GoldFinger was recently mistaken for a high net worth individual by a so-called boiler room investment scam out of the US. Phoned up by ...

GoldFinger was recently mistaken for a high net worth individual by a so-called boiler room investment scam out of the US.

Phoned up by a weird sounding man who purported to be a Wall Street stockbroker, GoldFinger was asked whether he was interested in buying US stocks.

GoldFinger was offered shares in some even weirder sounding companies, but declined the offer, believing his contacts in New York would be more helpful.

Just as well! Apparently the problem of illegal US boiler room investment scams targeting UK investors has reached huge proportions, according to a recent article by Citywire.

According to the article, there were up to 20 unscrupulous firms, generally with offices on Wall Street, that are focused exclusively on cold calling UK investors to sell them worthless shares in companies that exist only in name or are entirely controlled by the broker.

The article said UK investors, many of them high net worth, are being targeted because the regulatory situation is not clear. “Investors who wish to complain or seek redress struggle to work out whether it falls under UK or US jurisdiction and the watchdogs themselves do not seem to have a much clearer idea,” the article said.