boilers2

145

Boiler Rooms P2

This page has more comments and announcements and other info related to the subject.

Defined as offshore sellers of shares. They work by e.mail contact, but most often by telephone, almost always with number withheld - offshore doesn't show up on my NTL system.

Where do they get your details?

Share register occasionally. This is a source for mail hard copy SPAM, as well as the electronic variety.

Questionnaire you responded to, often on a legit website as a popup.

The practice of cold calling from overseas to sell stock (usually acting as Principal - they hold a larger block of stock obtained usually at a lower price and probably legally!) is illegal in the UK and there is NO security backup from FSA etc.

Most usually have a website of some form. This is often "Flash" graphics and may have sub-pages, which often do not actually work or are rarely updated. Contacts on such pages often draw a blank - In many non-European examples the time zone element is a complication if attempting to telephone.

Stocks are often on minor US exchanges or on "pink sheet" Regulation "S". The latter usually have a 1 year (or more) no selling restriction within the USA. Some such stock is left valueless when the year is up - some also does rise as well. Some actually do deal in major UK stocks and minor companies which could eventually be quoted as well.

Some companies are promoted by several Boiler rooms - Are they acting in collusion? If you actually hold paper, they could be. Why? The "certificates" entitle you to trade via any broker IF they are valid. There is a tendency to offer to buy a stock, IF and ONLY IF you invest the proceeds in another wonder stock they happen to have. I was moved in this way from Echo resources (somehow at a profit!) into Pharma Holdings.

They have a tendency to call repeatedly, and the "goalposts" stated in the original deal (should you have actually made one) tend to shift - basically they want you to buy MORE stock. This I actually did, before becoming aware of these tactics. I actually resent being told to "liquidate this and that and move into xxx instead". Saying "NO" is of little value - unless you hang up as well! This seems to cut little ice - I guess the training sheet they all use (even getting the same phrases delivered!) covers such arguments! Frequently they are just "At the end of selling a batch of stock" and can only offer relatively small numbers of the stock. Often they later reappear with another tranche of the stock to place!

June 26th 2008

Kennedy and Associates, who are European based are contacting all Pharma shareholders about a 1 for 1 rights issue at $5.00 per share. This is the second such issue apparently. I await the documentation.

All shareholders have to be given the offer to satisfy US regulations, as last year. A suggestion was made of a reverse takeover, but that was a little vague.

June 11th 2007 from Frank Harvey.

Just in case you have shares in World Aqua Tech International PLC. I have been approached by the company stating that they are going to the AIM on 1 August 2007 and offering me shares below the expected float price.

I believe that this is a scam as they gave me the name of their Nominated Adviser who never heard of them.

Any one else been contacted?

Frank

If I read this correctly, the company itself is stating that it has a Nomad who knows nothing about the float! Fishy indeed!

The "Hostile Bid" approach. How do they explain it.

This is a variant scam. You are called about shares in a company you own (They must therefore have access to the share register). Some "investor" wants to gain 51% of the stock in the company - They "have 41% already" (In the case in question, Tandem Group, only 27.4% is held in notifiable interests). Most of my holding is in a nominee account - how exactly can they buy those shares? Once they have 51% they are not interested in the rest of the stock and will not buy it. The statement is that "if you don't accept this deal your shares will be worthless." In the current case the share is mid price 14.25p. £30.00 is being offered per share! The argument is that the buyer will use the losses in the target to offset against gains he has made in another company. That explains the high offer price. This was tried in Earthport (still trading) Energy Technique (still trading) and in Pharma Holdings (Unquoted - 90% owned by director) to give but three examples. Also in this case, cash has to be paid up front for some legal reason. You are told that the deal will be in matter of weeks, and asked to sign a document on confidentiality. Mostly you don't get the cash for your shares, and lose the cash you send.

The following entries are from the "Earthport" discussion group at iii. The user names are retained with the posts.

Dec 1st 2006 An "offer" was made for Earthport shares at £30.00 per share! (see Gladysflam) by Jacobs and Burns (Yamato and Associates). This in turn led to the following!

Retiredbloke

22/12/06

Jacobs & Burns contacted me to offer daft price for shares in Golden Goal International. I bought these shares in fit of madness and think they are scam too. Anyone have a view?

Brimusco 23/12/906

Jacobs & Burns have been reported to the FSA .....also beware that their website along with Yamato & associates have phishing facilities.

Absolutelyscoobles Posted 12th Dec 2006

The same lot - Michael Jones Financial Consultant for Jacobs & Burns NY - has offered between £15/£20 for shares in Farsight (shares currently suspended @ 50p !!) but are being taken over by some "firm" in the US, sounds too good to be true!! Am waiting for the "confidentiality agreement" paperwork to be faxed to by brother in law, should proove an interesting read.

Does anyone know if they have a web site, or are they who they say they are?

Scoobs

13/12/06

Beware that their website along with Yamato & associates have phishing facilities.

Gladysflam

Jacobs & Burns have a website at http://www.jacobsburns.com. It doesn't work properly, but is clearly based on that of Yamato and Associates http://www.yamatoandassociates.com the parent company. The addresses given by Yamato are both false - the Tokyo one is the address of Nippon Ericsson and the New York one is that of the World Financial Centre, owned by Brookfields Corporation who say they've never heard of either firm.

The Yamato and Associates website has expired and the domain could be deleted totally. (June 2008)

13/12/06

I have reported Jacobs & Burns to both the FSA and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, though so far only the FSA have replied.

Gladys 21/12

The FSA sent what seemed to be a stock reply, inviting me to supply details of the scam. It said they would consider the information and take action if necessary, and might need further details from me although this wasn't likely. It also said "We should also explain that we will be unable to confirm the progress of any investigation we may undertake. This is because the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 imposes restrictions which require us to keep such matters confidential. We realise this can be frustrating but please be assured that all information is carefully considered before we decide what action, if any, we take."

The URL of the reporting form is Here. My suggestion would be that anyone being approached by Jacobs & Burns should complete the FSA form about it - admittedly there might be little they can do, but it can't do any harm and doesn't take long ...

The "worthless" page from the US Securities and Exchange Commission is excellent. I hadn't seen it before, but it exactly describes my own experience with Jacobs and Burns. Thanks, Brimusco.

Webmaster comment. You will notice a link on the word "worthless" above. It is to the same site as the full url given below. Many "Boiler" sites and "Phishing" e.mails give what appear to be full links. However when you hover a mouse over the link, without clicking, your browser shows a totally different url at the foot of the active page. Hover over this link > http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/ and look at the bottom of the page. It is actually another site, but it could be a dummy lookalike page.

Brimusco

22/12/06

If you would like to know more about how these boiler room scams work. go to the U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission website.

http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/worthless.htm

Brimusco 21/12

Thanks for the info, I've just spoken to the FSA it would appear J&B have a connection with Yamato & Associates who are already listed on SFC overseas alerts as a boiler room operation.

Brimusco

Yes gladysflam, the US Securities website is very informative on how boiler room scams work... I just wish a few more people would read it and be forwarned then people like Jacobs & Burns etc. couldn't operate.

I have contacted several of the UK companies of which I am a shareholder and asked if they can put a warning and a link to the US Securities page on their offical website. I know a couple have already done (its makes good PR for them) so maybe you could do the same and anybody else who's been a victim of these operators. I think we need a concerted effort to inform innocent private investors before they become easy prey to these scams.

Best wishes

Brimusco

This is the type of attatchment to E.mails sent on the same idea.

Example

2007 (Oct1 = 0.151/0.17)

Nov06 it was $3.60 approx.

Peaked at about $4.10.

2007 Nowhere to be seen!

FSA UK

FSA UK Report form

From whois.com

Richmond International is supposedly in Dominica, but the site is hosted in Canada!

Note the website is due to expire on October 25th.

Another company Guardian & associates expired and vanished with my cash!

I have already bought 1125 shares in IMC - Is this a big mistake? A Bill Hannay is now trying to get me to buy a further 375 shares so that they can then be sold in a block of 1500 to an instition/ fund and then I will receive aprox £7500 within a couple of days.The cost of these further shares would be £900 - £1000. Am I being had????

Domain Search:

Domain Name: richmondintl.com

Status: clientDeleteProhibited, clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited

Registrar: MONIKER ONLINE SERVICES, INC.

Whois Server: whois.moniker.com

Referral URL: http://www.moniker.com/whois.html

Expiration Date: 2007-10-25

Creation Date: 2002-10-25

Last Update Date: 2006-10-24

Name Servers:

ns1.scom.ca

ns2.scom.ca

Example

Nanoforce

Post June 15th 2007

In 2005 Nanoforce entered into an agreement to buy Refinery Science Corp. There is quite a lot about the company on the web.

As you may guess, they are involved in hydrocarbon processing, with the aim of using currently lower valued materials and enhancing value by processing them. Clearly this area has considerable potential. There was an SEC posting on the 8th June, the second this year.

Prompted by a post on iii.com. Nanoforce were pushed by boiler rooms, and are currently apparently sending shares in a subsidiary instead of dividends. The subsidiary is "about to be floated".

New Example

Heating oil futures trading in USA. Based in Florida with a fancy (but horrendously slow) website. http://www.stonebridgefinancialservices.com.

This is MOST interesting!

I looked up the site on whois.com.

Domain Name: stonebridgefinancialservices.com
Status: clientDeleteProhibited, clientRenewProhibited, clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited
Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
Expiration Date: 2007-10-03
Creation Date: 2006-10-03
Last Update Date: 2006-10-27

Page created August 2006 Edited June 26th. 2008.19.28

The practice of cold calling from overseas to sell stock (usually acting as Principal - they hold a larger block of stock obtained usually at a lower price and probably legally!) is illegal in the UK and there is NO security backup from FSA etc.
Most usually have a website of some form. This is often "Flash" graphics and may have sub-pages, which often do not actually work or are rarely updated. Contacts on such pages often draw a blank - In many non-European examples the time zone element is a complication if attempting to telephone.
Stocks are often on minor US exchanges or on "pink sheet" Regulation "S". The latter usually have a 1 year (or more) no selling restriction within the USA. Some such stock is left valueless when the year is up - some also does rise as well. Some actually do deal in major UK stocks and minor companies which could eventually be quoted as well.
Some companies are promoted by several Boiler rooms - Are they acting in collusion? If you actually hold paper, they could be. Why? The "certificates" entitle you to trade via any broker IF they are valid. There is a tendency to offer to buy a stock, IF and ONLY IF you invest the proceeds in another wonder stock they happen to have. I was moved in this way from Echo resources (somehow at a profit!) into Pharma Holdings.
They have a tendency to call repeatedly, and the "goalposts" stated in the original deal (should you have actually made one) tend to shift - basically they want you to buy MORE stock. This I actually did, before becoming aware of these tactics. I actually resent being told to "liquidate this and that and move into xxx instead". Saying "NO" is of little value - unless you hang up as well! This seems to cut little ice - I guess the training sheet they all use (even getting the same phrases delivered!) covers such arguments! Frequently they are just "At the end of selling a batch of stock" and can only offer relatively small numbers of the stock. Often they later reappear with another tranche of the stock to place!

June 26th 2008	Kennedy and Associates, who are European based are contacting all Pharma shareholders about a 1 for 1 rights issue at $5.00 per share. This is the second such issue apparently. I await the documentation.
	All shareholders have to be given the offer to satisfy US regulations, as last year. A suggestion was made of a reverse takeover, but that was a little vague.

The following entries are from the "Earthport" discussion group at iii. The user names are retained with the posts.
	Dec 1st 2006 An "offer" was made for Earthport shares at £30.00 per share! (see Gladysflam) by Jacobs and Burns (Yamato and Associates). This in turn led to the following!

13/12/06 Beware that their website along with Yamato & associates have phishing facilities.	Gladysflam Jacobs & Burns have a website at http://www.jacobsburns.com. It doesn't work properly, but is clearly based on that of Yamato and Associates http://www.yamatoandassociates.com the parent company. The addresses given by Yamato are both false - the Tokyo one is the address of Nippon Ericsson and the New York one is that of the World Financial Centre, owned by Brookfields Corporation who say they've never heard of either firm.
The Yamato and Associates website has expired and the domain could be deleted totally. (June 2008)
13/12/06	I have reported Jacobs & Burns to both the FSA and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, though so far only the FSA have replied.
Gladys 21/12	The FSA sent what seemed to be a stock reply, inviting me to supply details of the scam. It said they would consider the information and take action if necessary, and might need further details from me although this wasn't likely. It also said "We should also explain that we will be unable to confirm the progress of any investigation we may undertake. This is because the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 imposes restrictions which require us to keep such matters confidential. We realise this can be frustrating but please be assured that all information is carefully considered before we decide what action, if any, we take." The URL of the reporting form is Here. My suggestion would be that anyone being approached by Jacobs & Burns should complete the FSA form about it - admittedly there might be little they can do, but it can't do any harm and doesn't take long ...
	The "worthless" page from the US Securities and Exchange Commission is excellent. I hadn't seen it before, but it exactly describes my own experience with Jacobs and Burns. Thanks, Brimusco.
Webmaster comment. You will notice a link on the word "worthless" above. It is to the same site as the full url given below. Many "Boiler" sites and "Phishing" e.mails give what appear to be full links. However when you hover a mouse over the link, without clicking, your browser shows a totally different url at the foot of the active page. Hover over this link > http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/ and look at the bottom of the page. It is actually another site, but it could be a dummy lookalike page.