Bangkok December 01 2010
Six Britons have fled Bangkok after taking salesmen jobs there only to find out that they were being asked to work for one of the city’s notorious ‘Boiler Room’ scams.
At least one, a card carrying member of Britain’s Labour Party, has lodged a complaint which is with New Scotland Yard.
Currently several different agencies in the U.K, Europe, Australia and New Zealand have on-going operations targeting Asian boiler rooms.
But despite action by Thailand’s Securities Exchange Commission, or perhaps because of their inability to do little more than have a court impose fines, Bangkok is still regarded as the world capital of these infamous share scammers.
The boiler room in the centre of the latest controversy is situated in a slightly run down eight storey building at 12/1 Saladeang Soi 1. There on the fifth floor of Srinakarin Plad Building, under the shadow of Reuters in Rama IV Road ‘qualifiers’ work the phones seeking gullible investors in Europe.
According to a statement given to the Metropolitan Police in London the boiler room is run working under the name Dominion Provident Marketing Services by Britons David Richards, Zach Carlton, and Robert Wallace. Carlton, a shaven haired man claiming to be ex-army, was described as the General Manager. Wallace and Richards were described as directors.
Richards himself conducted interviews in London claiming to be a representative of a company called Donaldson Recruitment operating on behalf of Dominion Provident. The interviews were held in the Mortlake Business Centre, in Mortlake High Street, London SW 14.
The ‘successful applicants’ were all provided with round trip air fares to Bangkok and given accommodation in Baan K Residence in Saladeang Soi 2. The company also sponsored Immigration B visas.
The principal informant, a member of the Labour party said: ‘Within hours of seeing the set up in Bangkok I knew there was something wrong. They told us that when we left the premises never to tell anyone what work we did or where we worked.’
He said all the recruits were told that they were selling on behalf of a company called ‘Earle Carlton & Hughes’.
‘We were given scripts. They went along the lines ‘We are calling you because you took part in our of our market research surveys about investment opportunities….etc.
‘We had to find out if the customer was viable for a reasonable amount of cash. If so that was noted and it would be passed on down the line. We were told to say that if they invested in Earle Carlton and Hughes their money would double in a few months.
‘We were making calls to Europe and had to work the hours 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. with a one hour meal break.
‘ I left after the first day of work and brought one of my colleagues with me. The remainder stayed on for quite a few more days. They just wanted a break in Bangkok. I gather they had a few late nights, lots of girls, that sort of thing at the Climax Club at the Ambasssador Hotel, which is where we were recommended.
‘But they are all from good families and they all decided to quit too. I understand they have been replaced by a new intake of Australians.’
Earle Carlton Hughes states on its website that it has offices in Hong Kong and Barcelona. Calls to both offices, as expected, were met with an answerphone message.
The site features scrolling financial news and an internet search quotes news stories featuring the company. Further searches reveal that the company itself paid for and inserted the stories on the net. DPMS does not have any address or telephone number on its website, but claims to have offices in Bangkok, Boston and London.
On its website it states:’Are Dominion Provident Marketing Service’s people a new species? Perhaps not, for there is no worldwide shortage of excellent people. People for whom character and integrity are a given… People who instinctively wish to share values, information, and knowledge with others, and, for whom empowerment of their teammates is the natural and right approach…..
‘Solid character and high integrity are the paramount factors in team member selection. DPMS is known for its boundless energy, enthusiasm, teamwork and outstanding results’.
One of them certainly showed boundless energy when we confronted him inside the HSBC building on Rama IV Road after watching the new recruits arrive fooded up for a long haul into the night.
‘Boiler room? You’ve got the wrong guy. I work in a doctor’s surgery. You want the fat pregnant guy,’ (sic) he said before running off pursued by a photographer.
Then in one bound he turned to attack the photographer, shouting ‘If I see a picture of myself anywhere I will be coming for you’. He grabbed the camera, then threw a punch, which was parried, before sprinting for a motorcycle taxi.
Security guards went to the photographer’s assistance by which time he was away in a cloud of exhaust smoke.
Comment: Information on boiler rooms is always welcome
