Phone call from USA re shares

Macgrrl

Does anyone know how to check how legitimate thus would be:
My father has been called twice from a company in New York saying that they want to buy his shares from him. They have emailed him a non disclosure agreement for him to send back. He doesn't remember owning any shares and although there is a link to a website in the email any independent search I do of the company I can't find them. I'm really concerned as my dad is 88 and easily swayed.

Any advice or guidance around this kind of thing?

Lorian

Almost certainly a scam - but post the company name.

bigfreddiel

Tell him to ignore it

Macgrrl

The website is the Capitagroup with the link it's a very real and professional looking site

jamesd

A non-disclosure agreement is not required by any legitimate share trading transaction. They are probably trying to get enough information to use for identity or other fraud.

Capita changed from using the name Capita Group to just Capita in 2012 so any use of the old form is probably bogus. Capita is not involved in just going out and buying shares from people and just because phone callers claim to be from a particular firm that doesn't mean that they are. I could claim to be from MSE an point here and it would look authentic but it still wouldn't mean I have anything to do with MSE.

In addition, the FCA has a warning about fraudsters using the Capita name in their fraud attempts.

Macgrrl

It's just really annoying that they have managed to get my dads home number some how. Poor guy is getting confused. Thanks for your advice

Macgrrl

Is there someone we should report this to?

Saver-upper

You can report to Actionfraud:
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

jennyjj

Macgrrl wrote: »

Does anyone know how to check how legitimate thus would be:
Any advice or guidance around this kind of thing?

Absolutely a scam. They start by getting lots of the victims personal information and later they invoice for an indemnity, that is of no value, of course.
The really remarkable thing about this scam is that it is almost totally outsourced by the criminals behind it.

They employ genuine third party call centres who make the original scripted calls.

They employ genuine, if shady, transaction processing agencies to send out paperwork and invoices and to collect the funds.

The criminals behind it are several steps removed from the actual mischief and the agencies that execute the scam are sat there as patsies when it all gets investigated.

Clever scumbags.

The OP's family member has already fallen deep into the trap. His contact detals will be happily circulating between various scamming teams.

NEVER give any information to cold callers. Don't confirm your name. Don't give a valid email address. Date of birth, financial status, preferred holiday venue etc. Give them nothing, except maybe lies, nonsense and a really hard time.

greenglide

managed to get my dads home number some how.

That is quite easy ranging from just calling random numbers and seeing which are answered and then starting a simple conversation picking enough up to build a profile.

Or, of course, simply having access to a list of personal details washing around the Internet. Easy enough to come across and no great issue as long as you don't give any real information away. Simple enough until old age / health issues come along.

jennyjj

Macgrrl wrote: »

I'm really concerned as my dad is 88 and easily swayed.

Any advice or guidance around this kind of thing?

I'm truly sorry to say that your dad is just the kind of victim that these scum prey on. At that age, it's common for us to become more susceptible to scams from these [insert expletive]

At some time you may need to become more interventional.

Put it this way: Before I reach 88 I'll have given enduring power of attorney to someone younger than me and I hope they restrict my ability to hand over personal information and money.

It's a tricky topic, which I'm personally all too aware of.