by Bill Singer
The Securities-Scam Beast That Won't Die!
March 31, 2009
On August 7, 2008, BrokeAndBroker.com published a story entitled The International Securities Scam No One Cares About, in which we detailed an apparent worldwide fraud involving the securities of Securetee International, Inc (Securetee). As detailed in that blog entry, mainly European investors (with a large proportion coming from the United Kingdom) were victimized by what seems to be a bogus public offering from bogus brokerage firms. Sadly, those folks were then further victimized by indifferent regulators.
Despite my best efforts to get to the bottom of this mess and try to enlist the aid of some reputable regulator or prosecutor, the best I obtained was confirmation of a call or email and a promise to get back to me -- which often turns out to be a false promise. Much like the beast in a B-movie, this horror story refuses to die! See the email I just received this morning (sender's name deleted):
Hi I have just read your article : The International Securities Scam No One Cares About Written: August 7, 2008
By Bill Singer,
I was one of the gullibles who purchased shares in this scam and have had 6-8 different companies trying to scam more out of me.
The latest has just happened yesterday and this morning. a company called New Asia Business Consultants based in Tokyo
32nd Floor, St. Luke's Tower, 8-1 Akashi-Cho, Chuo-Ku, Tokyo 104-8518 18 ?????????8-1 ??????32? Tel: +81 3 4520 6303 Fax: +81 3 4496 6049 104-85
A very eloquent female called me yesterday and confirmed they would be making me an offer for the 3000 shares i hold. The more i learn it seems the less i know, however i cannot believe it to be a serious offer.
i have received PDF's this morning sting the terms and conditions and it does appear that any fees due to them, are only removed form the escrow account upon completion. i see no obligations to rturn the PDF and i can assure you i will not be sending any money anywhere.
As you have the last major voice on the internet regarding this scam, i wondered if you could shed any further light on the situation and whether others had been in contact with you.
Have you any advice on who i should contact in Tokyo regarding this potential scam?
I promptly replied to the sender of the above message with the promise to once again do my best to find some regulator, somewhere, to do something -- anything. I also noted my expectation that it would not only be difficult to rouse any of those passed-out securities cops from their sound sleep, but, once awakened, I fully anticipated a gruff complaint about bothering them, and an equally quick attempt to return to the dream-world in which they live.
Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to first contact the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) but I don't expect much help from them. Hell, they won't even answer my mail! As memorialized on these very pages at
- http://www.brokeandbroker.com/index.php?a=blog&id=143
- http://www.brokeandbroker.com/index.php?a=blog&id=144
- http://www.brokeandbroker.com/index.php?a=blog&id=148 and at
- http://registeredrep.com/regulatory/dissidents_complain_finra_
biased_regulator0306/index.html
I am still awaiting for a reply to a March 5, 2009, email that I sent to FINRA and which they acknowledged receipt of.
Still, hope springs eternal. I am sending a copy of this blog to FINRA in the hope that she may persuade someone at that oh-so busy regulatory organization to look into this issue and use its influence to break the logjam of indifference. Maybe they will even have the courtesy to reply to me?
I will also send a copy of this blog to http://sec.gov/complaint/cf942sec9570.htm and to enforcement@sec.gov .
Finally, I will send a copy of this blog to all the intrepid reporters on my Press distribution list. Perhaps someone, somewhere will do a story that will put enough pressure on one of the regulatory organizations.
Beyond that, I've tried everything else I could think of. Yeah, I know, FINRA will say it's not a member of theirs and SEC will say it's not their jurisdiction -- but, you know what, that's not regulation...that's buck passing, and that's largely what got us into this mess. Perhaps some regulator will show just a tinge of initiative and realize that fighting securities fraud anywhere is fighting it everywhere. It's amazing how much safer our international stock markets would be if one industry cop simply went online, found the name of a counterpart at a regulator in another country, called that person, and said "Hey, I've got this matter that we can't handle but it seems like you might."
Ain't international securities regulation grand?
UPDATE
Hi Bill.
Brilliantly put! Thanks for the time you have taken and the effort you have made.I will try to contact the serious fraud squad at New Scotland Yard to refer them to your web page. They did have an officer on the case around 2 years ago.I have no idea if anything transpired from their original enquiry as they never returned any emails!Cheers...