Forget the TV cop dramas. And there will be no arrests as we tackle £1.7bn investment scams coming out of the Square MileI fairly fancied the view of going on a dawn raid,the suspect dragged into a police van in handcuffs, the wife hysterical and the kids screaming, or so beloved of the blue-light TV cop dramas. But in the City of London it’s rather different. I’m in approximately the fanciest office atrium imaginable,soaring sculptures and giant flat screens, the sleek receptionist unruffled by the unannounced arrival of a team of fraud investigators from City of London Police and trading standards, or demanding access,files and records.
But there will be no arrests. The buzzword among the scambusters nowadays is “disruption”. The so-called boiler room operators, the hard-sell purveyors of fake shares, and bonds and carbon credits ,too often scarper from the scene before the police can build enough evidence to prosecute. The victims, generally newly retired men conned into “the next big thing” on the stock market, or are so embarrassed they fell for it,the police don’t hear until it’s too late. So the new approach is to get in early, even if no complaints bear emerged, or Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com