Mr Michael Wilson runs a building supplies company, Olympic Fixing Products Ltd, in Bangor, Co Down, and has made various investments over the years. The first he heard of Millennium Financial Ltd was two months ago when the first of several glossy brochures arrived at his home by post.
A representative of the company tried several times to contact Mr Wilson in the evenings at home and eventually spoke to him from an office in Zurich, Switzerland, three weeks ago.
The woman said her company was trying to extend its client base in Ireland and wanted to build up a good reputation with Mr Wilson by starting off with a very hot share tip.
"She claimed news would hit the market soon that would make the shares she was tipping rocket. She was very pushy for me to make a commitment to these shares, saying it was an opportunity not to be missed," Mr Wilson said. Even though Mr Wilson had no recollection of ever seeking information about the company, the saleswoman insisted that she was not cold calling. She said Mr Wilson had been referred to Millennium Financial through something for which he had applied. "The brochures were quite impressive but they didn't contain any details about the personnel involved in the company. Because I had no idea who these people were, I checked them out on the Internet," Mr Wilson said. The caller was tipping a technology company and emphasised how urgent it was to act quickly to make money from the shares.
"She kept saying `give me the green light Michael', and when I gave her my work fax number I was sent an invoice with instructions to wire the money to a bank in Guernsey."
Initially the Millennium Financial representative said that she only had blocks of 5,000 shares to sell but when Mr Wilson showed reluctance she quickly brought that down to 1,250.
The invoice was for $5,366 (€6,378) and the cover letter opened as follows: "We are confident that you will be completely satisfied with this trade and look forward to a long and profitable relationship. Your account representative will be in contact with you concerning this transaction." Mr Wilson checked the credentials of the company that was being tipped and discovered that everything was legitimate there but he found some interesting information about Millennium Financial on an Italian website.
The Italian website said that the Central Bank of Ireland had issued a warning about Millennium Financial selling financial services without authorisation. So Mr Wilson rang the Central Bank and confirmed that the warning notice had, indeed, been issued.
The next time the woman phoned, Mr Wilson told her what he had discovered about her firm but she was not deterred. "She said she applauded the Bank for looking after its citizens but that Millennium Financial was a credible, reputable organisation, which had nothing to hide."
Then Mr Wilson told the saleswoman he would definitely not be buying anything and the calls finally ended on polite terms.
