Second scam sucker list is seized

Some personal data is traded over the internet

A second master list containing the names of 1,000 people targeted by fraudsters selling worthless shares has been seized.

The potential scam victims have been contacted by the Financial Services Authority and City of London Police.

This is the second share fraud master list discovered by the authorities this year.

The list contains names and phone numbers of 750 people and the names and addresses of another 250.

The authorities had already written to 6,500 potential victims following the seizure of another list last month. None of the names were duplicated.

Share fraud

Boiler room fraudsters usually contact people by telephone and use high-pressure sales tactics to con investors into buying non-tradable, overpriced or even non-existent shares.

Our sources indicate that the list is a new one and still in use by the fraudsters Jonathan Phelan, FSA

These scams have cost UK victims an estimated £200m a year. The 734 people who contacted the FSA last year to report becoming victims lost an average of £24,000 each.

Lists of potential victims - usually those who have been ripped off before - are traded between fraudsters who are unauthorised and usually based overseas. Victims do not have access to financial complaints and compensation schemes.

Those people on the list are receiving letters which explain what people can do to protect themselves from fraud, or what they should do to if they have already handed over money.

This includes hanging up if they get an unsolicited telephone call from somebody offering to sell shares. Any legitimate company selling shares should be registered with the FSA.

"This is the second master list we have obtained in as many months," said Jonathan Phelan, of the FSA.

"Our sources indicate that the list is a new one and still in use by the fraudsters, so by contacting people on it we hope to cut these boiler rooms off at the pass."

Online scams

A separate report suggested that the number of phishing attacks - when fraudsters use fake e-mails and websites to gather personal financial information - is on the rise.

The report, by brand protection group MarkMonitor, found that these criminals were aiming to mimic social networking websites to gain people's details for use in fraud.

Criminals were also taking over legitimate company's websites, the group said, with the majority of cases in the US, followed by Germany and the UK.

"As scammers continually seek new methods of monetising traffic, brands face a growing and pervasive problem from online abuse," said Frederick Felman, of MarkMonitor.