Fiona Mercer
Managing Director. Nine years leading fraud investigations at a UK high-street bank before founding Fairfund Recovery in 2019. Member, Association of British Investigators.
A Fairfund Recovery marks the way back.
It is a pile of stones left by someone who came through before you, so the next person can find the path. That is roughly the job: work out where the money went, mark the route clearly enough that someone with authority can follow it.
The practice
Who we are
Fairfund Recovery Partners was founded in 2019 by Fiona Mercer, after nine years running fraud investigations for a UK high-street bank convinced her that victims needed someone working for them, not for the institution that lost their money. The practice has grown to a small team split across bank-fraud casework, digital-asset tracing and case management.
The three senior investigators are named below in full, so you can look each of us up independently rather than take our word for it.
Daniel Osei
Head of Digital Asset Tracing. Former on-chain analyst at a blockchain intelligence firm; Certified Fraud Examiner (ACFE), specialising in cryptocurrency tracing.
Priya Nair
Head of Case Management. Non-practising solicitor with a background in financial services disputes; oversees evidence review and client communication.
Verify us
Registration and regulation
You should be able to check every line of this independently, without using a link we gave you. Search the registers directly.
- Registered entity
- Fairfund Recovery Partners Ltd
- Company number
- 14208677 — Companies House, England & Wales
- Registered office
- 3rd Floor, 22 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1LS, United Kingdom
- Year established
- 2019
- Investigator licensing
- Association of British Investigators (ABI), firm membership no. 20394. Individual ABI membership held separately by Fiona Mercer and Daniel Osei.
- Professional body
- Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), member no. 503921 (D. Osei)
- Professional indemnity
- Hiscox — $2,000,000 cover
- Data protection
- ICO registration ZB294817
- Client money handling
- We do not hold, transmit or take custody of client or recovered funds at any point. All funds move directly between the institutions involved.
If any of these fields are empty on a recovery firm's site
Ask why before you send money or documents. It is a fair question and a legitimate firm will answer it without hesitating.
Governance
How cases are supervised
Individual investigators do not decide alone whether a case proceeds, escalates, or closes.
- Case acceptance
- Every assessment is reviewed by a second investigator before a client is told whether a route exists. One person's judgment is never the final word on whether a case is viable.
- Conflicts of interest
- Checked against active and prior clients before any engagement begins. Where a conflict exists, we decline and, where possible, refer you elsewhere.
- Evidence review
- Reports intended for a bank, regulator or court are checked by someone other than the investigator who wrote them before they go out.
- Complaints
- Handled under a published complaints procedure with a named point of contact independent of the case team — Priya Nair, Head of Case Management.
How we charge
Fees
Stage 1 is always a fixed $350 assessment fee, payable up front and credited against further work if the case proceeds. From stage 2 onward we quote a capped fixed fee for each stage before it starts.
- Every fee is agreed in writing before the work it pays for begins.
- There are no open-ended hourly arrangements and no charges you have not approved.
- We are paid by invoice through traceable banking channels. Never in gift cards, never in cryptocurrency.
- We never ask for a payment of any kind as a condition of releasing recovered funds. No legitimate party ever does.
Standards
What we commit to
We tell you when there is no case
Declining work we cannot usefully do is the main thing that separates this practice from the industry's worst end.
We do not approach victims
No cold calls, no unsolicited emails, no direct messages. Every client comes to us or is referred to us.
We separate fact from inference
Our reports state what the evidence establishes and what it merely suggests, and label which is which.
We work inside the law
No unauthorised access to systems, no impersonation, no contact with the people who defrauded you.
Ask us anything before you commit
Including the uncomfortable questions. Especially those.