Scottish Power Takeover scam

Womble1994

I have had a phone call this afternoon regarding MH Management takeover bid of Scottish Power wanting to buy my shares (which I don't think I have anyway !!)
told her to post the form - didn't seem keen, wanted to email me.  Don't expect i'll get anything through the post.

wmb194

Womble1994 said:

I have had a phone call this afternoon regarding MH Management takeover bid of Scottish Power wanting to buy my shares (which I don't think I have anyway !!)
told her to post the form - didn't seem keen, wanted to email me.  Don't expect i'll get anything through the post.

No, you don't: see my post above.

cndawes

This scam is still active. My father-in-law was called this week with it. Got as far as him giving out his email to be emailed an pdf 'NDA' that he opened to look at. All deleted and blocked now and computer checked and reminder to beware and not to open attachments.

CaptainA1

This scam is still active. I was contacted by phone on 23 July 2025 advising that I would receive a letter offering to purchase my Scottish Power shares above the market value in order to gain a majority share holding. I was instantly suspicious. 

nrg710

Just been contacted by "Nexbridge Acquisition Solutions" regarding an absolutely miniscule shareholding I had in British Biotech ages ago. They sold out to Vernalis.

Exactly the same modus operandi with SCRIP shares. It would be great to get the money that they're offering, but something tells me there are going to be lots of upfront fees and administration charges....

Huggy25Bear

I was contacted by someone purporting to be from Siegel and Stern, an American law firm, telling me that I was the owner of 1600 Iberdrola SA bonus shares and that the company was defending a hostile takeover. I was offered £28 per share to sell them and also told that I have 1600 shares. Eventually after several calls and emails they came up with the offer above. Naturally they were asking for £4480 up front to "pay for an indemnity policy" to guarantee the contract. And there the situation hangs. I expect another call later in which I will be explaining why I won't be paying anything up front.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81881777#Comment_81881777

They will keep pestering you. Best just to block the number.

Aretnap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81881777#Comment_81881777

They will of course have a hundred reasons why you really need to do this, how they can maybe reduce the indemnity fee to something that you can afford, how you have already agreed to a contract with then and there will be dire legal consequences of you didn't pay up etc etc.

Unless you actively want to waste their time, and you are very confident that you can deal with them without being bamboozled into giving them money or personal information (and with all due respect, if you took then seriously at any point up to now I would suggest that such confidence would be misplaced), it is best not to get into any sort of conversation. Just hang up on them without speaking at all, and block the number. You are under no obligation whatsoever to be polite to criminals, or to explain yourself to them.

Huggy25Bear

Thanks for the responses. I was rather having fun once I realised that, as I suspected, there would be a payment from me in some guise before any funds were coming my way. When I got the call this evening I took the lead in the conversation and told "Marcus" that it was against my principles to pay out to release money for any reason. I also told him that the imaginary shares available to anyone paying up front for them and that his company could have them free. I would pay them 10% of the purchase price as agreed but 10% of damn all is damn all. At that point he wished me a pleasant evening. As i hung up. Now how do you block a phone number.

It has been very useful to discover on this forum that this scam has been running for several years. I hope it useful to someone to learn that it is still being tried.

dunstonh

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81557827#Comment_81557827

The scam is decades old. They just insert new names.