A wellbeing therapist has lost her full £28,000 parents’ inheritance money in a property scam after claiming she was targeted for being ‘vulnerable and gullible’.

Nancy Laats said she was hoodwinked into handing over cash after looking to invest her money in an apparently ethical scheme creating homes for vulnerable people.

She heard about a business called Unique Property Investment Group which said it was offering people the chance to put their money into the assisted living sector.

The 63-year-old from Nottingham was sent ‘amazing professional brochures’ by the firm claiming they were working with the YMCA in a government-backed scheme.

Ms Laats told a new ITV Tonight documentary: ‘Everything they said to me became believable. Anybody looking at it would believe that it was a genuine investment.’

Unique told Ms Laats she would get a monthly 25 per cent return on her cash, and she invested £13,000 in 2023 for her inheritance to ‘work harder for my retirement’.

She said: ‘The fact that they were working with social housing and assisted living projects really appealed to me. I was really excited. I’d built up this friendship.’

Ms Laats explained how she ‘trusted that they had my back’ and received five monthly payments of £275 while remaining in regular contact with the team.

Nancy Laats, 63, lost her full £28,000 parents’ inheritance money in a property scam

The documentary revealed one message she was left by one of them, which said: ‘And you know, what we have in the pipeline with YMCA. It’s incredible.

‘YMCA have asked us to find at least 10,000 one beds this year, and they are signing contracts for 50-plus years at the moment, so yeah, it’s phenomenal.’

Ms Laats then invested a further £15,000 – but just over two weeks later, she received an email from the business saying they had instructed administrators.

Speaking during the documentary ‘Rising Scams: What You Need To Know’, which aired on ITV1 yesterday evening, she said: ‘When I got the email, I think I went into shock. But I was still believing. And trusted that they would sort it out.’

But Ms Laats began to have further concerns as more details emerged about the company, which had claimed to have £10.7million in assets in October 2024.

The administrators report showed that although investors like Ms Laats put more than £12.5million into the firm, it had just two properties, worth £315,000.

Although these properties were connected to a genuine housing association, other contracts failed to materialise. The report also showed there was ‘nil’ in all of the company accounts and just over £1million paid in intercompany loans.

Ms Laats said: ‘I started to get really anxious in my chest how heartless and hard these people must be. Taking my money when they knew they had an issue.

A photograph of Nancy Laats who said she was targeted for being ‘vulnerable and gullible’

‘I went through a few weeks of calling myself stupid, pathetic. Brainless. And really pulling myself to shreds.’

Ms Laats, who believes she has lost all of her inheritance money, added: ‘I have moments where I can’t get up in the morning.

‘I still can’t believe that these people that got to know me, I think they saw somebody that was vulnerable, gullible. And they didn’t care.’

Unique told ITV that ‘to the best of the directors understanding at the time, [the independent housing providers they worked with] held public-sector contracts’ and their role ‘was limited to property sourcing and related commercial activity.’

The company also said ‘investors were required to complete risk acknowledgements, including sophisticated investor self-certification where applicable’.

Unique claimed intercompany loans were ‘entered into as part of the Company’s property and development strategy. To the best of the directors knowledge, those funds were applied for commercial and business development purposes.’

Unique also denied any wrongdoing and said ‘financial and operational pressures’ were a contributing factor to the company going into administration and that ‘steps were taken to stabilise the company’s position where possible’.

A YMCA England and Wales spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘YMCA England & Wales has had no involvement in any proposition claimed by UPIG, has not endorsed UPIG in any form and has not given permission for YMCA’s name or brand to be used in connection with any investor materials or communications.’

‘Tonight – Rising Scams: What You Need To Know’ is available on ITVX