Boiler room victims targeted in follow-up scam: MSC

The MSC says that a “recovery room” scheme is now targeting victims that have previously invested with those firms, which have been cease traded by regulators in Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.

The MSC reports that it has been alerted that a company called PFS Investments Overseas Division, which purportedly operates out of Florida, is contacting investors with offers to buy their shares, or to exchange them for shares in another company. However, investors are aasked to first pay an upfront fee, sometimes in the thousands of dollars, before they can receive any money for their shares.

“The company is not registered to conduct business in Manitoba, and there are a number of red flags that lead the MSC to believe this is a recovery room scheme,” it says; including that it appears to be targeting past victims of an investment scheme; that it is requesting investors’ banking information; there is pressure to act quickly; and, there are spelling errors in the documents related to the offer.

It suggests that PFS Investments Overseas Division may be impersonating a genuine brokerage firm with a similar name: PFS Investments Inc. “PFS Investments Overseas Division has no connection with, and is not to be confused with, the genuine PFS Investments Inc.,” it says.

The commission explains that recovery room schemes typically target the victims of previous investment schemes, offering to buy their often-worthless shares at an inflated price. Investors are told to send money to an offshore bank account to cover business costs. “The perpetrators withdraw the money that is sent to the offshore account, effectively victimizing the investor for a second time,” it says.

It warns investors against participating in the offer or sending money to the firm, and says that investors that are contacted about selling Maitland Capital or First Global Ventures S.A. shares should call the MSC to file a complaint or speak with an investigator.

In addition to assorted regulatory sanctions against the boiler room firms, back in 2011, two men were each sentenced to 21 months in jail and two years probation in the Ontario Court of Justice in connection with the Maitland Capital scheme, and Maitland was also fined $1 million for breaches of Ontario securities law. The judge found the pair guilty of running a boiler room operation, which raised approximately $5.5 million by selling Maitland shares through high pressure telephone sales tactics to investors throughout Canada and in other countries.