Share Scams

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You might find this story interesting-it may even save you money.

A chap in the UK was approached by one of the offshore "bucket shops" who endeavoured to push some obscure US stock onto him. The chap politely declined. Anyway some years later the same man received a phone call from someone from the states who told him that the "bucket shop" had since gone bust but that they had allocated him a few thousand shares anyway, raised a contract (as they sometimes do even if you say no) but had never collected the money and therefore he was the proud owner of XYZ Inc which were quoted in the market at a couple of dollars each. Whats more the mystery caller informed the "shareholder" that his client wanted to quietly build a stake in company XYZ Inc. and was willing to pay double the market price! However in order to take advantage of this offer he was told that a/. He must not tell anyone and b/. He would first need to obtain proof of ownership from the transfer agent (Registrar). In order to do this he was given a password and a web address where he could download an application form for the proof of ownership and acceptance of the offer. The form also required him to agree to pay 10% of the proceeds for administration costs. If he had gone ahead, which he didnt he would have discovered that he did not own the shares and also be short of a couple of thousand dollars in fees.

There is, unusually, a happy ending to this story: deciding that Lady Luck was smiling on him the chap decided to buy some of the shares, a few months later selling them at a handsome profit!

This actually happened: any guesses what the stock was?