The £1bn global scamming industry

LONDON. — A global scamming network has robbed ordinary investors of more than a billion dollars.

BBC Eye identified a shadowy network of businessmen who appear to be behind it.

For more than a year, BBC Eye has been investigating a global fraudulent trading network of hundreds of different investment brands that has scammed unwitting customers

The majority of victims sign up after seeing an ad on social media.

Within 48 hours typically they receive a phone call from someone who tells them they could make returns of up to 90% per day.

On the other end of the phone there is usually a call centre with many of the trappings of a legitimate business – a smart, modern office with an HR department, monthly targets and bonuses, away days and competitions for best salesperson.

Some call centres play pumping music in the background.

But there are also elements you won’t find in a legitimate business — written guidance on how to identify a potential investor’s weaknesses and turn those weaknesses against them. Out of more than a billion dollars.

Our investigation reveals for the first time the sheer scale of the fraud, as well as the identities of a shadowy network of individuals who appear to be behind it.

The network is known to police as the Milton group, a name originally used by the scammers themselves but abandoned in 2020.

We identified 152 brands, including Solo Capitals, that appear to be part of the network.

It operates by targeting investors and scamming them out of thousands — or in some cases hundreds of thousands — of pounds.

One Milton group investment brand even sponsored a top-flight Spanish football club, and advertised in major newspapers, lending it credibility with potential investors.

In November, BBC Eye accompanied German and Georgian police on call-centre raids in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

On the computer screens, we saw row after row of British phone numbers.

We phoned several and spoke to British citizens who told us they had just invested money.

On one desk, there was a handwritten note with a list of names and useful details for the scammers: “Homeowner, no responsibilities”; “50k in savings”; “From Poland, British citizen”; “50k in stocks.”

Fraud accounted for more than £4bn worth of crime in the UK last year, and online investment scams are thought to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds per year. — BBC.