Thirteen alleged members of a British gang that carried out Europe’s biggest “boiler room” fraud
Thirteen alleged members of a British gang that carried out Europe’s biggest “boiler room” fraud have been arrested. The gang swindled at least £20 million out of victims by persuading them to buy shares in a company that had never traded. Police traced at least 80 victims, but believe the gang cheated hundreds. The alleged leader was known to operate from Barcelona, a location favoured by boiler-rooms, so called because of the pressure to sell. Ambitious young people are promised what appear to be glamorous jobs in Spain selling shares, but soon realise they are working for fraudsters. A 28-year-old Briton, said to be the head of the gang, was arrested in Sweden on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to launder money. City of London detectives arrested eleven other people in Northumbria and one in Manchester.Spanish police, working with their British counterparts, last week raided a flat and garage, and seized a Bentley Continental, a Ferrari and a Maserati,...