| Police warns of boiler room scams |
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| Written by Adrie van der Luijt | |
| Thursday, 10 April 2008 | |
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Investors in Scotland are falling victim to cold-calling bogus stockbrokers.
Lothian and Borders Police says they are scamming them out of large sums of money in the Lothians. Over the last few months, a number of people in the area have contacted police about the scheme, which is known as 'boiler room' fraud because of the high pressure involved. The bogus stockbrokers, are usually based overseas, and pressure people into buying worthless shares. Favourite targets are middle-aged men with previous experience of buying shares, whose names they find on share registers. The most common victims of so-called boiler-room scams are experienced investors, who typically lose £20,000 each to the fraudsters. In the Lothians, one man has parted with £500,000 and a 77-year-old man has parted with £150,000. A police spokeswoman said that it was the same old story - if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. He advised anyone wishing to trade in stocks and shares to use a reputable registered stockbroker, based locally, and to do some thorough research before parting with any money. “We would urge anyone who has been contacted by a someone from overseas, asking them to pay cash up front for investing, to contact police as soon as possible,” he concluded. Related articles
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