From time to time, fraudsters and unauthorised companies approach individual investors, usually by phone, offering to buy their shares at massively inflated prices, or to sell shares at a discount. If you receive a suspicious phone call, please report it to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) using the share fraud reporting form available at https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/report-scam-unauthorised-firm, where you can also find more information about investment scams.
The Warning to Shareholders set out below is based on a warning produced by the FCA. It was produced to raise awareness of a fraudulent practice known as boiler room investment scams, so called to describe high pressure phone sales operations.
These operations may acquire shareholder lists legitimately using data provided in accordance with company law or from other sources. The Companies Act 2006 has introduced greater protection for shareholders with tighter rules on access to company registers, including a new offence of abuse of the register and proposed changes to the requirements for shareholders' details to be disclosed. However, it will do little to protect investors whose names and contact details are already in circulation amongst the boiler room operators. Find out more at www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart.