to it as “unfair” and “biased.”

Forbes reported that the main issues stemmed from the fact that a lot of the founders operated and owned their own cask whisky investment companies.

“Put simply, these founding members have one very clear objective,” Forbes wrote. “To sell casks through their own companies and make money.”

The outlet additionally reported that any company wanting to join would stand “below the founding members,” and Forbes reported that many individuals within the scotch whisky industry had issues with the controversial association.

Hopefully, with additional resources like protectyourcask.com, investors can feel a bit more at ease before purchasing scotch whisky casks.

“We think it’s important to fight the misleading claims that have been going around to protect the integrity of the Scotch whisky industry,” Littler concluded.

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