FSA contacts boiler room targets

By Sarah Engle, Tue 16 Mar 2010 - Published in Banking

Around 1,000 people across the UK have been contacted by the authorities after they appeared on a 'master list' for a boiler room scam.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and City of London Police acquired the list, which contains the names and phone numbers of around 750 people and the names and addresses of another 250, as part of Operation WARN.

Fraudsters would have used the details to contact people in the hope of selling them shares for unauthorised, overseas-based firms which have fake UK addresses and phone lines.

Because the companies are unauthorised, people are not able to use financial complaints and compensation schemes if they encounter problems with the investment.

Jonathan Phelan, head of the unauthorised business department at the FSA, commented: "Our sources indicate that the list is a new one and still in use by the fraudsters, so by contacting people on it we hope to cut these boiler rooms off at the pass."

Last month, the watchdog issued a warning about share scams after it recorded a "dramatic increase" in overseas fraudsters attempting to sell bogus shares for FSA-authorised firms.

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