Watchdog warning on cold-call scams

The City watchdog has warned investors that at least 10 firms are running scams targeting people who bought shares through a company that has since gone into liquidation.

The Financial Services Authority said investors who bought shares through Pacific Continental Securities had been cold-called by companies posing as recovery firms.

The firms offered to buy back the shares at an attractive price or put investors in touch with a buyer once an up-front fee had been paid.

But the FSA said the offer was a scam, and as soon as the fee was paid the firm disappeared with the money without purchasing the shares.

It added that the so-called recovery firms were often calling from outside the UK, were not authorised by the FSA and were not permitted to approach UK consumers to promote financial services.

Pacific Continental Securities went into administration on June 20, 2007 and is now in liquidation.

The FSA said it was looking into the complaints.

It urged consumers to use its register to ensure they only dealt with authorised firms, which means they have access to a complaints procedure and compensation if thing go wrong.

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