Anderson Munro invests in Internet veneer of respectability
Marketing December 2nd, 2009Lets look at how the “boiler room stockbroker” Anderson Munro achieves a veneer of respectability on the Internet to prospective investors .
If we Google Anderson Munro as follows
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2ADBR_en&q=anderson+munro&btnG=Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=
we can see that the website comes up at the top followed by the use of various press release sites which promote different investment themes like investing in Verizon, A.T.&T, o2, Intel or car battery manufacturer BYD.
Anderson Munro selects these ” bait ” themes because of thier brand and respectability.
BYD, they will tell you, was invested in by Warren Buffett - which is actually true.
As we know most people only look at the at the first page of Google and mainly at the top few natural listings. So the aim of the person at Anderson Munro who is posting all of these themes on press release sites is to dominate the front page and as many following pages as possible and to get free, natural listings as far as possible.
There are no Adwords posts so this is a possible area for someone else to get on the front page of Google and interrupt Anderson Munro’s false veneer.
This was pointed out as a possibility in the stumbleforward blog here
http://stumbleforward.com/2009/04/09/readers-story-milton-hayward-scam-ripping-off-people/
So, the Anderson Munro internet promotion approach is to set up a website and then surround or support it with Press Releases via Free Press Release sites. These Press Releases will pick up the various themes promoted by Anderson Munro’s cold callers when they call the database of prospects that they have.
The Anderson Munro press releases can also be further promoted through sites like Digg.
This is a simple but effective Internet promotion technique. Promote the name Anderson Munro and then the theme.
Other companies employing a similar approach include
Westernfield Holdings who are discussed here:
http://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16737
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090524212659AAhtZaF
http://migger.net/2007/05/31/unicorn-ventures-advarsel/
for example or just Google
and also check out
and
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2ADBR_en&q=milton+hayward+scam&meta=&aq=2&oq=milton+hay
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Great info Chris it seems you know more about this scam than I do. However we need to get the word out about this company and letting them dominate Google makes people think they are some legit company when in fact they are not.
Thanks for the link and informing others.
December 3rd, 2009 at 3:47 pm
A website is being built here
http://www.internetintelligenceagency.net/
That intends to highlight various scam stockbrocking companies and the themes that they are promoting.
Please support and promote this site as much as possible so that we can help it get good Google rankings.
December 4th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Hi Chris, Yes I completely agree. I am trying to get the word out as much as possible ! You are correct they are dominating Google at the moment and that is because it’s easy to get a website to rank for the name of the company ( which people would naturally search on ) and for the ” theme ” that they are promoting by phone eg BYD shares by using the PR sites. Nobody is really going to stop them using the PR sites - no matter how much you pester the PR sites - so that only leaves getting a higher ranking web or blog site or Google Adwords - which I am not sure what Google would say about that ??
March 19th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
anyone know where Anderon Munro disappeared to?
March 19th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Hi Paul, Sadly No !! ( I have responded to your email ). I think the heat got a bit too hot for them so they dissappeared. I got the police to accept my case but not heard anything on it for a while. Regards, Chris.
March 23rd, 2010 at 6:39 pm
I too would like to know where Anderson Munro has gone too. I recently invested in BYD shares and fear I am a victim of a boiler room scam. Anderson Munro were so plausable and convincing. I haven’t heard from them since Feb 16th despite numerous phone calls, faxes,e-mails etc. They seem to have disappeared. What can be done?
March 23rd, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Hi Philip,
Unfortunately it is pretty well all bad news. As you say they were very professional and they have scammed a number of people. You must report this to the police and you must tell them that there are a number of other victims that you know about. I have reported them to the police and I have a case number although no result as yet. Please feel free to email me at the M&A Rainmaker email address and I will get back to you with my full contact details to discuss further. Regards, Chris.
March 24th, 2010 at 9:50 am
Hello Chris
Thank you for your reply. I will e-mail you.
Philip
March 24th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
ok Philip. I shall look out for it. Regards, Chris.
April 1st, 2010 at 2:06 pm
I was contacted by a “stockbroker” based in Italy trying to flog me shares in BYD. A pushy sales type calledMark Johnson phoned out of the blue extolling the virtues of this company. As I am a professinal design engineer and have some knowledge of electric cars, the exaggerated claims became obvious, and the fact that he was based in Italy and making an unsolicited call alerted me….
Boiler room scam! If you get contacted by Mark Jones or Jason Jackson beware.
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:34 am
Hi Michael, Well spotted !!! The more people that understand what a ” boiler room scam ” is the better. Regards, Chris.
June 11th, 2010 at 6:15 am
I came across this website coming from Bing looking for some good internet marketing suggestions. This website provides it, many thanks!
July 10th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
die italienische ” Broker - Firma” nennt sich aviva-capital.com. Mich rief vor einigen Monaten ein Jason Jackson von denen an und wollte mir die BYD.Teile verkaufen mit der gleichen Masche. Bin derweil mit einer anderen Geschichte auf die Nase gefallen.
July 10th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
To me Jason Jackson phoned some months ago, but for the ” broker-company” aviva-capital.com Rome. He told me that BYD- story and wanted to sell , but I didn’t.
He is working for two companies, like it seems
November 26th, 2010 at 12:38 am
Thank you Dolores. My apologies for the delay in responding
Regards, Chris.
November 26th, 2010 at 12:40 am
Thank you for your contribution. Regards, Chris.
January 18th, 2011 at 12:01 am
Hey, it’s really nice post. I like this topic so much and I think it is great way to popularize that.
January 18th, 2011 at 8:44 am
Thanks for your kind comments. Much appreciated. Regards, Chris.
January 30th, 2011 at 3:44 pm
Hi, i just thought i’d publish and allow you to know your blogs layout is seriously messed up on the K-Melonbrowser. Anyhow maintain up the very good work.
January 30th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
I was curious if you ever considered changing the structure of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or 2 pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?
January 30th, 2011 at 5:52 pm
Hi Shanell, Thanks for your comment and for letting me know. I will look into this when time allows. Regards, Chris.
January 30th, 2011 at 5:54 pm
Hi Rubi, Thanks for your comment. Well, I have just had a couple of comments, including yours, saying that there are issues with my blog. I will have to have a think about this. I agree with you - there should be more pictures etc etc. Regards, Chris.
May 25th, 2011 at 9:58 pm
Recently it has been established that the ” settlement agent ” for Anderson Munro is Alfort International Limited which is based in the British Virgin Islands ( B.V.I. )
Alfort International Ltd is on various alert lists e.g.
http://www.invested.hk/InvestEdAlertList/en/InvestEdDisplayCompDetailsServlet?doc_unid=CE6324E98CDA703D482577650017C779
http://www.finanstilsynet.dk/en/Nyhedscenter/Internationale-nyheder/Advarsler-fra-andre-tilsynsmyndigheder/2010/Warning-against-Alfort-International-Limited.aspx
Newton Moore Limited is also registered in the B.V.I. and is also listed as a settlement agent for Anderson Munro
http://www.finanstilsynet.dk/en/Nyhedscenter/Internationale-nyheder/Advarsler-fra-andre-tilsynsmyndigheder/2010/Warning-against-Newton-Moore-Limited.aspx
http://www.invested.hk/InvestEdAlertList/en/InvestEdDisplayCompDetailsServlet?doc_unid=7C74EE92F2F09F9D482577650021C7E8
The Director of Alfort International Limited is Sean Liptrot and the Director of Newton Moore Ltd is Dominic Ryan John.
Full address, phone and fax details available on request.
May 25th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
http://www.which.co.uk/news/2011/03/fsa-payout-for-victims-of-two-boiler-room-scams-246491/
May 25th, 2011 at 11:23 pm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/jessicainvestigates/8466586/Lives-wrecked-by-boiler-room-scam-asthe-trail-goes-cold.html
May 25th, 2011 at 11:29 pm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/jessicainvestigates/8473462/How-to-outwit-the-boiler-room-swindlers.html
May 25th, 2011 at 11:30 pm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/8466577/Boiler-rooms-I-lost-400000-in-a-share-scam.html
May 25th, 2011 at 11:31 pm
http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2011/02/-the-leader-of-a.html
May 25th, 2011 at 11:35 pm
http://www.lovemoney.com/blogs/scams-and-rip-offs/scams/11598/watch-out-for-this-boiler-room-scam
June 7th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
[...] http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/2009/12/02/anderson-munro-invests-in-internet-veneer-of-respec... [...]
June 7th, 2011 at 8:58 pm
Please note that the Google
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2ADBR_en&q=anderson+munro&btnG=Search&meta=&aq=f&oq
in the above blog no longer gives the same results.
In fact over time this blog has taken the place of many of the posts originally made by Anderson Munro.
July 31st, 2011 at 9:25 pm
Well, today I have heard from a Dutch couple ( who I hope will post here soon ) about some related progress.
http://www.derbyshire.police.uk/News-and-Appeals/News/2011/July/July15-Op-Handa-sentencing.aspx
Posted on the 15th July 2011 it appears that people have actually been jailed who were involved with Milton Hayward - which was connected with Anderson Munro.
All of the places match up - Japan, Hong Kong, the West Indies etc etc.
The investigations are ongoing so be sure to contact DC Winnard or DS Hunt as I will.
This news is a bit bizarre for me as I live on the Staffordshire/Derbyshire border and reported my case to Burton on Trent Police. Whether my file ever found it’s way to Operation Handa I don’t yet know.
The Dutch couple did not know about the Directors Sean Liptrot and Dominic John Ryan so maybe Operation Handa does not yet either.
I will keep you posted as I put this couple in touch with other victims.
August 2nd, 2011 at 7:07 pm
Hi ChrisW.
Although Danish, we suspect that we are the couple you refer to in your blog of July 31? Here is the short version of our story: In spring 2010 we were scammed by a boiler room called JAM capital (still active!). Too late for us the FSA and other financial authorities plus even the local Nottingham police issued warnings against JAM. In the autumn we reported the matter to both the London Met, and to our own local Danish police. After munching seven month on the matter, the Danish police refused to deal with the case, and as a direct consequence, we had to give up on our case at London Met. However upon filing a complaint to the attorney general, the Danish police was asked to reopen the case, so now we are back in business. We have spent quite a lot of this last year surfing the web digging up what information we could find, and also have some professional assistance in doing so. More or less by chance we discovered the case against Paul Slack in Derbyshire and the link to Anderson Munro and this blog. Because of the very quick and kind action of DC Stephen Winnard we were enrolled as victims in operation Handa before the trial of Paul Slack.
In view of our story, and of the apparent watertight shutters between the whereabouts of the Derbyshire and the Staffordshire police, as described by ChrisW, we are inclined to raise the question: Should boiler room scams of this size really be a matter for local police stations? We have absolutely no complaints against the Derbyshire constabulary – on the contrary, but do they have the muscles to handle international scams of the size given here? How much useful information is lost because of lack of coordination? Shoudn’t this be dealt with in an EU or even international context?
Yet another point we have learned. Boiler rooms and the persons sitting there are volatile. What have substance are the transfer agents and their directors, which have to be real persons with real coordinates (unless of course the banks are involved in the scam as well – you never know). So follow the money!! In our case there are four agents:
Alfort International
Acrebridge
Newton Moore
Oystermare
These four agents can all be traced back to BVI. We have contacted the authorities at BVI to get more information and possibly to start a case; but up to now without result. We know that at least two of these agents have also acted for Anderson Munro. So our proposal is that anyone recognizing “their” agents among those four should address Steven Winnard and ask him to press the BVI police and FIA to come up with more information, and possibly block the accounts of the transfer agents. As far as we know the UK has some jurisdiction over BVI
August 2nd, 2011 at 7:37 pm
Dear Torben and Mette - sincere apologies for the Dutch/Danish mix-up
Not intentional I assure you.
Sorry for your loss and thank you for your post - you make some excellent points.
The people running this scam knew - with some degree of certainty - that if they operated across multiple countries it would be highly unlikely that the police forces would ever pick this up and run with it OR co-operate and co-ordinate. This has largely been the case - with the amazing exception of DC Winnard and his team. ( He has to be congratulated !! ).
When I spoke to Staffordshire police they actually mentioned the existence of the ” Economic Crime Unit ” but I am guessing that the Economic Crime Unit in Staffordshire ( which did NOT pick up my case ) is not talking to the Economic Crime Unit in Derbyshire ( DC Winnard etc ) which did.
You could not get the Danish police to run with it. People I know in Cyprus could not get the Cypriot police to run with it etc etc etc They don’t want to know because it is ” not a domestic/in that country crime “.
Having said that the Cypriot couple did get some co-operation from the Cypriot police and the BVI authorities which enabled them to get the names of the Directors of Alfort and Newton Moore.
My financial trail stopped with HSBC ( my bank at the time ) transferring my money to Anderson Munro’s HSBC account in Hong Kong. You will not be surprised to know that HSBC did not want to help at all !!
Clearly something like this should have international co-operation and co-ordination between police and other authorities.
It seems relevant that a number of the countries used have pseudo-British influence e.g. BVI, Hong Kong,Cyprus, Spain.
As you say technology allows the Boiler Room staff to be virtually anywhere. I think they could quite easily have been sat in London, Spain, BVI, Cyprus etc etc.
The point of this blog was actually to show how we could play them at their own game in terms of getting web presence.
We have also shown how the web can connect victims of these crimes quite quickly ( but not quickly enough ).
August 2nd, 2011 at 7:58 pm
If you Google JAM Capital you see the same tactics that were used to get a ( believable ) internet presence for Anderson Munro and Milton Hayward. e.g. a company name that was similar to another financial institution ( there must be a few other Jam Capital’s out there that are pretty fed up that their name has been hijacked ); a reasonable looking website; some press releases through Free PR sites etc etc. Good to see that a warning against JAM has got up there in the rankings. Obviously this takes time to achieve.
August 3rd, 2011 at 9:54 pm
http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/CityPolice/Departments/ECD/Fraud/boilerroom.htm
August 3rd, 2011 at 10:05 pm
http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/CityPolice/Media/News/220611-boilerroomconviction.htm
Another press release about the arrest of people involved with Milton Hayward and Anderson Munro.
August 4th, 2011 at 1:43 am
http://www.nfib.police.uk/
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.
August 5th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
The BBC reports on the arrests
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13880599
August 6th, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Law Firm specialising in Fraud
http://www.griffin-miller.org/
August 6th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Global Fraud and Asset Recovery
http://www.icc-ccs.org/home/fraudnet
August 6th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
UK Fraudnet members
http://www.lg-legal.com/
http://www.pcblitigation.com/index.htm
August 15th, 2011 at 10:38 am
See website: http://www.gagemorita.com/
There is a new comment on the post “Readers Story: Milton Hayward Scam Ripping Off People”.
http://stumbleforward.com/2009/04/09/readers-story-milton-hayward-scam-ripping-off-people/
Author: David Anderson
Comment:
Hi guys, very sorry to read about this. There is a private firm that tracks these conmen down in Asia as the bad guys mostly wire the funds out of Hong Kong and Singapore to a Caribbean island. They did nail the Milton Hayward guy in the UK as he travelled often. He was hiding out with the rest of the gang in Bangkok. You would be very interested in how these guys operate and the Thais cannot seem to get a grip on them. For some reason a majority are British or Canadian. If you dealt with any of the guys that were mentioned or any offshore investment companies in Japan, Thailand or Singapore it would be best to contact Michael Gage. This guy has a knack for tracking down fraudsters and pinning them down with the cops. Very hands on bloke that gets his hands dirty for the victims. He is based in Japan but is known from Sydney to Tokyo to Bangkok. I hear he works with the UK FSA and FBI at times. Perhaps contact him and he will weigh up your options. Most of these crooks have money stashed somewhere offshore and this idiot Paul Slack has a bunch. He will be right back in Asia after he is released (he has a Thai kid). My guess is Michael Gage will be hanging him off a roof at some point and throwing him right back in jail. If you dealt with Hanover York or any other dodgy financial adviser in Japan it is worth a go. He has helped me a few times and totally trust him…so will leave his company email above.
Cheers and goodluck.
Dave
August 15th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
Note of caution - DC Winnard ( who led the case against Slack ) has not heard of Michael Gage.
August 15th, 2011 at 11:10 pm
See this on Gage Morita
http://gagemoritafraud.blogspot.com/
be careful !!
August 21st, 2011 at 2:52 am
On TV starting next Friday
http://www.itv.com/presscentre/fraudsquad/week34/default.html
August 24th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
More arrests and jailings !!
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Boiler-room-fraudsters-jailed-tele-775060553.html
September 18th, 2011 at 12:48 am
Hi Chrisw
Are you aware of the website http://www.robtex.com where you can get the most comprehensive information about websites we have seen? By joining the forum WOT you will be able both to rate websites and post a comment. Although still active it´s good to see jam-capital.com coming up with red alerts!
September 18th, 2011 at 2:02 am
No Torben & Mette - new one on me - but noted !!
December 1st, 2011 at 6:12 pm
To chrisw and others.
This case involving Paul Slack and those so far named is far more complex than you can understand. I have the Documents and inter-related Companies and Directors that identifies and involves a network of very senior ex Intelligence officers who are the 2nd rung network operators who are protected from criminal prosecution.
I am prepared to provide those documents including actual letters from member of the House of Lords to chief of Derby Police to protect ONE female ex senior Intel Officer from Criminal Prosecution.
December 1st, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Hi Gordon, Thanks for your comment - very intriguing !!! Please keep in touch & send me an email if you want so we can chat.