Video
SCAMBUSTERS
Shocking moment heartless fraudsters film themselves conning an elderly man out of £82,500 in a boiler room scam
Cops have released the footage to raise awareness of investment fraud
THIS is the shocking moment heartless fraudsters celebrate after conning an elderly man out of £82,500 in a boiler room scam.
A lad in a pink shirt can be seen using aggressive tactics to con the victim out of the staggering amount of money despite knowing the scheme is worthless.
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Two boys can be seen cheering their pal on in the background as the old man on the other end of the line agrees to hand over £82,500.
City of London Police have released the shocking footage as part of their Beat the Boiler Rooms scheme.
Figures reveal that over 77 per cent of victims who report investment fraud are men aged 65 and 73 per cent of all those conned are men.
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Although victims come from all over the country, most tend to live in major UK cities.
Their average loss is a whopping £32,000 - more than the current average salary of £27,270.
Investment fraud reports to Action Fraud increased by 9.5 per cent last year to 3,186 from 2,910 across the UK - suggesting that criminals are operating boiler rooms in new locations.
In total, victims lost £75 million last year to fake investment opportunities including schemes involving wine, art, diamonds, shares and energy.
Last Thursday saw the Money Laundering Investigation Unit bust open a suspected boiler room in the City of London selling fake bonds.
Raids in Fleet and Lothbury churned up two cheques totalling £130,000.
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The boiler room method sees fraudsters dupe their often elderly victims via cold calling, offering high percentage returns on a wide variety of investments, when really the large sums of money goes straight to criminals.
Together with City of London Police, City of London Trading Standards, Metropolitan Police, National Trading Standards ‘Scambusters’ Team, HMRC and the FCA have launched Operation Broadway to tackle the fraudsters.
During October 10 until 16, they will be raising awareness of investment fraud and providing advice to help people protect themselves and their family.
They have released a number of heartbreaking videos sharing victim testimonies.
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Thousands of Britain’s elderly have lost millions of pounds in total as part of the so-called binary options plan.
Some have even committed suicide after being swindled of sums in excess of £200,000, the con artists have alleged.
The devious ploy sees heartless salespeople harass the victims via email and phone, persuading them to invest small sums of around £250 in shares and currency.
All the while, a second wave of seemingly-charming brokers swoop in and persuade the pensioners to invest thousands more into the schemes.
The average victim has lost £16,000.
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Victims are often convinced of get-rich-quick investment schemes using the vast pensions lumps sums recently freed up by the government.
But often the money is invested into useless companies never likely to make a profit for their investor.
Detective Chief Inspector Dave Manley Head of the City of London Police’s Fraud Squad and Operation Broadway lead said: “Investment fraud continues to be a major threat to individuals in this country and statistics show that those who are over 60 are particularly vulnerable to this type of crime.
“Fraudsters will do everything they can to manipulate potential victims and convince them that they are making genuine investments.
“Unfortunately once a victim is sucked-in by a fraudster they often end-up parting with a significant amount of money and this can have devastating effects on both the individual and their families."
CASE STUDY - NELZINE FROM COLCHESTER
Retired Nelzine was a victim of investment fraud in 2009 when she was cold-called by a supposed investment broker who offered her the opportunity to buy shares in a company.
She received share certificates and believed the investment to be genuine, she was then continually called by the company who asked her to invest more money.
She invested £62,000, but then became suspicious and reported the company to the police. An investigation by the City of London Police found that Nelzine’s suspicions were correct and the company was offering investment opportunities which did not exist.
In 2013, two men were sentenced to a total of 12 and half years in prison as a result.
He continued: “The City of London Police is the national policing lead for fraud and it is our job to work with police forces across the country as well as with our partners to ensure that criminals such as investment fraudsters are disrupted and ultimately prevented from committing crime.
“By raising awareness of investment fraud we hope to enable people to recognise when they are being targeted by the criminals and to stop them before it is too late”.
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Jon Averns, City of London Corporation’s Head of Trading Standards said: “Working with our partners across London, we are creating a hostile environment for fraudsters who are duping people with the promise of high returns on false investments.
“We are identifying fraudulent traders as early as possible in order to prevent consumers from across the UK being ripped off.
“Our message is simple: don’t send your money to someone you don’t know, for a product you haven’t seen.”
Jennie Granger, HMRC’s Director General, Customer Compliance Group added: "In 2014/15 HMRC prevented the loss of £1.3 billion in the most serious cases relating to organised crime.
“Our work with the City of London Police and partners helps HMRC in its role as an Anti-Money Laundering supervisor to prevent fraudulent activity, protect the public, and bring criminals to justice.”
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