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If you are looking for a refund from one of Mr Benamor's companies please contact us using the form at the bottom of this page.

James Benamor owns the Richmond Group, which employs almost 300 people in Bournemouth, and his personal wealth is estimated at £77m.

He recently gave away thousands of pounds when he played The Secret Millionaire in a Channel 4 documentary.

But Inside Out shows how Mr Benamor makes money from a simple scam.

The scam

His companies, which include Tenant Loans and Advantage Loans, offer to arrange loans for people with a poor credit history.

Joanne Amorello believed she was getting a loan

Half a million customers have signed up in the past year and many of them pay a £50 brokerage fee.

Joanne Amorello agreed to pay this fee because she was convinced that she was going to get a £500 loan.

She told Inside Out:

"I had already booked things to do with the kids and I even rang the housing office to say my rent arrears are going to be paid."

Disabled pensioner Shirley O’Sullivan was also certain that she was going to get a loan:

"The way they talked to me I was 100% sure they were trying to help. They seemed such nice people and I thought 'they understand'."

But when the paperwork comes through, the clients don’t get the loans they were expecting.

Instead, they are simply sent the phone numbers of other banks and lenders.

The response

Mr Benamor denies misleading clients.

He says his companies offer a loan brokerage service which is independent and works only on behalf of clients to find the best loan for them:

"We will always inform clients that we do not guarantee loan amounts or APRs which ultimately are offered by lenders."

If you are looking for a refund from one of Mr Benamor's companies please contact us using the form at the bottom of this page.

Inside Out wanted to check whether this was made clear to customers, so presenter Joe Crowley made a series of loan applications.

Checking out what's said to customers

On each occasion, the sales staff gave the impression that he had been accepted for a loan.

"I told them I was on benefits and they still seemed quite happy to offer me large sums of money.

"I wanted to see how far they would go, so I made some outrageous demands.

"On one call I told them I wanted to borrow £10,000 to gamble on the horses and on another call I asked for £15,000 to invest in the stock market.

"They said yes to whatever I asked, because the company just wants to take the £50 fee."

Money back

Andy Sherriff, from Bournemouth Trading Standards, said the phone calls were a cause for concern.

"I think the circumstances suggest it could easily be misleading. People are not being frank, they are not being honest with you."

Under the Consumer Credit Act, Mr Benamor has to give dissatisfied customers a refund.

But several customers who spoke to Inside Out had struggled to get their money back.

Mr Benamor said that his companies provided clients with the best loan options that were available to them in the UK:

"In cases like these where our clients are unhappy with loans found by us we have a simple refund procedure which requires the client to write in to cancel their service and request a refund.

"This is clearly explained to our clients however according to our system no request was ever received.

"We have now refunded all of the clients in full. We aim for client satisfaction in all cases and are sorry that in this instance the customers in question were unhappy with our service.

"We value any feedback regarding our customer experience and are always distressed to hear if people haven't received the service they required."

Mr Benamor does offer loans through his company FLM Loans, but they have to be guaranteed by a homeowner with a good credit history. Many people on low incomes cannot provide this type of guarantor.

The Office of Fair Trading says it is “minded to revoke” Mr Benamor’s credit licence.