Help with share sale - been conned before!

[sunfish]

I purchased some shares two years ago which turned out to be a real loss for me. I brought them through a broker who told me that they would be sold within 3 month for a decent profit. Unknown to me these shares had restrictions on them and it became hard to sell them. The broker did nothing to assit us with this but keep asking for me to put in more money, which I did not do. My trust in this broker was gone ad now they have even sold out their business and put the stocks in the hands of another broker.

The problem now is that I have been contacted by another company, Capgemini US, who have a client who wishes to buy these shares. They are offering five times what they are worth at the moment. They want me to pay a bond into an insurance indemnity escrow account in order for the purchase to take place. This is 15% of the value of the shares, approx $2800. I am very afraid to pay this money given the very negative experience with the previous broker. I am also concerned that I know nothing about where the money goes and how I would get it back in the event of a problem.

Can someone tell me if this is a normal procedure? Maybe there is someone way to determine if this is legitimate? Any advice would be amazing.

 

[Timmy]

Sounds like you have been ripped off and now the new company is trying to rip more money from you. When you sell something (anything) it is the other party that gives money to you - you do not give money to them. This sounds like a classic 'pump and dump' scheme, where the next stage is to contact the duped and offer to help but actually take more money from them.

DO NOT send more money.

Go to the video shop and rent "Boiler Room". Fictionalsied account of a pump and dump scheme.

By the way, the money you spent buying the shares initially has gone, you basically have no chance of ever seeing that money again. there is very little Australian authorities can do to help you as it is a US broker. You could try to contact the SEC in the US, but your chances of any recovery are basically non-existent.

 

[sunfish]

There have been multiple companies calling me in the past year or so trying to et me to pay to lift the restriction on the shares. Would they all be linked into this?

Is there anyway to check with the SEC that i own these shares or not? Something online perhaps? If I do own them then why would the money be totally lost?

Thanks for your help, by the way.

 

[Timmy]

What is the name of the shares? Do you know the exchange that they are listed on?

 

[rederob]

There have been multiple companies calling me in the past year or so trying to et me to pay to lift the restriction on the shares. Would they all be linked into this?

Is there anyway to check with the SEC that i own these shares or not? Something online perhaps? If I do own them then why would the money be totally lost?

Thanks for your help, by the way.

If you own the shares you will have documentation giving you the right to now sell them.
It seems unlikely you own anything.
Two deals too good to be true!

 

[sunfish]

They are global resources technology inc. Not sure what exchange they are on but this link is where I see the price on msn, http://moneycentral.msn.com/detail/stock_quote?Symbol=GLRS

 

[sunfish]

Indeed I do not have the paperwork, just receipts from the initial broker. I will have put it down to stupidity!

 

[barney]

I purchased some shares two years ago which turned out to be a real loss for me. I brought them through a broker who told me that they would be sold within 3 month for a decent profit. Unknown to me these shares had restrictions on them and it became hard to sell them. The broker did nothing to assit us with this but keep asking for me to put in more money, which I did not do. My trust in this broker was gone ad now they have even sold out their business and put the stocks in the hands of another broker.

The problem now is that I have been contacted by another company, Capgemini US, who have a client who wishes to buy these shares. They are offering five times what they are worth at the moment. They want me to pay a bond into an insurance indemnity escrow account in order for the purchase to take place. This is 15% of the value of the shares, approx $2800. I am very afraid to pay this money given the very negative experience with the previous broker. I am also concerned that I know nothing about where the money goes and how I would get it back in the event of a problem.

Can someone tell me if this is a normal procedure? Maybe there is someone way to determine if this is legitimate? Any advice would be amazing.

Hi Sun, Sounds very sus to me .............. maybe start with the ASX site to make some enquiries ..........

http://www.asx.com.au/supervision/complaints/index.htm

Good luck.

 

[Timmy]

I have only briefly checked out GLRS. It appears the latest trade was in mid-January. Not good.
It is traded in the OTC (Over-the-counter) market, which basically means the interest in it is almost nil. If you want to try to recover some money contact a reputable US broker (not one who has cold-called you), explain what happened and ask what can be done. Just don't send more money.

 

[sunfish]

That sounds like good advice. Thanks.

 

[Smurf1976]

I have only briefly checked out GLRS. It appears the latest trade was in mid-January. Not good.
It is traded in the OTC (Over-the-counter) market, which basically means the interest in it is almost nil. If you want to try to recover some money contact a reputable US broker (not one who has cold-called you), explain what happened and ask what can be done. Just don't send more money.

Agreed. Just don't be surprised if it turns out that there's no way of actually recovering any money.

 

[sunfish]

Not a problem, thanks for all the advice.

 

[Timmy]

Good luck sunfish. I think you posted that you would put this down to experience - I hope you can do so and this experience doesn't out you off the share market. There are a lot of good people on this forum, people who can give you proper help with learning all about this stuff and with some study and application you should be able to find yourself in a position to make much more money than you have lost. It will take time and effort, but the potential is here. It really sucks when something like this happens, but put it behind you and you will recover and thrive.

Good luck and stick around.