Brits Flee Bangkok Boiler Room

[george]

Brits flee Bangkok boiler room

by Andrew Drummond

Srinakarinplad boiler room man arrives with lunch pack

BANGKOK: -- Six Britons have fled Bangkok after taking salesmen jobs there only to find out that they were being asked to work for one of the city’s notorious ‘Boiler Room’ scams.

At least one, a card carrying member of Britain’s Labour Party, has lodged a complaint which is with New Scotland Yard.

Currently several different agencies in the U.K, Europe, Australia and New Zealand have on-going operations targeting Asian boiler rooms.

But despite action by Thailand’s Securities Exchange Commission, or perhaps because of their inability to do little more than have a court impose fines, Bangkok is still regarded as the world capital of these infamous share scammers.

Dominion Provident Marketing Services

The boiler room in the centre of the latest controversy is situated in a slightly run down eight storey building at 12/1 Saladeang Soi 1. There on the fifth floor of Srinakarin Plad Building, under the shadow of Reuters in Rama IV Road ‘qualifiers’ work the phones seeking gullible investors in Europe.

According to a statement given to the Metropolitan Police in London the boiler room is run working under the name Dominion Provident Marketing Services by Britons David Richards, Zach Carlton, and Robert Wallace. Carlton, a shaven haired man claiming to be ex-army, was described as the General Manager. Wallace and Richards were described as directors.

Richards himself conducted interviews in London claiming to be a representative of a company called Donaldson Recruitment operating on behalf of Dominion Provident. The interviews were held in the Mortlake Business Centre, in Mortlake High Street, London SW 14.

The ‘succesful applicants’ were all provided with round trip air fares to Bangkok and given accommodation in Baan K Residence in Saladeang Soi 2. The company also sponsored Immigration B visas.

The principal informant, a member of the Labour party said: “Within hours of seeing the set up in Bangkok I knew there was something wrong. They told us that when we left the premises never to tell anyone what work we did or where we worked.”

He said all the recruits were told that they were selling on behalf of a company called ‘Earle Carlton & Hughes’.

“We were given scripts. They went along the lines ‘We are calling you because you [more...]

Full story: http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2010/12/02/brits-flee-bangkok-boiler-room/

Source: Andrew-Drummond.com

[hayden5650]

What is a boiler room?

[makescents]

What is a boiler room?

An stock broker operation that sells shares of useless companies or shares that the "boiler room" actually own.

It's misrepreseting the value of the investment in order to rip off customers.

[Para]

What is a boiler room?

In business, the term boiler room refers to a busy center of activity, often selling questionable goods by telephone. It typically refers to a room where salesmen work using unfair, dishonest sales tactics, sometimes selling penny stock or committing outright stock fraud. The term carries a negative connotation, and is often used to imply high-pressure sales tactics and, sometimes, poor working conditions.

Business structure

A boiler room usually has an undisclosed relationship with the company being promoted or undisclosed profit from the sale of the house stock they are promoting. When a small company is looking for financing, it looks to an investment bank to raise capital.

The managers of the boiler room usually have close ties to the same owners of the company whose stock is being promoted. After the salesforce of the boiler room sells their clients on the idea of the IPO, they are not allowed to sell the shares that the customer invested. This is because there is no real "market" for the shares, so any shares sold before buyers are attracted would create a large loss in the price of the stock, due to it being thinly traded with no public support. Once the insider investors are in place, a boiler room promotes (via telephone calls to brokerage clients or spam email) these thinly traded stocks where there is no actual market. The brokers of the boiler room actually "create" a market by attracting buyers, whose demand for the stock drives up the price; This gives the owners of the company enough volume to sell their shares at a profit, a form of pump and dump operation where the original investors profit at the expense of the investors taken in by the boiler room operation.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission paints the following picture:

The brokers sat "cheek by jowl" in a room the size of a basketball court. All of their desks were lined up side by side in rows. The firm held mandatory sales meetings every morning at 8:30 a.m. at which time sales techniques were demonstrated and scripts for the firm's "house stock" . . . were distributed. Brokers were expected to follow the scripts and only give customers the information they contained.

Some traits of a boiler room include presenting only good news about the stock to be sold, and discouraging outside research by customers or brokers working there.

The term is likely to have originated from the cheap, hastily arranged office space used by such firms, often just a few desks in the basement or utility room of an existing office building.

A fictional "boiler room" brokerage firm was dramatized in the 2000 film Boiler Room, and the play and film Glengarry Glen Ross show a similar boiler room operation selling real estate.

Many consider boiler rooms a fictional relic of a bygone era. Although many disappeared in the 90's following the burst of the .com bubble, many boiler rooms still operate across the world. Advances in telecommunication technology mean that a company can viably operate in one country while calling prospective investors in another. The advantage of such an operation is that a company can operate without fear of prosecution from the investor's native legal system. For example, many boiler rooms contacting prospective investors in the UK will operate from Spanish cities such as Barcelona and Valencia.

Source: Wikipedia

[elcent]

I thought these sort of scams were a thing of the past. - Desperado!

get those scumbags and ...

[nam-thip]

What is a boiler room?

Boiler room scams and shares rip-offs

Boiler rooms operations are basically share scams and are the scourge of investors. The operator will sell worthless shares at inflated prices to investors that are impossible to sell.

The ruse is remarkably simple. A broker, usually operating from an overseas firm, will cold call an investor and propose they buy shares in a particular company.

The share has usually been ramped on online message boards.

The company they are share dealing in will probably be listed on an illiquid market, so the shares cannot be sold, and the price will be hugely inflated.

Or they could be a small, unquoted company that the broker claims is planning to list and, in extreme cases, the company will not exist at all and the broker is simply selling shares in thin air before taking the money and running.

They will have a UK-listed address and a grand sounding name to give an air of legitimacy.

They are called 'boiler room' scams because of the highly pressurised sales technique employed by the broker. They can be forceful, persistent and highly aggressive.

A common tactic is to create a sense of urgency about a stock, such as telling the investor it will explode any day so they need to invest quickly.

It's not only novice investors that get sucked in. The FSA says that it is often experienced and sophisticated investors that fall victim to the scam.

Those who fall victim lose an average of £20,000. In the majority of cases, the shares being sold are worthless and the boiler room vanishes, leaving the investor out of pocket.

[brahmburgers]

When I saw just the headline, I pictured pink faced sweating Brits streaming out of an overly hot place. I need to see what my wife has been putting in my pipe lately.

[Deserted]

Send in Vin Deisel to sort those boys out.

[FarangBuddha]

What is a boiler room?

It was a great movie...came out about 10 years ago

[james24]

Theres loads going on in Bangkok.

Selling their morals for money and ruining peoples lives, cannot contemplate.

[Thai at Heart]

Theres loads going on in Bangkok.

Selling their morals for money and ruining peoples lives, cannot contemplate.

Do you have issues working for Goldman Sachs too?

[backfromouterspace]

Weren't a couple of the well known Irish pubs in BKK financed by the boiler room scams?

[elcent]

Theres loads going on in Bangkok.

Selling their morals for money and ruining peoples lives, cannot contemplate.

Do you have issues working for Goldman Sachs too?

after wiki-leaks upcoming revelation maybe

[bkk_mike]

If the company is a sham, how are they managing to sponsor work visas for people.

[Beetlejuice]

Another good reason to limit the working practices and impose strict enforcements of the prohibited professions laws on foreigners in Thailand.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Beetlejuice

[iono]

Bad stuff, interesting that the employees dimed out the company usually they are involved and seek to benefit from the scam. The top scammers really went all out, interviews and paid airfare for employees, man they were shooting to look real legit. Penny stocks in themselves seem to be scams unless you do the research and purchase via a reputable broker and watch out for the penny stock picking robot, big time scam.

[Pib]

If the company is a sham, how are they managing to sponsor work visas for people.

Answer: Tea Money.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Pib

[rgs2001uk]

Weren't a couple of the well known Irish pubs in BKK financed by the boiler room scams?

The most (in)famous one, so those in the know tell me, is the one beside the Washington theatre on Suk, I have never set foot in it and never will.

[andrewdrummond]

Maybe this link will work better

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2010/12/02/brits-flee-bangkok-boiler-room/

[TAWP]

I doubt they give them work-permits, they just help people get Non-B visas ('looking for job/investment opportunities') - as they company will fold/disappear before 1 year anyway...and it seems most sellers don't stand it too long.

[Luang]

If the company is a sham, how are they managing to sponsor work visas for people.

I can't say too much, but i have a horrible feeling i know of such a place. What should i do if so?

[DickFarang]

“Bangkok is still regarded as the world capital of these infamous share scammers.”

BKK, the “hub” for boiler rooms.

[dude007]

boiler rooms are rooms where fat chicken are quickly cooked and they come out very skinny and thin....

[lee68]

Quite a few in phuket to a couple of years ago.

Weren't a couple of the well known Irish pubs in BKK financed by the boiler room scams?

[hardy1943]

Another good reason to limit the working practices and impose strict enforcements of the prohibited professions laws on foreigners in Thailand.

I find anyone seeking employment here have to be desperate people. Am I wrong? They don't pay a decent wage. They pay you in peanuts.

[HowardV]

If the company is a sham, how are they managing to sponsor work visas for people.

Dude, that's either the best tongue-in-cheek joke I've heard in a while, or I wish it was.

I'm hoping you meant it as a joke.

If not, then you remind me of myself a few years ago and I won't hold it against you, it's a fair question in an honest world.

Think of it like this: if the company's a sham, then it follows they've got sham work visas too.

Also, sham or not, there's got to be money in it or they wouldn't do it, and they're obviously making enough money to sponsor roundtrip tickets. So it's a good racket.

Scary. It's like someone else said about trading morals for money and ruining people's lives. I wish they'd gotten the bugger's face.

[Deserted]

What is a boiler room?

It was a great movie...came out about 10 years ago

It was indeed mate, what's happened to vin deisel since?

[neverdie]

this is one of the reasons I never answer the telephone

[Buchholz]

Brits Flee Bangkok Boiler Room

Run Brits, Run !

Mr. Drummond nails another batch of miscreants. Well done, sir.

[andrewdrummond]

If the company is a sham, how are they managing to sponsor work visas for people.

I can't say too much, but i have a horrible feeling i know of such a place. What should i do if so?

Some Embassies have staff who watch out for these things. Unfortunately not the Brits at the moment. You could always tell me of course. Do not go to Thai police unless you personally know the officer concerned and bring an influential advisor with you. People get arrested and disappear from the system. Some people may remember a house raided in Thonglor/Ekamai area at the beginning of this year. All arrested were released and went home with a golden handshake,. This particular boiler room, which people have referred to above is VERY powerful here and in the Philippines and HK and is just the rebirth of a couple which were closed down a few years ago. People who have complained about boiler rooms have found themselves set up with offences themselves.

The pub people refer to is now independent of the boiler rooms although a famous Irishman drinks there. But there are many many others. In fact there's a good chance most people here, if they live in Bangkok will have had a drink or meal in one.

Edited December 2, 2010 by andrewdrummond