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| Flcikr CC via Bjorn Seibert |
A global police raid of ring leaders in a “Wolf of Wall Street” scam have led to more than 100 people arrested. Suspects
located in Spain, the United Kingdom, Serbia and the United States were arrested
by police on suspicion of money laundering and fraud.
The suspects allegedly made millions of dollars by
selling worthless investments to unsuspecting victims, many of which were
elderly. After the raids, police seized expensive items such as Aston Martin
sports cars, designer clothes, watches and cash. Nearly 300 police from Spain
and 40 in London conducted the operations in Barcelona, Madrid, Marbella and
London. Of those arrested, 84 were in Spain and 20 in Britain, four in Serbia,
and two in the United States.
“It is our most important investigation ever, targeting
people we believe are at the top of an organized crime network that has been
facilitating boiler rooms across Europe and which is suspected of being
responsible for millions in investment fraud,” said City of London Police Commander Steve Head.
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| Flickr CC via fotdmike |
There has been 850 confirmed victims in the U.K., with
many of them saying they had lost their life savings. Police believe the true total
of peopled scammed could be in the thousands. The investigation started in
2012, when “boiler room” scams
started to increase. At these offices, the suspects allegedly duped victims into buying
worthless or nonexistent stocks. They offer high returns and dividends but
those who invest almost always ended up losing their money.
Police said they shut down 14 offices of scammers that
called homes and used aggressive tactics to sell bad stocks. Joan Mayer, a
78-year old victim, lost a six-figure sum.
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