Share sale fraud

Pablo70 · 18 July 2016 at 10:21AM

Good morning,

I wonder if anyone can help.

It would seem someone has completed a letter of indemnity to enable my mother's shares to be sold without her knowledge. The share sale happened in 2006 and the registrars are putting the onus on my mum to prove she didn't sell them. My mum still has the share certificates (but the registrars say the holding is zero). Also when I looked into things, the shares had the incorrect spelling of her name on them so really they shouldn't have been able to have been sold as the cheque wouldn't match the account name.

The registrars have changed in the intervening years and nobody seems to have an answer as to what we can do next. Has anyone had a similar experience and can offer advice as to what to do next? Do we contact the police? Is there an ombudsman or someone who can help sort the mess out? Any tips would be great.

Many thanks in advance.

Linton · 18 July 2016 at 12:12PM

What shares were they? Under some circumstances there can be a forced sale.

jimjames · 18 July 2016 at 12:12PM

Was a letter of indemnity definitely signed? Where were the proceeds sent?

It's entirely possible to have a new certificate sent out if there was a share split for example and the old one no longer be valid.

xylophone · 18 July 2016 at 12:19PM

When did your mother last receive any dividends on these shares?

Pablo70 · 27 July 2016 at 1:20PM

Hi and thanks for responding everyone.

The shares are Stagecoach and I have been assured that there was no corporate action or forced sale.

My mother didn't sign an indemnity form and the share sale took place in 2006 which was when the dividends stopped. I'd forgotten about the shares and my mum doesn't check these things unless I prompt her. I'm basically being told that it all happened so long ago that there is no paperwork and we should have noticed at the time! They say a cheque was issued but nothing was received or cashed.

She still has all the original share certificates and no replacements were issued. I hope that helps.

We can't even prove that i cheque wasn't received and cashed as banks only hold records for six years - is there an ombudsman or body that can take the case up for my mum. It's not massive money but it is to someone earning minimum wage and i'd like to get it sorted.

xylophone · 27 July 2016 at 1:56PM

I wonder is it possible to make a Subject Access Request for all the information that the registrar holds on the indemnity/ sale of the shares.

Who was the registrar at the time of the sale of the shares?

Pablo70 · 1 August 2016 at 4:24PM

HI,

It was Equiniti and now it's Capita. Both kind of point at the other one and then back at my Mum and say it's her fault and she should have said something at the time. But I'm not happy and I've been writing to Stagecoach and say the onus should be on them to prove the sale especially as there was no corporate action to force a sale and my mum still has her share certificates.

With a 'Subject Access Request' is there a form you fill out? Where do you get this from? Thanks in advance!:T

fwor · 1 August 2016 at 5:37PM

I guess it won't harm to ask, but I suspect that in the end you will have to let this one go.

One likely problem is that AFAIK there is no regulatory requirement for them to retain records for transactions that long ago.

For example, money laundering regulations only require that they keep records for 5 years. There may be other more relevant rules, but I think you will find that they are not obliged to keep the data - so they will be within their rights to decline to give it to you (even if they still have it for internal purposes).

[Edit: I should add that I wrote the above in the light of my own experience, trying to get transaction data out of my bank about a payment made six or seven years earlier. In the end they did provide information, but only "informally". They refused point blank to give me anything officially.]

Pablo70 · 4 August 2016 at 12:57PM

Thanks for all comments/suggestions. It would seem that I need to take this up with my MP. If not to help my mother, then to help others in the future. There seems to be little or no protection for small investors when companies or their registrars stuff up.

If I get anywhere I'll post a reply here in case others find themselves in this situation.

Malthusian · 4 August 2016 at 2:33PM

Pablo70 wrote: »

There seems to be little or no protection for small investors when companies or their registrars stuff up.

If they don't say anything for over ten years despite their dividends suddenly stopping for no reason, not really.

tomthered · 4 August 2016 at 3:34PM

Surely despite all this a theft has occurred, no matter what the timescale, and the police should be involved as its fraud?. Another point is that the name was misspelt, so if an account was opened in his mothers name, to cash the shares, which bank did this as would they not need identity papers, like passport or driving license?

Share sale fraud

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