Boiler Room Scams

can anyone help? i was subscribed to the argus global equities thread but it seems to have disappeared, somewhat like my money i fear!, can anyone direct me back in the right direction?
Thanks
 
Another name to be aware of is 'Emerging Equity Group' of Barcelona. The man who called me regarding 'Xpention' who had developed a protein blood test that gave an immediate warning if cancer was present,was called David Jones. There was considerable background conversation noise. After listening for some while I said I was not interested. However, he phoned me again the next day. Amusingly he appeared to have got his paper work mixed up for he was now Peter Davis!
 
Deleted threads? mods

looker1 said:
can anyone help? i was subscribed to the argus global equities thread but it seems to have disappeared, somewhat like my money i fear!, can anyone direct me back in the right direction?
Thanks

I've no interest in the matter of Argus (thankfully!) but I distinctly remember a long thread entitled Argus or similar, which a search does not find. I did not realise that whole threads were likely to be deleted and wondered about the criteria used to select them?
 
FSA Regulated companies CAN cold call offering certain products. They can NOT cold call offering any geared products or products containing gearing.


anley said:
By the way my last post was not directed at Effkay, he has at least seen sense to realise that 'it's too good to be true'

PS. Can anyone confirm that FSA regulated firms are not allowed to cold-call. I think this is the case.

If so the rule becomes even more simple,

IF YOU ARE COLD CALLED OFFERING ANY INVESTMENT THEN ANY MONEY YOU INVEST WILL BE STOLEN FROM YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE DEALING WITH THIEVES MASQUERADING AS BUSINESSMEN/BROKERS.

And companies like Lynx commodities are a classic example of this, regulated by a fake regulator and their management teams bios are copy/pasted from Gain Capitals website.
 
N.Flatable,

It has all the hallmarks of the scam:
a: get shares at a discount to what they "might" sell for later ( built-in profit )
b: rumours of a merger or take-over ( "possible" upwards move in price )
c: suggestions they have "large" ( and therefore huge income stream ) contracts
( note the website refers to "homeland security" for their nose. inference they will make a mint from defence sector. )

Also, if this was so good, I would want to tell my close friends about it, and/or invest myself.
Why would a complete stranger phone you up, essentially offering you free money ( $3.10 shares for $2.15. He's GIVING AWAY 95c per share?? )

Also, they are based in a country, that may/may not have strong regulation.
( If things go wrong, are you going to throw good money after bad by flying over there to investigate ? )

If you really want to pursue this:
a: Have you contacted NasDaq themselves, if they have any record at a floatation attempt ?
b: Only give as much as you can afford to lose. And dont expect to see any of it back.
c: check the shares are not "restricted". ( some share offerings have an SEC Rule-144,. which means the shares cannot be traded for something like 12 months. And even then, you have to get PERMISSION to trade them.

otherwise, good luck.
 
NFlatable

101% it's a scam. Of course they're all 'very nice gentlemen', that is how people like you fall into their ever so slick traps. Would you do business with someone who was an a**hole?

I'll be harsh with you for your own good, if you invest money with these people then IT WILL BE STOLEN................Although like all good cons it's likely that you won't actually realise it.

Anyone see the Sting on TV last week? When all good cons end the mark never realises he's been taken (hence Robert Shaw was ushered out of the betting shop by the real police when 2 'murders' had been committed), this is why some suckers can be conned time and time again. And you can't do that if the mark realises he's been the victim of a crime against him.

There'a actually a very good book about cons in America from around 1880-1940, the foundations haven't really changed just tweaked and married to current life. It's a great read with all the characters just like in the Sting.

You've been warned, now the ball is in your court. If you invest, and when you lose your money please don't try and blame anyone else but yourself and your greed.
 
Trader333. I can't remember I got it from my local library, next time I'm in town I'll go check and PM you.
 
I had a call yesterday from emerging equity group reguarding idate corp. the guy was on the phone 25 mins with a very "nice" sounding offer, had an "investment adviser" on the mobile for an hour today hehe
(nothing better to do)
Is it me or is Global Administrative Providers mentioned afew times in this thread they were touted to me as somewhere to wire my money before being forwarded to the company buying the shares for me
 
My parents who are both in their 70s were recently cold called by Argus Global Equities Limited (from Nevis in the Carribean) and they spent approximately 1 hour on the phone before convincing my father to invest 1500GBP. They sent him the application forms by email which he was unable to open due to some virus restriction - this meant Argus had to post the forms. This gave him some time to discuss with myself about the investment and for me to do a bit of digging - after discussing with a financial adviser and forwarding him the resulting information he decided not to go ahead with the investment. Naturally, the sales person called back to check that my father had received the forms and was disappointed that my father was not going ahead with the investment but apparently quite pleasant about it - informing my father that he should keep an eye on one of the recommended stocks and that he should remember 1500GBP was not a large sum of money too invest.

I was firstly concerned that somebody would consider selling high risk investments to retired people in their 70s who can probably not afford to speculate this sum of money, and secondly if 1500GBP is considered by them not to be a large sum of money then it made me think that perhaps my parents would be asked to invest further sums in the future.

Having done a Google search I can not find any feedback from investors on this company. Do any investors have any feedback yet regarding this company ?
 
Blight

102% it's a scam. They don't care a damn about your Father, only stealing his money. Chances are he was being setup so they could steal a bigger amount.

Basically he invests £1500, the trade surprise surprise is a big winner (although if he decides to cash in there's a 99% chance he won't be able to get hold of the 'profit' let alone the original £1500).

So say the £1500 goes to £3000. Then he'll be told to invest in another stock which will likely be another great winner. Then comes the big play; 'Hey Mr Bligh Snr, am I a hot broker or what? All you've got to do gramps is listen to me and I'll make you a tonne of cash, but let's not play around with such small money anymore, how about putting up £20k or even £50k, just image what you can do when I double your money, and this stock ABC which we're about to get hold on is likely to go ballistic, they've just found a cure for cancer, are going to be the next google, have developed some new something etc etc..........'

Don't bother looking for feedback, get a check of both your and your father's greed (we all have it in us) and NEVER send money abroad especially to some tinpot crappy country in the caribbean.

I'll say it again everyone, you're all wasting your time typing these messages in here asking about ABC brokerage company or XYZ company because they ARE all scammers, everyone of them.

And of course the salesman all sound very nice and are very professional because these firms employ some of THE world's best salesman, why? Because they can afford to because greedy suckers the world over are sending them multi millions of pounds a year. In fact I'd reckon these scammers together rake in between $100-$300 million of profit a year..........

You've all been warned and like I said if anyone loses money with them please have the decency to only blame yourself, you got suckered plain and simple. Sorry to be harsh but it's the truth.........
 
Hi Anley,

Thanks for your frankness. I wanted to try and get a google link to this thread so other people can get feedback on this company and to share our experiences - this is partly why I posted my comments. It took me some digging to find anything on the internet about this company and eventually I found this discussion board. I would still be very interested to hear feedback from anybody (positive or negative) who has invested with Argus Global Equities Limited.

Of course the more you learn about Boiler Room scams the more obvious the system becomes - but initially it takes time to obtain this information and the sale people of these scams move so quickly that you have very little time to think.
 
Thanks mike&pete, trendie & anley

anley said:
NFlatable

101% it's a scam. Of course they're all 'very nice gentlemen', that is how people like you fall into their ever so slick traps. Would you do business with someone who was an a**hole?

I'll be harsh with you for your own good, if you invest money with these people then IT WILL BE STOLEN................Although like all good cons it's likely that you won't actually realise it.

Anyone see the Sting on TV last week? When all good cons end the mark never realises he's been taken (hence Robert Shaw was ushered out of the betting shop by the real police when 2 'murders' had been committed), this is why some suckers can be conned time and time again. And you can't do that if the mark realises he's been the victim of a crime against him.

There'a actually a very good book about cons in America from around 1880-1940, the foundations haven't really changed just tweaked and married to current life. It's a great read with all the characters just like in the Sting.

You've been warned, now the ball is in your court. If you invest, and when you lose your money please don't try and blame anyone else but yourself and your greed.
Thanks for the worldly advice guys reading back through other comments in 'Boiler House Brokers' I realised I sounded just like so many green victims/suckers before me. Luckily for me I got out unscathed. I was thinking along the lines of what you guys told me, but your advice helped to cement things in my mind.

EMC International phoned me back again today although this time I spoke to a different guy. He tried to play down the importance of being registered with a government regulatory body, but I stuck to my guns & told him that I was only prepared to invest with people who are registered with the FSA or SEC and he gave up. I doubt if I will hear from them again, I expect they're chasing down their next victim as we speak?
 
Good for you Flat and you can be guaranteed to be calling the next guy on their list, someone will take the bait.....

Deal only with regulated firms from your country and also make sure you check them out for example with the FSAs tel helpline first.

Always be on your guard especially when a stranger tells you you can make good and easy money
 
The latest scam list from the FSA

Most of these companies operate from Spain under the guise of an entity registered in an offshore jurisdiction normally the Caribbean. They operate from Spain because giving advice there is unregulated, the UK and Ireland are the only two EU countries where giving advice is deemed a core activity. This is due to change next year when a new EU directive comes in, as of May 2006 any company offering advice in the EU will need to be regulated. Hopefully this will put an end to these people.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Regulated/Law/Alerts/overseas.shtml
 
Hi, I have posted the below in GCPO scam. But I think it is more relevant in this thread as well
This pertains to your legal rights:

have had calls to pushing gcpo. gave my nat insurance no to confirm my deyails, now informed that i own the shares !!!. they want payment,loads of calls not going to pay. unsure of my rights any help greatfully recieved.
There are lots of points to consider here but TMF's Boiler Rooms FAQ is a good place to start:

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=9471244

1. Preston Wainwright Asset Management www.pwasset.com are a boiler room, ie they are "An offshore unregulated financial organisation that uses high-pressure sales techniques to encourage UK private individuals to buy shares in high-risk companies.

2. General Components Inc (GCPO.OB) is for some reason relatively popular with boiler rooms, its stock is also being pushed by Goldfield Consultants AG www.goldfield.ch, see:

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=9251048

A recent SEC filing for the company can be read here:

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/d...18815_10qsb.txt

And there's one particular comment of interest:

Additionally, in connection with the transactions contemplated by the
Exchange Agreement, the Company and certain investors (the "Investors"),
executed and delivered a Stock Purchase Agreement in which such Investors
received 10,000,000 shares of common stock of the Company for consideration of
$2,000,000.

Ie the company has recently issued a massive amount of stock to some "lucky" people at only 20 cents per share! A material discount to the price at which robinbro was being offered the stock at in the linked thread above, I bet that this is also a big discount to the price at which you're being offered them as well (some lucky person somewhere is going to "make out like bandits").

Personally I can't see any reason why anybody would want to buy stock in this pile of junk, but that is just my opinion.

3. The bottom line though is that you are well within your legal rights to tell these people to get lost. The explanatuion as to why is in the FAQ above:
5. I agreed to buy some shares but I've changed my mind now - the boiler room though say we have a contract!?Don't worry, there's nothing that they can do. To force you to pay they would have to come to the UK and take action against you in a court and quite simply any court would throw out the case because any oral agreement that you have is "illegal", ie the boiler room cannot enforce it against you.

Section 26 of the FSMA explains this clearly: www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00008--c.htm#26

26. - (1) An agreement made by a person in the course of carrying on a regulated activity in contravention of the general prohibition is unenforceable against the other party.

How to deal with cold calls
You could get angry and shout at these people but that will only raise your blood pressure and that's not good for your health. Relax, laugh at them down the phone, tell them that you don't deal with illegal boiler rooms and hang up. If you find a more amusing way to tell them to get lost then please let us know.
 
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