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Boiler room victims warned by the FSA

Published on 2 Feb 2010 under category: legal

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has joined forces with the City of London Police to warn people across the UK that they are at risk from boiler room fraudsters.

A list of 6,500 names was discovered by the standards body, prompting the launch of Operation WARN to contact all the individuals at risk.

It is feared that the 'master list' is being circulated among share fraudsters deploying boiler room tactics.

The term is used to describe high pressure sales tactics used on customers to bully them into buying overpriced, non-tradeable and sometimes non-existent shares.

The 'boiler rooms' themselves are usually located overseas and are unauthorised – leaving victims with no legal recourse in case of fraud.

In addition to writing to potential victims, a new helpline has been set up to provide further information for consumers.

Jonathan Phelan, head of unauthorised business at the FSA, said: "These fraudsters will sound authentic and have legitimate looking websites but they just want to steal your money with little hope of you getting it back."

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