latest on the madden group i wrote to the SEC there responce is below DONT GO NEAR THE MADDEN GROUP
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Dear
Thank you for your e-mail to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in regard to Madden Group Inc. (MGI [
http://www.maddengroupinc.com/]), Select American Transfer Co. (
http://selectatc.com/), and their solicitation to buy your non-performing shares in Regal Resources, Inc. (OTC: RSOU [formerly known as Royal Petroleum Corp. (OTC: RYLP)]), in return for a so-called insurance indemnity bond or the like to be paid in advance by you.
A colleague forwarded your e-mail to me to provide you with a detailed report. I apologize for not getting back to you sooner with a written acknowledgement.
Review of pertinent databases indicates that no such entity as Madden Group Inc. is registered with the SEC. Please note that any time you undertake to give money to a "purported investment firm," you should make a determination about its regulatory status. Brokerage firms and transfer agents [TAs], for example, have to be registered with the securities regulatory authorities to do business in the United States. This is the same requirement for most other countries if the firm wishes to do business in that particular country.
Despite the alleged Buffalo, New York address for Madden Group Inc., it is unlikely this entity is located in the USA. Given modern telecommunications technology, telephone call forwarding to offshore listings poses no obstacle to fraudsters. In this connection, please see our online publication, "Fake Seals and Phony Numbers: How Fraudsters Try to Look Legit" [
http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/fakeseals.htm].
For your further information, the Select American Transfer Co. (
http://selectatc.com/) that has contacted you is an impersonator of the genuine but defunct Select American Transfer Co. Again, you are dealing with an impersonator of the genuine entity.
Fraudsters regularly troll WebCRD (Central Registration Depository [operated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), to which all broker-dealers and licensed registered representatives must belong]) and the SEC's website for expired or defunct entity names or the names of fully active firms, which they often appropriate in some altered form so as to suggest a connection between their fraudulent name and the name of a genuine firm, where no such connection in fact exists.
In this connection, please see FINRA's alert on financial scams targeting non-U.S. investors, "Well-Traveled Fraud—Advance-Fee Scams Target Non-U.S. Investors Using Fake Regulator Web Sites and False Broker Identities" (
http://www.finra.org/InvestorInform...rWebSitesandFalseBrokerIdentities/index.htm); and the press release issued in 12/03 by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation on brokerage identity theft scams targeting investors (
http://www.sipc.org/media/release11dec03.cfm).
Indeed, the pseudo-Select American Transfer Co. is playing upon the likeness of its name to the genuine Select American Transfer Co., so as to confuse unsuspecting prospective investors. This is a not uncommon type of "mirror" fraud.
What the solicitation you received may be leading up to is a classic type of reload scam/fraud, against which we especially warn investors to be on guard (see our online publication, "Worthless Stock: How to Avoid Doubling Your Losses" [
http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/worthless.htm]). The types of transactions alluded to by you are not part of normal sales practices in the stockbrokerage business. Rather, they are most likely variations upon an advance fee fraud (see:
http://www.sec.gov/answers/foreignalert.htm). As always, check with securities regulators about any investment offering made to you to see if it is legitimate.
It may very well be that the same or connected fraudsters have exchanged your name and investment information and in fact are attempting to make a new run at you. It is possible that the new entity soliciting you (Madden Group Inc.) somehow is also connected to, or a successor entity to, your original brokers for your previous purchases (who were they?).
Were there escrow agents for your share purchases? If so, who? Do you have bank payment instructions? If so, please provide copies of same.
Incidentally, the fee to remove a restrictive legend, if there is any fee at all, is utterly nominal (typically under US $100.00 for ALL your shares). Again, the fee, if there is any, is a nominal processing charge, and it goes to the issuer's transfer agent, NOT the SEC. Investors do NOT pay fees to the USSEC to have a restrictive legend removed from their shares.
As you may know, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has put out a consumer alert advising consumers not to conduct business with certain "overseas share salespeople." This list is available from its website at
http://www.fido.asic.gov.au/fido/fido.nsf/byheadline/Cold-calling-blacklist-C?openDocument. (Similarly, the New Zealand Securities Commission [
http://www.sec-com.govt.nz/invest/overseas-brokers1.shtml].) In addition, you may want to read the ASIC's news alert entitled, "Cold calling and phone scams and how to avoid them," which is available online at:
http://www.fido.asic.gov.au/fido/fido.nsf/byheadline/Cold-calling?openDocument. Lastly, you may want to review our Foreign Investor Alert, which is available on the SEC's website at:
http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/fleecing.htm.
Investors in a situation similar to yours should avoid purchasing anything over the telephone from unknown entities. Please bear in mind that once fraudsters have gotten hold of your contact and account/investment information, they will make repeated attacks upon you, in different guise to be sure, but with the hope of relieving you of additional funds should you prove unwary even for an instant. Again, perhaps the best offense is a good defense: 1) investors should AVOID PURCHASING ANYTHING OVER THE TELEPHONE FROM UNKNOWN ENTITIES; 2) as ALWAYS, investors should check with securities regulators about any investment offering made to them to see if it is legitimate.
I hope this information proves helpful to you. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. You did the right thing to check. Indeed, please feel free to check directly with me at any time via the contact info. provided.
Sincerely,
Jim Daly
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
Office of Investor Education and Advocacy
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549-0213
(202) 551-6340, (202) 772-9295 (fax)
[email protected]
________________________________
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 5:26 PM
To: TradingAndMarkets
Subject: Select American Transfer Co Registration Number: 084-06152
Dear Sir
I have been contacted by a company called Madden Group Inc a financial
advisory services company that would like to buy some shares I hold in a
company called regal resources (ROSU formally RYLP) they have put me in
touch with a escrow agent called Select American Transfer Co they have
SEC Registration Number: 084-06152 and
CIK Number: 0001324472 although I have searched on your site and Finra s
site I cannot find their registration please could you advise me if this
is a fit and proper company to carry out this transaction I am a British
nation and was caught up in a boiler room scam to buy these shares 3
years ago
thank you for your assistance
