A while ago I received a call from "investment company in Hong Kong" and was asked a few questions which I answered more or less truthfully (there was no real disclosure, they were the most interested if I am willing to invest).
So yesterday I got another call, supposedly from "Stock Bridge Partners, based in Osaka, Japan". The gentleman gave me his name, which does not come up on linkedin, but a google search does find that name in a financial fraud story.
Anyway, he was telling me about a company, "which I promise you is going to grow from $39 to up to $60 in the next 90 days.". He also had a backstory for this "promise", which maybe would sound good to somebody who has never invested before. He also said this information was "not available on emails on other channels" (but a quick google search proved him wrong).
So out of curiosity I kept him talking. I do that sometimes with telemarketers just to see how they sell. And this one was good. He kept me on the line for more than a hour.
During the "discussion" (he was the one to talk, I kept my answers to minimum), he came up with a hypothetical scenario of me buying 2000 shares, which is nothing in the range I would ever invest into a single stock. Through some discussion he lowered that number to 500 shares BUT changed his tactics into "I've made the order in our system and..."
Wow. At this point I really had to pay attention. "Are we still discussing hypothetical scenario here"... and he kind of said yes, only to try the same approach 10 minutes later.
As he realised I was the skeptic type, he also said something along the lines "of course you have no basis to trust me. That's why you are not sending the money to us, but to an agency of the company who's shares you are buying. They make sure you get the stock and we get the money". Huh, say what?
I also noticed that whenever he mentioned an order form, he kind of really stressed "AND a tax free form which you MUST fill in", directing attention on the former, off the order form.
I had to hang up on the guy at the end... he wouldn't let go.
So what to hell happened here?
a) there really is Stock Bridge Partners and this was a legit call (chances: 0,01%)
b) pump and dump?
c) pure fraud attempt, they would get my money, I would get nothing
Should I report this to the Police?
So yesterday I got another call, supposedly from "Stock Bridge Partners, based in Osaka, Japan". The gentleman gave me his name, which does not come up on linkedin, but a google search does find that name in a financial fraud story.
Anyway, he was telling me about a company, "which I promise you is going to grow from $39 to up to $60 in the next 90 days.". He also had a backstory for this "promise", which maybe would sound good to somebody who has never invested before. He also said this information was "not available on emails on other channels" (but a quick google search proved him wrong).
So out of curiosity I kept him talking. I do that sometimes with telemarketers just to see how they sell. And this one was good. He kept me on the line for more than a hour.
During the "discussion" (he was the one to talk, I kept my answers to minimum), he came up with a hypothetical scenario of me buying 2000 shares, which is nothing in the range I would ever invest into a single stock. Through some discussion he lowered that number to 500 shares BUT changed his tactics into "I've made the order in our system and..."
Wow. At this point I really had to pay attention. "Are we still discussing hypothetical scenario here"... and he kind of said yes, only to try the same approach 10 minutes later.
As he realised I was the skeptic type, he also said something along the lines "of course you have no basis to trust me. That's why you are not sending the money to us, but to an agency of the company who's shares you are buying. They make sure you get the stock and we get the money". Huh, say what?
I also noticed that whenever he mentioned an order form, he kind of really stressed "AND a tax free form which you MUST fill in", directing attention on the former, off the order form.
I had to hang up on the guy at the end... he wouldn't let go.
So what to hell happened here?
a) there really is Stock Bridge Partners and this was a legit call (chances: 0,01%)
b) pump and dump?
c) pure fraud attempt, they would get my money, I would get nothing
Should I report this to the Police?
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