Boiler Room Scams
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everyonerich
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.......
MacMillan Fine International
According to their website they've been in business for 'over 50 years'
However, their website was first bought in March 2009!
Macmillanfine.com - Macmillan Fine
What a joke!
If they call you again, ask them how this can be possible and if they give you some crap ask them what their previous website address was. Then go to Internet Archive and type in the address - this shows what websites used to look like for example you can see Amazon's from 10 years ago. I'd hazzard a guess that there will be no website......
If they say we 'didn't have a web presence before' reply that they cannot be a company that can be trusted then because that in this day and age is technically impossible.
According to their website they've been in business for 'over 50 years'
However, their website was first bought in March 2009!
Macmillanfine.com - Macmillan Fine
What a joke!
If they call you again, ask them how this can be possible and if they give you some crap ask them what their previous website address was. Then go to Internet Archive and type in the address - this shows what websites used to look like for example you can see Amazon's from 10 years ago. I'd hazzard a guess that there will be no website......
If they say we 'didn't have a web presence before' reply that they cannot be a company that can be trusted then because that in this day and age is technically impossible.
experienced_it_all
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Here is the history of this scam company, I am positive that Macmillanfine.com will not show up on archive.org but you can check them out at morganfinch.net, mitchellfinch.com, or macmillanfine.com - they have changed names 3 times in a couple of years. Everytime any official financial regulatory body puts them on a list of non-authorized brokers, they switch names. But they do not even bother to switch the site!
Anyone who sends money to this "company" is kissing it goodbye forever!
What I also love about the scammers sites is that if you read them they actually tell you NOTHING.
Just plenty of lies saying crap like 'we value our customers' and 'we employ the strictest of ethics'
Corporate propaganda whether the company is legit or not is so crappy these days.
Just plenty of lies saying crap like 'we value our customers' and 'we employ the strictest of ethics'
Corporate propaganda whether the company is legit or not is so crappy these days.
experienced_it_all
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If anyone needs specific help I would be glad to explain it clearly.
Yep... Huge offices, International Advisors, Professional Staff, 500 years experience!!! ... blah.. blah.. blah!! Always the same story with these guys.
I actually took a step back. I have a company that is still in its start-up phase and I have to speak to new investors the same as anybody. With some people, no matter what I say, they are going to call me a scammer because of what they hear. That's the worst part, these guys use the same techniques as anyone raising legit capital so it hurts the people they scam and takes away good opportunities as well. I started out using automated systems, secretary, etc. but I have just gone back to me and a regular phone line! I figure, if you are calling, you want to speak to someone that can answer your question, not get a run around with a secretary, voice mails and presentation.
The sad fact is, more people would rather invest in something that looks good on the surface rather than something that makes good business sense
I do empathize though, most of these companies offer legit stocks (as far as they are legal - Reg. S/D/144) so to the average investor it looks promising. Rule 144 can be confusing and most people will never understand it correctly. Nobody explains the lack of volume and the dilution that will occur to drive the stock down to par-value!
Yep... Huge offices, International Advisors, Professional Staff, 500 years experience!!! ... blah.. blah.. blah!! Always the same story with these guys.
I actually took a step back. I have a company that is still in its start-up phase and I have to speak to new investors the same as anybody. With some people, no matter what I say, they are going to call me a scammer because of what they hear. That's the worst part, these guys use the same techniques as anyone raising legit capital so it hurts the people they scam and takes away good opportunities as well. I started out using automated systems, secretary, etc. but I have just gone back to me and a regular phone line! I figure, if you are calling, you want to speak to someone that can answer your question, not get a run around with a secretary, voice mails and presentation.
The sad fact is, more people would rather invest in something that looks good on the surface rather than something that makes good business sense
I do empathize though, most of these companies offer legit stocks (as far as they are legal - Reg. S/D/144) so to the average investor it looks promising. Rule 144 can be confusing and most people will never understand it correctly. Nobody explains the lack of volume and the dilution that will occur to drive the stock down to par-value!
The secret to learning about any financial product is what they DON'T TELL YOU.
Go into any high st bank and pick up a leaflet on their mortgages. Plenty of happy smiling faces, easy to read prose, lots of 'advantages' etc. But very little if any of the disadvantages.
Sadly, most people rely on these types of leaflets for their research which will take in all of about 5 mins.
Is it any wonder that the banks make so much money on their retail products when they're selling what are often complex products to the financially illiterare.
Note that 'financially illiterare' does not mean you're either stupid or uneducated. It just means you haven't really got a clue what you're buying and you put far too much trust in the person selling it.
About 10 years ago I got caught out buying some Critical Illness insurance. The fella stated all the advantages and I signed up for about £100 a month.
It was only about 2 years later when I read how expensive and often useless this product was that I cancelled.
So who was to blame for this?
100% me, because I did NO research and so in effect bought the product blind. After that I never made the same mistake and now if I want to buy a product I look mainly at the disadvantages.
research really is the key everyone and now with the internet, the greatest research tool ever invented, we all have NO EXCUSES.
If you get ripped off, as I did, then look hard in the mirror.........
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Here's some typical corporate crap from a website, can you guess who the company is -
"Clients know that XXXXXXXXXXXXXX has a personal interest in maintaining the unblemished record of value, fair-dealing, and high ethical standards that has always been the firm's hallmark."
"Clients know that XXXXXXXXXXXXXX has a personal interest in maintaining the unblemished record of value, fair-dealing, and high ethical standards that has always been the firm's hallmark."
everyonerich
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when they called you, you should tell em "your company is actually had better deal than them" ask them if he/she is interested, turn around the situation and pursue him/her buy something..!
Hey give me £1000 and I will make you £10,000 by the end of the week.
more info at www.pie/inthe/sky/traders.org
Yes sir we do this every week, that is why im stuck on the phone talking to you in the attempt on making you ritch sir.
Is that ture ?
Yes sir.
So why dont you do this and then you will not need to work ?
Hooo I why did not think of that, probibly becasue Im only 12yrs and have no money to invest yet , but when I get my pocket money I will be investing in this.
more info at www.pie/inthe/sky/traders.org
Yes sir we do this every week, that is why im stuck on the phone talking to you in the attempt on making you ritch sir.
Is that ture ?
Yes sir.
So why dont you do this and then you will not need to work ?
Hooo I why did not think of that, probibly becasue Im only 12yrs and have no money to invest yet , but when I get my pocket money I will be investing in this.
everyonerich
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from K.Oppong
Some good news from Bloomberg
Police Warn of Increase in Boiler Rooms as Four Face Sentences
2009-04-24 00:01:00.0 GMT
By Caroline Binham
April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Boiler-room scams, where investors are targeted by phony stockbrokers pressuring them to buy worthless shares, are rising in the U.K., with more than 5,000 victims coming forward annually, the City of London Police said.
The financial crisis means more people are taken in by the schemes, Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Head said. The scams defraud Britons out of at least 300 million pounds ($436 million) a year, according to Britain’s financial regulator.
In the latest crackdown, four defendants will be sentenced in a London court today for what police describe as one of the biggest boiler rooms prosecuted in the U.K. The men cold-called investors to pressure them to buy shares in Pantera Oil & Gas, now called Artemis Energy, falsely claiming that it would soon publicly trade shares on London’s Alternative Investment Market.
Boiler rooms are “one of our biggest threats, and one of our priority areas,” Head told journalists. “There are a series of tactics but they can be summed up by there being cold-calling, and high pressure to buy shares that are essentially worthless.”
The defendants in today’s case ran a company called Blackwell Capital Group, which claimed to be in London and was in fact in Barcelona, police said. Artemis Energy isn’t accused of wrongdoing.
Money-Laundering Conviction
Claude Greaves, 51, described by police as the “puppet-master” of the boiler room, was found guilty in March by a juryof money-laundering and breaches of the Financial Services and Markets Act, carrying a maximum two-year sentence. He was found not guilty on the charge of conspiracy to defraud. Greaves already served time in prison for tax fraud in an unrelated case, police said.
Henrik Botcher, 37; Fraser Jenkins, 28; and Roozbeh Yazdanian, 38, face a maximum of two years each for money-laundering and selling shares when unregulated. They pleaded guilty to the offenses.
Mike Brunskill, the lawyer for Jenkins, said his client’s not-guilty plea to a fraud charge was accepted by prosecutors and now he only faces sentencing for “breaching aspects of the Financial Services and Markets Act without acting dishonestly.”
The Financial Services Authority “is very used to dealing with these issues and generally administer a fine for this sort of activity,” Brunskill, a lawyer at Pannone LLP in Manchester, said in an e-mailed statement.
A message left with Bark & Co Solicitors, which is advising Greaves, wasn’t immediately returned. Irwin Mitchell, the law firm advising Botcher, declined to comment before the
sentencing. Police and the Southwark Crown Court couldn’t provide the name of Yazdanian’s lawyer.
Victims, who lost more than 2.4 million pounds, sent checks to ROK International, Greaves’ tax consulting firm in London’s Mayfair district. The money then was sent to Hong Kong, according to police.
Police say that the typical victims of the scams are often retirees who are vulnerable to sales pitches.
“You feel so ashamed and so stupid,” said a victim in a separate scam police introduced as Elizabeth Clarke, 64. She lost 500,000 pounds in a scam, she said. “Yet these people are very, very believable.”
Police Warn of Increase in Boiler Rooms as Four Face Sentences
2009-04-24 00:01:00.0 GMT
By Caroline Binham
April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Boiler-room scams, where investors are targeted by phony stockbrokers pressuring them to buy worthless shares, are rising in the U.K., with more than 5,000 victims coming forward annually, the City of London Police said.
The financial crisis means more people are taken in by the schemes, Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Head said. The scams defraud Britons out of at least 300 million pounds ($436 million) a year, according to Britain’s financial regulator.
In the latest crackdown, four defendants will be sentenced in a London court today for what police describe as one of the biggest boiler rooms prosecuted in the U.K. The men cold-called investors to pressure them to buy shares in Pantera Oil & Gas, now called Artemis Energy, falsely claiming that it would soon publicly trade shares on London’s Alternative Investment Market.
Boiler rooms are “one of our biggest threats, and one of our priority areas,” Head told journalists. “There are a series of tactics but they can be summed up by there being cold-calling, and high pressure to buy shares that are essentially worthless.”
The defendants in today’s case ran a company called Blackwell Capital Group, which claimed to be in London and was in fact in Barcelona, police said. Artemis Energy isn’t accused of wrongdoing.
Money-Laundering Conviction
Claude Greaves, 51, described by police as the “puppet-master” of the boiler room, was found guilty in March by a juryof money-laundering and breaches of the Financial Services and Markets Act, carrying a maximum two-year sentence. He was found not guilty on the charge of conspiracy to defraud. Greaves already served time in prison for tax fraud in an unrelated case, police said.
Henrik Botcher, 37; Fraser Jenkins, 28; and Roozbeh Yazdanian, 38, face a maximum of two years each for money-laundering and selling shares when unregulated. They pleaded guilty to the offenses.
Mike Brunskill, the lawyer for Jenkins, said his client’s not-guilty plea to a fraud charge was accepted by prosecutors and now he only faces sentencing for “breaching aspects of the Financial Services and Markets Act without acting dishonestly.”
The Financial Services Authority “is very used to dealing with these issues and generally administer a fine for this sort of activity,” Brunskill, a lawyer at Pannone LLP in Manchester, said in an e-mailed statement.
A message left with Bark & Co Solicitors, which is advising Greaves, wasn’t immediately returned. Irwin Mitchell, the law firm advising Botcher, declined to comment before the
sentencing. Police and the Southwark Crown Court couldn’t provide the name of Yazdanian’s lawyer.
Victims, who lost more than 2.4 million pounds, sent checks to ROK International, Greaves’ tax consulting firm in London’s Mayfair district. The money then was sent to Hong Kong, according to police.
Police say that the typical victims of the scams are often retirees who are vulnerable to sales pitches.
“You feel so ashamed and so stupid,” said a victim in a separate scam police introduced as Elizabeth Clarke, 64. She lost 500,000 pounds in a scam, she said. “Yet these people are very, very believable.”
newbieandlearning
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And I thought everything was going smoothly - they bought and sold shares on my behalf and made me a lot of paper profit - then comes the sting, "before we can return your profits you need to pay the tax bill up front, we have paid it on your behalf, so you must now pay us back before we release the funds" it is only now that I realise I have been scammed. The companies concerned our Stanley Equity (with a UK office) and Chartwell Financial
britpilot
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Boiler rooms in Barcelona
Hi there,
If you have the addrss in Barcelona send it to me and I will visit it and even take a photo. I have lived in Barcelona for a couple of years now. Same goes for anyone else who needs something checking out in Barcelona.
Glad to help where I can, and let´s get the *******s. I have aleady reported one and got their website shut down they were Chesterfield Union Bank, pure BS and a copied website from a real bank.
Hi there,
If you have the addrss in Barcelona send it to me and I will visit it and even take a photo. I have lived in Barcelona for a couple of years now. Same goes for anyone else who needs something checking out in Barcelona.
Glad to help where I can, and let´s get the *******s. I have aleady reported one and got their website shut down they were Chesterfield Union Bank, pure BS and a copied website from a real bank.
I'd bet the address is a Mail drop.
These guys are not stupid, they don't want somebody they've fleeced for everything turning up on their door with a gun or machette.
As for closing a website down, well done. But I think the next day another one will have appeared with a different name. And why not, ALL the names are fake so it's not as if they have to register a new company.
These guys are not stupid, they don't want somebody they've fleeced for everything turning up on their door with a gun or machette.
As for closing a website down, well done. But I think the next day another one will have appeared with a different name. And why not, ALL the names are fake so it's not as if they have to register a new company.
everyonerich
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....
LOLED at this one.
typical..
LOLED at this one.
Greetings,
I know you would be surprised to read from someone relatively unknown to you before. My name is SGT. Larry Downs, a member of the U.S. ARMY USARPAC Medical Team, which was deployed to Iraq in the beginning of the war in Iraq.
I would like to share some highly personal classified information about my
personal experience and role which I played in the pursuit of my career serving under the U.S 1st Armored which was
at the fore-front of the war in Iraq.
Though, I would like to hold back certain information for security reasons for now until you have find the time to visit the BBC website stated below to enable you have insight as to what I'm intending to share with you, Believing that it would be of your desired interest one-way or the other, BBC NEWS | Middle East | Stash of money found in Baghdad
Also, could you get back to me having visiting the above website to enable us discuss in a more clarifying manner to the best of your understanding. I must say that I'm very uncomfortable sending this message to you without knowing truly if you would misconstrue the importance and decides to go public. In this regards, I will not hold back to say that the essence of this message is strictly for mutual benefit of you and I and nothing more.
I will be vivid and coherent in my next message in this regards, meanwhile,
could you send me a mail via my private e-mail address
Thanks,
Best Regards
SGT. Larry Downs
[email protected]
typical..
re ATSSPECIALISTS.
[F][/FONT]
Hi I have no solid proof as such, except they no longer answer the phone or emails.And that the company stopped trading in 2006. THE SCUM BAGS HAVE RUN OFF WITH THE "SHARE HOLDERS"MONEY.
The Website is still up and running no doubt to fool the unsuspecting people they are still touting shares to. I wish I had checked them out on T2W before my husband bought shares. If you do find anything on them do post it on T2W ......scorpio
[F][/FONT]
Hi I have no solid proof as such, except they no longer answer the phone or emails.And that the company stopped trading in 2006. THE SCUM BAGS HAVE RUN OFF WITH THE "SHARE HOLDERS"MONEY.
The Website is still up and running no doubt to fool the unsuspecting people they are still touting shares to. I wish I had checked them out on T2W before my husband bought shares. If you do find anything on them do post it on T2W ......scorpio
I am writing to you because I have just read the blogs on subject scam, of which I almost became a victim. Some 12 years ago I was a gullable victim whereby I purchased shares, swapped shares and dished out lots of money, never to be seen again.
This week I was contacted by phone from a certain Allen Jones from New Asia Business Consultants Ltd with an address in Tokyo. They said I still held shares in Arc Communications and they had a client that would buy them. They sent me documentation by e-mail which I filled out and signed. Then he called again and said my shares are class B and to change them to class A another company would contact me. That turned out to be an invoice for USD$3,520.00 from United Success Financial Ltd. in Hong Kong. I got suspicious and did a google search for "New Asia Business Consultants". This resulted in a blog from Trade2Win that announced the scam. Obviously I did not pay, but I am angry at myself for almost falling for it again and for the fact that I had already e-mailed them my bank account information.
Today I did the same google search and there are two more blogs from your site.
Here is more information on these fake companies:
NABC Ltd., 32nd fllor, St. Luke's Tower, 8-1 Akashi-Cho, Chuo-Ku, Tokyo 104-8518, Website: NABC, e-mail: [email protected]
USF Ltd., Flat H, 13/F, Blk4, Kwun Tong Ind. Ctr., 436 Kwun Tong Rd., Kowloon, Hong Kong, Website: http://www.usf-online.com, e-mail: [email protected]
Smith & White Transfer Agents Ltd., Website: Smith & White
Hopefully the right law institution will take notice of this scam and do something about it. You are welcome to publish this message and to forward it to institutions you deem should know about it.
Novaro
This is what the thread is all about - helping people such as yourself. Glad you had the intelligence to use the internet.
The internet is the number 1 tool to use for defeating these scammers like "New Asia Business Consultants Ltd".
If the guy calls you again tell him that he is nothing but a low-life thief and should be ashamed of what he does for a living. Also, ask him if his parents know they've raised scum. Don't hold back, because he was only too willing to con you.
This is what the thread is all about - helping people such as yourself. Glad you had the intelligence to use the internet.
The internet is the number 1 tool to use for defeating these scammers like "New Asia Business Consultants Ltd".
If the guy calls you again tell him that he is nothing but a low-life thief and should be ashamed of what he does for a living. Also, ask him if his parents know they've raised scum. Don't hold back, because he was only too willing to con you.
