Is this a boiler room scam

simon_templar_2 · 24 November 2009 at 8:02PM

Company calling themselves Gresham Associates in London. Cold calling offering a 'great deal' to invest in shares in a company called Timberlake Energy Solutions Inc based in Kansas. Anybody had any dealings are heard of anything of these?

Linton · 24 November 2009 at 8:21PM

simon_templar wrote: »

Company calling themselves Gresham Associates in London. Cold calling offering a 'great deal' to invest in shares in a company called Timberlake Energy Solutions Inc based in Kansas. Anybody had any dealings are heard of anything of these?

It is safe to assume that anyone cold calling offering a great deal in obscure US shares is a scammer. The chances of them being actually based in London is minimal - if they were, they would be breaking either the FSA registered share dealer regulations by cold calling, or the law by not being FSA registered.

PS - just checked on the motleyfool board "a fool and his money". It appears that Gresham Associates are a known (or strongly suspected) Boiler Room.

dtaylor84 · 24 November 2009 at 8:22PM

simon_templar wrote: »

Cold calling offering a 'great deal' to invest in shares in a company

It is a scam.

Paul_Herring · 24 November 2009 at 9:08PM

simon_templar wrote: »

Cold calling

Um, of course it is.

Reaper · 24 November 2009 at 10:26PM

Doutless somebody will be here soon saying they have handed over money and everything is wonderful, so let's knock it on the head thoroughly...

As this post explains:

Criminal activity being carried on from Regus Offices

Regus provide office space, virtual offices and mailbox services. Numerous boiler room scam companies work from these addresses. A boiler room scam normally involves cold calling people and hard selling worthless shares, however they also call genuine shareholders and offer to buy their shares at a premium but requesting a fee up front, when the fee is paid it is stolen.

Regus facilitate this criminal activity by allowing these companies to operate from their offices. Many of the companies are the subject of warnings from regulators in the UK, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, New Zealand and Australia. An e mail complaint to Regus about this matter has not been answered.

The following offices are commonly used, a search of the office address followed by the word 'scam' will return numerous hits. These scams have been operating for several years from Regus offices. This is not an exhaustive list.
14 Rue Du Rhone, Geneva
Seefeldstrasse 69, Zurich
18 Ave Louis Casai, Geneva

So let's check one of contact details of Grasham Associates shall we. Oh what a surprise, there it is:

Zurich Office:
Seefeldstrasse 69,
Zurich 800,
Switzerland.

Or how about doing a WhoIs on the web site.
The site was registered just 1 month ago in the Bahamas.

Nuff said.

sabretoothtigger · 25 November 2009 at 2:47AM

Brokers make a profit from selling shares of small companies. It doesnt have to be a scam for this to be biased situation and/or extreme high risk

They get a discount on their purchase I believe. This can happen with larger quoted companies also, institutions can end up with nice terms due to their large holdings.

This happened with barclays last autumn, they got alot of money off the arabs and gave a good deal to them and then the uk institutions kicked up a big fuss and also got some of the sweet deal but us little guys got no chance at anything unless you bought on the free market at 50p that turned out good too.

That sums it up, avoid anything not on a free market dealt by multiple brokers, basically avoid illiquid investments because you probably wont be able to sell for the price you bought.
Afaik its part of the market not just a scam

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketmakerspread.asp

Some companies have 0.1% spread, some have 10%. enter the share on moneyam and it'll summarise things better then I can and in real time

tradetime · 25 November 2009 at 8:21AM

As a rule of thumb anyone "Cold Calling" with a great offer should usually be regarded as a scam, cynical I know, but that's the world we live in.
It is extremely rare that there are any people out there operating under the principle of
"I know, let's set up a company to phone up complete strangers and make them rich beyond their wildest dreams!"
There could be such a thing, but it would be as rare as rocking horse doo doo.
If the thought of playing Russian roulette with 5 rounds in the cylinder appeals, then you might entertain it, but your odds with this sort of thing are probably considerably worse, sorry.

P.S. It looks like the last trade on this stock was Nov 13th, it trades in the US on the OTC (over the counter) market, some info on this type of market here. Last trade would suggest you could buy about 10,000 for $1

Reaper · 25 November 2009 at 10:41AM

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

Afaik its part of the market not just a scam

Maybe it depends on your definition of scam. In all probability investors will actually recieve shares, but if a stock is being promoted as "hot" when it is not just because the broker can make a profit on it and the investor is left with overpriced, over pumped shares that are difficult to sell I would call that a scam.

Check out Tradetime's Wikipedia link and see "Chop Stocks" as that is probably what the scam is here.

shuvoff · 26 November 2009 at 8:04PM

I'm so glad I found this thread and advised my dad not to handover £10k to transfer useless shares he'd already been ripped off with (Wyncrest Group) and buy into Timberlake Energy/Solutions.

My dad even made a visit to the supposed offices in Gresham Street and the company were not known.

Upon declining their 'offer' they have threatened to sue us for wasting their time and have persistenly hassled my dad by phone.

Aegis · 26 November 2009 at 8:38PM

shuvoff wrote: »

I'm so glad I found this thread and advised my dad not to handover £10k to transfer useless shares he'd already been ripped off with (Wyncrest Group) and buy into Timberlake Energy/Solutions.

My dad even made a visit to the supposed offices in Gresham Street and the company were not known.

Upon declining their 'offer' they have threatened to sue us for wasting their time and have persistenly hassled my dad by phone.

Tell them to serve papers and leave you the hell alone by phone then.

Failing that, every time they phone ask them if they can hold on a moment, put the receiver down and go play on your computer for an hour or so. Sooner or later they'll give up.

reporter01 · 1 December 2009 at 11:26AM

simon_templar wrote: »

Company calling themselves Gresham Associates in London. Cold calling offering a 'great deal' to invest in shares in a company called Timberlake Energy Solutions Inc based in Kansas. Anybody had any dealings are heard of anything of these?

"To all investors"

I know for a fact that any company or any so CALLED BROKERS promoting anyhting to do with this company is a total scam. Unfortunatly when I first moved to spain I worked for for them for 3 months when they were call TYCHE Energy and I found out that they are pumping and then dumping all shares. I used to contact investors from the investor relations department but it was bioler room criminals. They were selling shares for 1 doller per share and when they joined the frankfurt stock exchange the shares went down to about 1 cent and everybody lost every penny...... They stole at least 3 million dollers from investors when they called themselves tyche energy and they are doing it again by a simple reverse merger and a change of name.

They are all calling investors from boiler rooms in Marbella and Barcalona in Spain. Please be warned and take thier inquiry no further or you will "loose every penny of your money"........

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! THIS IS CRIMINAL ACTIVITY! DO NOT INVEST!!!!!!!!!

Is this a boiler room scam

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