• Profit of up to several dozen percent, no risk - with such false information Fundico tempted consumers to invest money.
• Tomasz Chróstny, the President of UOKiK, imposed fines of over PLN 220 thousand on the company and demanded that it immediately ceases unfair practices.
• A penalty of PLN 120 thousand was also imposed to the member of Fundico's one-man management board, personally responsible for allowing breaches.

Fundico is engaged in pursuing claims against banks relating to early repayment of a loan or arising from abusive clauses in mortgage loan agreements. This means that it offers consumers "investments" - a specific profit after a few months in exchange for money to buy such a claim or finance costs of pursuing it. On its website and Facebook page, the company tempts others with slogans such as "Your investment is safe and we guarantee a refund" or "With our product, investors can get a high rate of return with 100% certainty of the return of their initial contribution". The promised profit was often as much as 20-30 per cent within a few months and the chances of success of specific investments were usually estimated by the company at over 90 per cent.

"In the course of the investigation, it was found that Fundico misled consumers about two key issues to consider when deciding whether to invest money. Firstly, it groundlessly claimed to be risk-free, whereas the success of the investment depended, among other things, on winning court cases. Secondly, the company offered unrealistic, above-average profits even though it knew that these were impossible to achieve. As a result, some consumers who trusted Fundico's assurances lost their invested capital," says Tomasz Chróstny, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.

The company posted misleading offers even when it became apparent that franc-related cases did not end in quick settlement agreements and it had problems with liquidity as well as paying its current bills and obligations. The consumers who have entrusted it with money felt it. "Problems started in May 2021 when the company should transfer the amounts due to me in accordance with the Investment Agreements concluded. I called several times(...), then there were text messages saying: 'I will call you back', '(...)we will be paying out today', 'there will be a transfer today, a half(...)', 'Transfer will be made on Monday', then there were telephone agreements about transferring specific amounts 3 times a week, and then there was only the promise of transferring the amount, and finally they were blatant enough to write back: I have no money," describes one of the victims.

For misleading consumers, the President of UOKiK imposed penalties of PLN 176 thousand on Fundico. An additional sanction for failure to cooperate with the Office during proceedings, i.e. failure to provide the requested information and documents, is PLN 50 thousand. The company must also communicate the decision of the President of UOKiK on its website and on Facebook, and the victims also by letter.

The financial penalty for breaching the collective interests of consumers will be incurred not only by the company, but also by its President, who was personally responsible for allowing the unfair practices to take place.

According to the conclusion of the decision, "(...) the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection imposes on Mariusz Adam Skiba, a member of the Management Board, acting as the President of Fundico Sp. z o.o. with its registered office in Krakow, penalties amounting to PLN 120 thousand in total for a deliberate breach of the ban set forth in Art. 24 sec. 1 and 2 point 3 of the above-mentioned Act by Fundico Sp. z o.o. with its registered office in Krakow".

"Business managers must not be able to get away with deliberate breaches against consumers. That is why I imposed a fine on the President of Fundico. He was personally involved in both the creation of his company's offer and its implementation, as well as in contacts with consumers. There will be more and more penalties of this kind. We intend to impose penalties for unfair practices towards consumers on managers more frequently so that these practices are no longer profitable for them," announces Tomasz Chróstny, the President of UOKiK.

This is yet another fine for a manager who deliberately allowed his company to breach the collective interests of consumers. In December 2021, the President of the Office also imposed such sanctions for unfair practices at trade shows and propagating pyramid schemes. The penalty for a manager for breaches against consumers can be a maximum of PLN 2 million, and in the case of a manager of a company from the financial sector - PLN 5 million. Sanctions on board members have already been imposed in antitrust proceedings involving collusion in the heating, fitness or truck dealer markets.

The decisions are invalid, meaning that the company and its President can appeal to the court.

Consumer support:

Phone 801 440 220 or 22 290 89 16 – consumer hotline
Email: [SCODE]cG9yYWR5QGRsYWtvbnN1bWVudG93LnBs[ECODE]
Consumer Ombudsmen – in your town or county
Financial Ombudsman – if the complaint is rejected by the financial institution

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL