Boiler room scam

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Boiler room scam (in German: boiler room fraud ) represents a form of fraud . The fraudsters usually sit together in an office with computers and telephone connections and make cold calls . They try to find investors on the phone who are willing to invest in the investments on offer. The supposed investment advisors have a professional demeanor and use numerous psychological tricks to get payments from investors. The investment objects offered are touted as very lucrative and safe. In reality, however, most of the time there are no real securities and investors lose all their money.

Legal position

In the vast majority of countries, boiler room scams are illegal. The perpetrators are usually punished for fraud or investment fraud . In many cases, however, the scammers are difficult to find. Nevertheless, there are repeated cases in which the law enforcement authorities arrest organized fraudsters. In 2015, a large arrest in Australia became known. The fraudsters caused a total loss of $ 470,000.

history

In the USA in particular, boiler room scams have been known for decades. The first such cases of fraud there became known in the late 1960s. Nowadays there are fewer and fewer such cases in the United States due to the strict controls by the authorities. Most of the fraudsters have been active in Asia in recent years. But an international gang of fraudsters was also broken up in Spain in 2014.

At the beginning of 2020, a whistleblower publicized the practices of the “Milton Group”, a call center in Kiev whose employees were active all over the world in cooperation with a financial service provider in Cyprus .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Norbert Kuls: Asset Fraud: Madoff's Little Brothers. In: faz.net. February 10, 2009, accessed September 20, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Arrest over 'boiler room' telemarketing scam that allegedly conned 19 people out of $ 470,000 , Australia Broadcasting Cooperation, May 8, 2015
  3. ↑ Handelszeitung: Boiler-Room: Breaking up an international gang of fraudsters , Handelszeitung Schweiz, March 1, 2014
  4. ↑ "Trail of Broken Lives Leads to Kyiv Call Center" occrp.org of March 2, 2020