Tom PowellFOR too many years the authorities in Spain have simply palmed away the thousands of boiler room victims as of no great consequence.
Whether it was seen as a problem for the English police, or just that the victims were almost all foreign, they generally did little and ignored the problem.
Sadly the British police took a similar view, insisting that it was up to their Spanish counterparts to act as the crime was committed in Spain.
So it is fantastic news to finally see a strong and purposeful crack-down against the scam merchants.
Conning vulnerable pensioners out of their life savings is a cowardly, despicable crime and its perpetrators should be made to pay.
While the Nigel Goldmans of this world lavish millions of euros on prostitutes, drugs, cars and Christian Louboutin slippers, the rest of us soldier on under a crippling recession.
There are still dozens, if not hundreds, of boiler rooms still bubbling away under the radar.
It is up to all of us to come forward and expose them wherever they may be.
What actually is a “boiler room”?
Working in an office on the phones trying to sell a get-rich-quick product. The salesperson living off commissions on products sold. The products, usually bent or broke (remember the ostrich farms anyone?), can often cause major misery. The office can be disassembled in half an hour if things get too warm. As the OP says, the Spanish police are slow to get interested in an all-British scam…
Exactly, boiler rooms are so-called because of the cramped conditions the scammers operate out of. They cold-call vulnerable people and persuade them to invest through aggressive sales techniques, confidence tricks, legitimate looking websites etc
I’ve got a broken boiler room in my house. Bout time someone showed an interest!
Alfonse: I will give you an account number into which you can pay an obscene sum of money and I promise, on my honour, to send someone round to fix it. O.K. ?