£1m payout over shares scam
Victims of a "boiler room" scam are set to receive £1 million of their money back, the City watchdog has revealed.
The Financial Services Authority has obtained a court order against the owner and sole director of Bayshore Nominees Limited for assisting in the sale of worthless shares.
Under the scam, investors were encouraged to buy worthless shares after being cold-called by Gatemore Securities and Enterprise Analytics Incorporated, both of which were based outside of the UK, and neither of which was authorised to sell shares.
UK-based Bayshore, which held the shares, collected money from investors and then transferred the shares to them.
Once it received the money from investors it transferred the cash first to different bank accounts and then offshore.
It is thought that around 500 people collectively lost £4.5 million through the scam between March and November 2006.
Aniz Kassamali Dhanji Manji, the owner of Bayshore, was ordered to return £1 million to investors at a High Court hearing last week.
Suresh Maganlal Bhowan, who was the sole director of the firm, was ordered to pay back £17,233.
Jonathan Phelan, head of retail enforcement at the FSA, said: "We are pleased to have been able to secure the return of this money to consumers who invested with Bayshore.
"However, in most cases consumers will never see any of their money again. They should be careful to ensure that any firm they deal with is authorised, otherwise they stand to lose some or all of their investment."
