Int'l Securities Scam No Regulator Will Touch
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by Bill Singer Subscribe to RSS Feed: Blog Home | Past Entries The Securities-Scam Beast That Won't Die! Written: March 31, 2009
On August 7, 2008, BrokeAndBroker.com published a story entitled The International Securities Scam No One Cares About http://www.brokeandbroker.com/index.php?a=blog&id=71 , in which we detailed an apparent worldwide fraud involving the securities of Securetee International, Inc (Securetee). As detailed in that blog entry, mainly European investors (with a large proportion coming from the United Kingdom) were victimized by what seems to be a bogus public offering from bogus brokerage firms. Sadly, those folks were then further victimized by indifferent regulators.
Despite my best efforts to get to the bottom of this mess and try to enlist the aid of some reputable regulator or prosecutor, the best I obtained was confirmation of a call or email and a promise to get back to me -- which often turns out to be a false promise. Much like the beast in a B-movie, this horror story refuses to die! See the email I just received this morning (sender's name deleted):
Hi I have just read your article : The International Securities Scam No One Cares About Written: August 7, 2008
By Bill Singer,
I was one of the gullibles who purchased shares in this scam and have had 6-8 different companies trying to scam more out of me.
The latest has just happened yesterday and this morning. a company called New Asia Business Consultants based in Tokyo
32nd Floor, St. Luke's Tower, 8-1 Akashi-Cho, Chuo-Ku, Tokyo 104-8518 18 ?????????8-1 ??????32? Tel: +81 3 4520 6303 Fax: +81 3 4496 6049 104-85
A very eloquent female called me yesterday and confirmed they would be making me an offer for the 3000 shares i hold. The more i learn it seems the less i know, however i cannot believe it to be a serious offer.
i have received PDF's this morning sting the terms and conditions and it does appear that any fees due to them, are only removed form the escrow account upon completion. i see no obligations to rturn the PDF and i can assure you i will not be sending any money anywhere.
As you have the last major voice on the internet regarding this scam, i wondered if you could shed any further light on the situation and whether others had been in contact with you.
Have you any advice on who i should contact in Tokyo regarding this potential scam?
I promptly replied to the sender of the above message with the promise to once again do my best to find some regulator, somewhere, to do something -- anything. I also noted my expectation that it would not only be difficult to rouse any of those passed-out securities cops from their sound sleep, but, once awakened, I fully anticipated a gruff complaint about bothering them, and an equally quick attempt to return to the dream-world in which they live.
Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to first contact the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) but I don't expect much help from them. Hell, they won't even answer my mail! As memorialized on these very pages at
http://www.brokeandbroker.com/index.php?a=blog&id=143 http://www.brokeandbroker.com/index.php?a=blog&id=144 http://www.brokeandbroker.com/index.php?a=blog&id=148 and at http://registeredrep.com/regulatory/dissidents_complain_finra_biased_regulator0306/index.htmlI am still awaiting for a reply to a March 5, 2009, email that I sent to FINRA and which they acknowledged receipt of.
Still, hope springs eternal. I am sending a copy of this blog to [email protected] in the hope that she may persuade someone at that oh-so busy regulatory organization to look into this issue and use its influence to break the logjam of indifference. Maybe they will even have the courtesy to reply to me?
I will also send a copy of this blog to http://sec.gov/complaint/cf942sec9570.htm and to [email protected] .
Finally, I will send a copy of this blog to all the intrepid reporters on my Press distribution list. Perhaps someone, somewhere will do a story that will put enough pressure on one of the regulatory
Beyond that, I've tried everything else I could think of. Yeah, I know, FINRA will say it's not a member of theirs and SEC will say it's not their jurisdiction -- but, you know what, that's not regulation...that's buck passing, and that's largely what got us into this mess. Perhaps some regulator will show just a tinge of initiative and realize that fighting securities fraud anywhere is fighting it everywhere. It's amazing how much safer our international stock markets would be if one industry cop simply went online, found the name of a counterpart at a regulator in another country, called that person, and said "Hey, I've got this matter that we can't handle but it seems like you might."
Ain't international securities regulation grand?
I deal in the UK and have been dealing with these scams for years… many of my clients have invested in these type of investments and have lost millions. Sukamo, Morgan Young, JF Knight, and most recently I have had a client tell me he bought AAPL through a firm in Hong Kong, where many of these firms have claimed to be based, thinking AAPL is a real company he shelled out 40,000 sterling and unfortunately it too was a scam.
These unscrupulous firms are now using US publically traded companies as their carrot…
Another caveat to these investors: after they lose their money, a year or so later, another so-called firm comes to the rescue. I have had clients send me purported forms from the US Treasury, the UK taxing authority, the SEC and other authorities. These so called organizations tell them that they will get them out of the investment but they must pay a transaction fee up front and/or the taxes , because they are going to make so much money off the deal…
Guess what happens…?
Bitten twice, and usually by the same people.
Good work on this Bill, unfortunately in the 10 years I have been dealing with this I have only seen one client, who hired a P.I. track down the scammer, Interpol got involved and not much came about…
If you ever need information, I have a separate file I have kept and as I said many of these victims are now clients of mine, as this was running rampant in the UK and Ireland in 1999-2003…
If I get an inquiry I would be glad to cooperate, as will many, in the UK, who would be glad to share their experiance. I have noticed that while the names keep changing the schemes remain the same.