Smart Technology Inc

We have been offered shares in a company called Smart Technology Inc who they say are aiming to launch on the American Stock Market or the NASDAQ through a broker Wellington-Duke & Associates from Switzerland. The money is to be sent through Amgrove Finance Ltd. whom we cannot seem to find any information about on the Internet apart from a mention in one of these Forums.
I have talked with Smart Technology in the USA who have a web site and seem to be a real company although there is little about them on the Internet.
I have never heard of Wellington-Duke who say they were one of the brokers that handled the Pre Public Launch of Google.com and cannot find any information about them on the Internet either.
How do you go about checking if these people are legitimate or not? Are they registered anywhere as legitimate and trustworthy companies? What protection is there when you are purchasing shares like this?

Richard

I have just been offered shares in an IPO for Smart Technology Inc, which does seem to be a real company (by their web-site ???). One day after initial contact, suddenly they heard the IPO is going ahead in Dec..... and so we need to secure a part of it quickly.
Tha offer is coming through a cold call from Cameron Price of Omega Equities. Contact is 0870 7120614. They state that they helped in the IPO of BayDo (spelling?) the Chinese = of Google. On their web site they are based in Belize.
When the payment details came through the initial bank is based in Switzerland but the Final Beneficiary Bank account is
In Favour of: First Curacao International Bank N.V.
Kaya W.F.G. (JOMBI)
Mensing 18, Zeelandia
P.O. Box 2299, Curacao
Netherlands Antillies
Swift Code: F C U R A N C U

Final Beneficiary Name is Amgrove Finance Ltd.
Account number: 01-205-300946-01

I cannot find anything on Amgrove Finance Ltd.
It is all sounding too rushed and too good to be true. Also .... where did they get my number from?

sounds like it is almost certainly a boiler room scam. You should read all of the thread below before you consider doing anything with this firm:

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/showthread.php?p=206089#post206089

probabilities are high you will lose all the money you put into this.

I too have had a cold call from this Cameron Price just this morning offering the same. The name of Amgrove Finance was mentioned by him as an afterthought. Undertaking my own due diligence came across Trade2Win board and joined this forum as appears others have already experienced this case. Agree it all looks too coincidental and not one to pursue.

GSD said:

I have just been offered shares in an IPO for Smart Technology Inc, which does seem to be a real company (by their web-site ???). One day after initial contact, suddenly they heard the IPO is going ahead in Dec..... and so we need to secure a part of it quickly.
Tha offer is coming through a cold call from Cameron Price of Omega Equities. Contact is 0870 7120614. They state that they helped in the IPO of BayDo (spelling?) the Chinese = of Google. On their web site they are based in Belize.
When the payment details came through the initial bank is based in Switzerland but the Final Beneficiary Bank account is
In Favour of: First Curacao International Bank N.V.
Kaya W.F.G. (JOMBI)
Mensing 18, Zeelandia
P.O. Box 2299, Curacao
Netherlands Antillies
Swift Code: F C U R A N C U

Final Beneficiary Name is Amgrove Finance Ltd.
Account number: 01-205-300946-01

I cannot find anything on Amgrove Finance Ltd.
It is all sounding too rushed and too good to be true. Also .... where did they get my number from?

Click to expand...

We too have been offered the same deal (in Netherland) about Smart Tech., by Wellington-Duke. Our main contact was Sheldon Greene, a well spoken gentleman. We have seen Smart Tech's very impressive website too, AND their affiliated French site (can't remember the name).
I have even checked out Smart Technology on the US SEC site - it seems to be a genuine, registered company, although in their deposition they do repeatedly comment that they may never make any money (?!?)
Wellington-Duke can be found at www.wdassociates.net. While professional in appearance, there's not a lot of info (lazy?).
We decided to buy some of the shares offered, because I'd done all the checking I could. However, once we'd given the go ahead, we received fund transfer banking instructions, with the money ending up in an account owned by Amgrove Finance Ltd in Curacao / Netherlands 'Antillies' (they didn't even spell 'Antilles' correctly!).
We'd been told that the money would go to Smart Technology, so I looked for Amgrove on the internet.
The only link I got for that was an entry in another forum "The Motley Fool" (www.fool.co.uk) where I found an ongoing discussion about scams connecting various "advisory" organisations and several "real businesses" we could invest in.
We will have the paperwork within the next day or so, but we'll be saving energy and ink (and money) by chucking it in the bin (or perhaps keeping it as a reminder that fools and their money are (almost) soon parted. )
Good Luck
FF

Postscript: 30-09-2005

This morning I had two calls from Duke-Wellington.
The first was from 'Sharon', who had no idea I had been in communication with her 'colleague' Sheldon, and who started the whole 'spiel' from scratch with "Hallo, remember we talked about IPO's a couple of months ago? Well, I have something that might interst you..."
Reason for that opening? IT IS ILLEGAL TO MAKE COLD CALLS! If I politely said "Er, yes", then they have it on tape that they have not made a cold call.
Sharon continued, even after I mentioned the obvious lack of interbal communication, but when I said that we hadn't spoken earlier she slammed the phone down in mid sentence.

The second call was from Sheldon. I couldn't stay on the phone as I was talking on the other line. Sheldon said "That's OK. I just wanted to congratulate you, you're $750 in profit, as the price of the shares has just gone up to $8.50."

EASY MONEY! I haven't even transferred the funds and I'm in profit! I wonder if Sheldon would take my 750 profit and buy some more shares for me....

Amgrove Finance

After reading this board, I contacted this co. and confirmed I would not now be buying shares. They 'threatened' I would be contected by their legal dept. .... not heard yet!!!!!!

Carbonleg said:

I too have had a cold call from this Cameron Price just this morning offering the same. The name of Amgrove Finance was mentioned by him as an afterthought. Undertaking my own due diligence came across Trade2Win board and joined this forum as appears others have already experienced this case. Agree it all looks too coincidental and not one to pursue.

Click to expand...

Smart Tech, Amgrove and Cold calls

Sheldon called again today, to ask if I'd organised payment yet. I told him that due to a misspelling, the bank was hesitant, so he's correcting the paperwork and sending a new batch.
I asked a bout "cold-calls". He said 'Yes, we make cold calls. We buy contact lists of previous investors. When dealing with this sort of business which nobody knows about, we have to market it like this. Anyway, we don't fall under the FSA, so it's not illegal'.
When asked which governing body they do fall under he didn't know (first time he couldn't answer a question), but he had heard of one in Germany, but didn't know what it's called.
Amgrove, he said, is a clearing house working for Smart Technology - I couldn't find any connection because there isn't one, except that Amgrove is working for S T.
All businesses use clearing houses.
I also mentioned "Sharon's" call.
"Oh, yeah, I know Sharon (can't remember her last name). She's new. I'll have a word with her about her telephone manners..."

Is anybody interested in a continuing blow-by-blow? Or is it a waste of time ? IS there any way to stop them??

FergusonsFollies said:

....Is anybody interested in a continuing blow-by-blow? Or is it a waste of time ? IS there any way to stop them??

Click to expand...

Just tell them:
a: you are an experienced investor and have set yourself standards
b: because of bad experiences in the past, you only deal with FSA regulated companies with a UK office, for legal reasons. ( no foreign based advisors )
c: you only invest in companies with a capitisation of £30M or more
d: you only trade in companies with a daily trading volume of 300,000 shared or more, for liquidity reasons
e: you only trade through certain brokers because you have accounts with them

Tell them if they dont meet your criteria, you wont deal with them. Simple.

Smart Technology Inc.

I also received a call from someone named Wayne from Wellington Duke.

He convinced me about the Benefit of buying the shares of of Smart Technology Inc.

I agree to buy minimum shares, one share= 7$
But he called me after couple of days in Sep. 29 and said the shares rise up to 8.5$.

I checked the Smart Web page and their contract in the SCE org. and it seems correct, then I checked the ST Inc. in AMEX their symbol is STXE and it was true too.

The info. of the Beneficiary Bank (First Cuacao International Bank N.V.) and the routing bank detail (UBS AG) is correct too except the account name.

My doubt was only about the broker, their email location is in Spain, and his ISP is SYNC-INTERTAINMENT-NET though he is in Switzerland!!!!

There is a similar website name of a Trading group “Located in Spain” which is:
http://www.wellingtoncr.com/

Hi MoonMystery,

Further to my previous posting...

I made contact with an organisation in Switzerland that registers brokers and traders active in their country. They couldn't find Wellington Duke, but suggested tat W-D might be registered with another authority called (loosely translated) "The Federal Swiss Money Laundering Control Authority" (!!)

They did a thorough check. Results?

Wellington Duke is not registered in Switserland, nor is there any trace of a business called Wellington-Duke & Associates at the Swiss address (Buetschwil) given by W-D.

There is no doubt at all that this is a scam.

The Swiss authorities are looking into it and may be able to stop them. Of course, they'll pop up again in another guise... So beware of any scheme that seems too good to be true - because it is! (Except for the rotten people doing the scam)

I would to comment on this :

I say that Smart Technology is a real company with an opportunity to invest in at these prices $7 - $8.50 .
The company is waiting the SEC to start trading in U.S market . The company has got a very huge investment from Europian space agency . The company made excellent agreements with big companies like UPS .

For myself , I have invested more than $100,000 in this IPO .

Good luck to all

smartboy said:

I would to comment on this :

I say that Smart Technology is a real company with an opportunity to invest in at these prices $7 - $8.50 .
The company is waiting the SEC to start trading in U.S market . The company has got a very huge investment from Europian space agency . The company made excellent agreements with big companies like UPS .

For myself , I have invested more than $100,000 in this IPO .

Good luck to all

Click to expand...

Hmmmm, first post newbie claiming to have put in $100,000 . . . .

I assume everyone's talking about this mob . . .
http://www.smarttechnologyinc.com

1) No reputable company about to launch would ever, ever use bucket shops to raise funds.
2) Ask yourselves why a company about to launch on an exchange want to raise new funds prior to a listing? (hint: the answer is that they wouldn't, that's the whole point about a listing)

BTW, I'm not doubting that ST is looking for a listing, I'm doubting that people buying via a non-regulated broker are actually going to receive their shares.

I have bought more than 20,000 shares . I got the certificates also .

When you buy the shares , you will get your certificate within 2 weeks via UPS mail service .

I hope they are nice pretty ones that way you can hang them in your bathroom to remind you where your money went.

Down the crapper

Why do not you believe on the company ?

Many companies tried to raise Funds through selling IPO shrs and later on when they start trading their stocks prices went up .

So , I think it is not a shame Smart Technology raise Funds through selling IPO shrs .
Beside that , I think it is safe to buy it IPO shrs at this range $7-$8.50 . When you check the SEC fillings , you will notice that the company sold IPO shrs 3 years ago at $5s prices .

Anyway , I was told that the trading will start in January 2006 . So I think I will wait for that date .

Good luck to All

smartboy said:

Why do not you believe on the company ?

Click to expand...

The company looks fine, it's those companies purporting to be selling shares in this company that I don't believe.

(tried to paraphrase the Pete Cook / Dudley Moore "Tarzan Interview" sketch there but couldn't get it quite right . . . )

I agree that the company as such seems OK. However, I have checked out the 'company' supposedly selling the shares. I checked them through several official Swiss government agencies. Result? The comany does not have any licence to trade in Switzerland, and the address they give is merely a reply and forwarding service. They have NO presence in Switzerland whatsoever. Further, the bank account where one is supposed to deposit the money intended for the purchase of the shares is an account used by several other so-called trading houses. Isn't it starnge that several supposedly independent trading houses of 'impeccable' repute all have money paid into one account?

Indeed, good luck to all.

(I can't help feeling that 'Smartboy' is either a plant by the boiler room(s), or he is not worthy of his handle)

I was originally told that Smart Tech. were going public in November, then it became 'probably' December. I read now that it is 'possibly' January. If Smartboy has genuinely invested so much, and is holding so many bits of pretty paper, I really hope for him that S. T. does open up, and that he is able to make a profit and get his money back, and more. He might make us all look like paranoid (and relatively poor) fools. For his sake, I hope so, but I'm glad I stopped before it was too late.

As Sheldon said, when I told him I had changed my mind, "I've wasted too much time on this! Good luck!" -CLICK-

theweb4u said:

We have been offered shares in a company called Smart Technology Inc who they say are aiming to launch on the American Stock Market or the NASDAQ through a broker Wellington-Duke & Associates from Switzerland. The money is to be sent through Amgrove Finance Ltd. whom we cannot seem to find any information about on the Internet apart from a mention in one of these Forums.
I have talked with Smart Technology in the USA who have a web site and seem to be a real company although there is little about them on the Internet.
I have never heard of Wellington-Duke who say they were one of the brokers that handled the Pre Public Launch of Google.com and cannot find any information about them on the Internet either.
How do you go about checking if these people are legitimate or not? Are they registered anywhere as legitimate and trustworthy companies? What protection is there when you are purchasing shares like this?

Richard

Click to expand...

I checked out Wellington Duke at a couple of Swiss Government agencies. They have issued no licence for that company to trade (they've never heard of W - D), and the address as given is probably just a message forwarding type of business, as Wellington Duke is definitely not registered there. In fact they have no real presence in Switzerland. The FSA in Britain also has no knowledge of them, and the only reference to Amgrove, as you say, is on this site. Not proof of a scam. perhaps, but it leaves one with a feeling of distrust, and as they say, north of the border, "If in doot, miss it oot!"
FF

Just cancelled W_D Ass. order

FergusonsFollies said:

I checked out Wellington Duke at a couple of Swiss Government agencies. They have issued no licence for that company to trade (they've never heard of W - D), and the address as given is probably just a message forwarding type of business, as Wellington Duke is definitely not registered there. In fact they have no real presence in Switzerland. The FSA in Britain also has no knowledge of them, and the only reference to Amgrove, as you say, is on this site. Not proof of a scam. perhaps, but it leaves one with a feeling of distrust, and as they say, north of the border, "If in doot, miss it oot!"
FF

Click to expand...

Just cancelled an order for 500 shares. I was contacted by a Danish speaking person who offered me some shares at 1.75(mobilstream) with expectations that the price would go to 3. The price is now 4.61 so I (perhaps) missed a great opportunity. Contacted by the same person with an offer for Smart Technology Inc. at 7 dollars. IPO to come sometime in 2006. Checked out T2W for Wellington-Duke Associates and T2W's site turned up. Registered, searched, and cancelled the W_D ASS. order.
This thread is now in my links list.

Boiler room scams

q0822pixel said:

Just cancelled an order for 500 shares. I was contacted by a Danish speaking person who offered me some shares at 1.75(mobilstream) with expectations that the price would go to 3. The price is now 4.61 so I (perhaps) missed a great opportunity. Contacted by the same person with an offer for Smart Technology Inc. at 7 dollars. IPO to come sometime in 2006. Checked out T2W for Wellington-Duke Associates and T2W's site turned up. Registered, searched, and cancelled the W_D ASS. order.
This thread is now in my links list.

Click to expand...

After reading these posts it is no wonder boiler room scams thrive - and beware of the "pump and dump" scammers who try to post here :|