Request to Purchase IAG shares - Scam?

Dickie2shoes

I've just received a phone call claiming to be from Capital Financial Services LLC (New York based) wanting to buy my IAG shareholding on behalf of a third party who already it claims now holds 48% of the shares. I've never had such an approach before for any of my shareholdings and I am extremely suspicious. Seems like a scam to me, particularly as an internet search suggests that Qatar Airways is the biggest single shareholder at just over 20% . Has anyone else been approached with this story?

Alexland

It's a standard scam technique of working down a shareholder register phoning people to make a really good offer then getting you to start handing over more personal information and eventually money to facilitate the transaction. Just put the phone down.

https://www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart/share-bond-boiler-room-scams

"If you already own shares in a company, you may receive a call from someone offering to buy them at a higher price than their market value..."

Robert_McGeddon

Alexland said:

Just put the phone down.

If you're busy, then this is the best approach.

If, however, you have a bit of time on your hands it can be nice chatting to a stranger for a while.  I aim for 30 minutes as a benchmark. Slow typing, slow on the uptake, thanking them for taking the trouble, going to find the certs because you think they've got the number a bit low etc etc.  Then there's the NDA they want to email you.......  Time is money - if you can have a bit of fun keeping them chatting for half an hour then that's half an hour they can't be scamming an innocent elsewhere.

couriervanman

Dickie2shoes said:

I've just received a phone call claiming to be from Capital Financial Services LLC (New York based) wanting to buy my IAG shareholding on behalf of a third party who already it claims now holds 48% of the shares. I've never had such an approach before for any of my shareholdings and I am extremely suspicious. Seems like a scam to me, particularly as an internet search suggests that Qatar Airways is the biggest single shareholder at just over 20% . Has anyone else been approached with this story?

( shaking head in disbelief emoji )  

EthicsGradient

I once had a call like this, but the scammers hadn't even tried to make the offer believable. It was for an investment trust, so the idea of paying 2 to 3 times the market price was absurd. They couldn't actually get the name of the company quite right. And they must have been working off a very old shareholder list, because I'd transferred the paper certificate onto an online platform a few years before.

Dickie2shoes

Many thanks for your replies. Apologies for my naivety but in all my years of owning shares, I've never had such a call - perhaps I'm lucky. Particularly like Robert's approach  - in fact my wife was on the phone for about 15 minutes because the woman who rang just would not stop talking! They sent the NDAs of course. We promptly reported them as spam.

SheilaFrances

I have also been contacted recently by a law firm in new York claiming that my mother still had shares remaining in I,A.G.
However my mother died 11 years ago and we sold her shares in 2016. I was told some share options had been released about the time I sold the shares and that these options has been converted to ordinary shares then further shares released on the basis of 40 to 1. The law firm said their client would be offering between £7-15 pounds per share but in order to insure against loss the share holder would need to contribute 5% of the value of the shares. This would have amounted to £1700 if the share offer was £10. So I said I wouldn't be interested and after checking with computer share there were no more shares in my mother's name so a total scam!

wmb194

SheilaFrances said:

I have also been contacted recently by a law firm in new York claiming that my mother still had shares remaining in I,A.G.
However my mother died 11 years ago and we sold her shares in 2016. I was told some share options had been released about the time I sold the shares and that these options has been converted to ordinary shares then further shares released on the basis of 40 to 1. The law firm said their client would be offering between £7-15 pounds per share but in order to insure against loss the share holder would need to contribute 5% of the value of the shares. This would have amounted to £1700 if the share offer was £10. So I said I wouldn't be interested and after checking with computer share there were no more shares in my mother's name so a total scam!

Yes, classic advance fee fraud. They pick up names from old share registers, usually of people who held them in certificated form. An absolutely ridiculous story to boot! They're presently trading for 156p per share so I'm sure the company could be bought for far less than the numbers they mentioned. Fun to hear about, though.

adindas

Robert_McGeddon said:

Alexland said:

Just put the phone down.

If you're busy, then this is the best approach.

If, however, you have a bit of time on your hands it can be nice chatting to a stranger for a while.  I aim for 30 minutes as a benchmark. Slow typing, slow on the uptake, thanking them for taking the trouble, going to find the certs because you think they've got the number a bit low etc etc.  Then there's the NDA they want to email you.......  Time is money - if you can have a bit of fun keeping them chatting for half an hour then that's half an hour they can't be scamming an innocent elsewhere.

That is also what I have been doing. dealing with scammers. I love wasting their time and resources. 
I do it while doing other things, so personally I do not waste my time as I do not pay attention to what they are saying. My generic response is to keep them repeating, pretending not to understand until they get annoyed and hang up. I love this Scottish guy wasting scammer time. But this is not about an investment scam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Tnqvdq6miU&t=10s
For the OP regarding the the claim to hold 48% of the IAG shares just look below who own IAG shares and draw your conclusion. Also why do they want to buy it from you if you are not the major share holders,  there are a lot of shares available in the open market. It is easy to spot the scammer. If you are unsure just Just hang up and call them back using the recognisable phone number.