Notice to Shareholders

Please note that a number of share fraud schemes are known to operate within the United Kingdom.

Share and bond scams are often run from ‘boiler rooms’ where fraudsters cold-call investors offering them worthless, overpriced or even non-existent shares or bonds. Boiler rooms use increasingly sophisticated tactics to approach investors, offering to buy or sell shares in a way that will bring a huge return.

As a result, victims are often left out of pocket – sometimes losing all of their savings or even their family home. Even seasoned investors have been caught out, with the biggest individual loss recorded by the police being £6m.

Please note that Grainger will not contact you by telephone to buy or sell shares or ask you for credit card or bank account details in relation to any services or offers that you have not requested.

Share and bond fraud usually comes out of the blue, with scammers cold-calling investors after taking their phone number from publicly available shareholder lists.

The high-pressure sales tactics can also come by email, post, word of mouth or at a seminar. These scams are sometimes advertised in newspapers, magazines or online as genuine investment opportunities. They may even offer a free research report into a company, or a free gift or discount on their dealing charges.

You will often be told that you need to make a quick decision or miss out on the deal. The scammers might also try to sell you shares or bonds in a company that doesn’t exist. If you already own shares in a company, you may receive a call from someone offering to buy them at a higher price than their market value.

The scam will request the money upfront as a bond or other form of security, which they say they’ll pay back if the sale doesn’t go ahead – but you’ll never hear from them again.

Many bogus trading and brokerage firms will use the name, ‘firm registration number’ (FRN) and address of firms and individuals who are FCA authorised. This is called a ‘clone firm’.

The scammers then give their own phone number, address and website details, sometimes claiming that a firm’s contact details on the FCA Register are out of date. Scammers might also claim to be an overseas firm, which don’t always have their full contact and website details listed on the FCA Register. Scammers may even copy the website of an authorised firm, making subtle changes such as the phone number.

FCA-authorised firms are unlikely to contact you out of the blue with an offer to buy or sell shares or bonds.

• You should only deal with financial services firms that are authorised by the FCA, and check the Register to ensure they are.
• You can also check the Warning List of firms to avoid.
• You should check the firm isn’t a clone firm by asking for their firm reference number (FRN) and contact details and then calling them back on the switchboard number on the FCA Register – never use a link in an email or website from the firm offering you an investment.
• Always be wary if you are contacted out of the blue, pressured to invest quickly or promised returns that sound too good to be true.
• You should seriously consider seeking financial advice or guidance before investing. You should make sure that any firm you deal with is regulated by us and never take investment advice from the company that contacted you, as this may be part of the scam.

You can report the firm or scam to the FCA by contacting the Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768 or using the reporting form.

If you have already invested in a scam, fraudsters are likely to target you again or sell your details to other criminals.

The follow-up scam may be completely separate or related to the previous fraud, such as an offer to get your money back or to buy back the investment after you pay a fee.

If you have any concerns at all about a potential scam, contact the FCA immediately.

If you have already paid money to share fraudsters you should contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.