My invitation to invest in Bulgarian land!

Tony Levene reveals how he was told investing in Bulgarian land could make him rich...

“Hi, it's Richie from Ethos. How are you today?” With the sound of others making similar calls in the background, I know I am going to be told about an “investment” which will make me rich. Equally, I know I'll need a very long spoon to sup with this one.

Richie Gill, who describes himself as “Ethos Overseas senior consultant”, offers me “guaranteed monthly income”. His firm, he says, is rated number one by Investment International and Global Property Guide – neither is on my personal subscription list.

And to add to reasons why I can't possibly turn this down, I'm told “IFAs are recommending our products.”

He tells me: “Everything is completed here in the UK via mail and telephone, meaning that this is a true 'armchair investment' with the potential for large capital growth but with the peace of mind of a guaranteed return.”

The “guaranteed” income is 12% a year, paid monthly. This sounds a whole lot better than a lovemoney.com best buy. So what is the investment?

It's agricultural land in Bulgaria. It seems, Richie informs me, that Bulgarian farmers can no longer afford to buy land so they must rent – hence the high returns. And as Bulgaria is now in the European Union, land values are certain to soar.

Richie advises against visiting Bulgaria – it would be “a waste of time and money as all farmland looks much the same.” That's a shame – it's an attractive countryside, the people are welcoming, and it's a chance to see horse and cart agriculture in Europe.

As I can't find an IFA recommending Ethos Overseas or Bulgarian farms or Bulgaria, where many UK investors lost out on seaside and ski resort property, let's take a look at Ethos.

Despite Richie saying, in a later conversation, that Global Property Guide had been “tracking Ethos for two and a half years”, Ethos was only set up on 8, December 2010.

It has one director – James Kisgeretz, aged 21. James comes from Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, and told the world via Facebook that he was “leaving the country soon” in February 2007 when he was 17. He's keen on football (like many 21 year old lads) but (unlike most 21 year old lads) lists his job on Linkedin as “Investment Management Professional”.

He says he has worked in Tenerife, Corfu, Turkey and Marbella. He says Marbella is in Cataluna – if it is, it must be a small village as the Marbella most of us know is at the other end of Spain in Andalusia. Richie appears on some of his social media pictures. There's not much on his Twitter account – JMJK1989 – other than he does not know what to do with Twitter.

Ethos sells an £11,900 package of land and legal formalities. There is no choice of land – you get what Ethos reckons will soar in value. After all, there is a “highly experienced team with a vast network of international legal resources, marketing resources and routes of research which allow us to take a reasonably complicated process and make it a turn-key investment for yourself.”

In a second call, Richie excitedly tells me again about Global Property Guide. But it turns out Ethos sponsored the special Bulgaria supplement – rarely a sign of impartiality.

I want to know how much land my £11,900 will get. After much persuasion, Richie says it is “around 28,000 sq ft.” Land usually comes in acres or hectares – square feet are for residential dwellings.

In Bulgaria, however, land is priced by the square metre – the figure equates to 2,600 sq m. Farmland starts at €0.20 a square metre – so the land could be worth €650 (about £550). Top prices for areas near resorts are around €1.00 a square metre but, far from increasing in price, many pieces of land have recently been cut by up to 40% to attract buyers, at least on bestbgproperties.com.

Now, assuming the land, over which Ethos investors have no say, is top quality, it should cost about £2,200. Adding in a generous £1,000 for legals, leaves Richie and James with £8,600. The three year return will cost £4,284 so they still stand to gain some £4,400 – not bad for a couple of phone calls.

And who or what stands behind the guarantee? A firm set up just three months ago by a 21 year old who has worked his way around the Mediterranean since leaving school at 17. lovemoney.com readers should find it easy to credit-rate this one.

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