ELCO

Shareholders in Herts-based Eleco (ELCO:AIM) have been put on boiler room alert after receiving unsolicited calls offering to buy their shares way above the current market price. In a classic example of scamster patter, investors are told by the fake brokers that they are buying shares on behalf of a client looking to take over the company.

These sort of scams usually involve the investor sending an 'advance fee' although in this case Eleco says the con men are trying to get hold of share certificates or bank details. The boiler room operatives have been saying they are from a Canadian company and certainly the majority of boiler rooms targeting UK investors are located overseas.

Eleco chairman, John Ketteley, says: 'Any approach should be reported to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to enable them to update their records and consider any other appropriate action.' In the highly unlikely event that these are genuine approaches, investors would easily be able to verify whether a caller has the requisite authority to brokerage shares by asking for their name and the name of their organisation and checking them on the FSA register at www.fsa.gov.uk/register.