All,

Is there anyone here that is a client of City Equities?

If so, have they rung you regarding a mining/resource stock last Friday, or today?

If so, can you remember which one please?

I would be grateful if you could post it here, as I hold an account but don't want to ring because they can be a bit pushy.

My top tips from CE's:

Actually not quite as bad as crockanure8's holdings. I think I got off lightly!

Eurasia Mining 7.25p Now 4.5p -38%
Innobox 7p Now 2p -71%
London Asia Capital 12 Now 23p +92%
Maverick Entertainment 0.4 Now 0.25 -38%
Zyzygy 0.8p Now 0.6p -25%
Cagney 10p Now 6.5p -35%

London Asia Capital has been the one share that has risen but doesn't come near to covering the overall loses.

Has anyone noticed how they calculate the loses and gains on the mid price which is gives a totally skewed impression of the real picture given the usually large spreads on these shares.

CE's do provide ample warning of the risks of trading in these shares so I guess no one can grumble that they are misinformed of the risks and have to put the loses down to experience and move on. However they do seem to have backing a loser down to an art form. Or should I say backing a winner in CE's as they get their slice either way.

Has anyone had a positive experience with CE's?

My advice to anyone considering going with CE's is to buy a dart board and a list of AIM stocks. I'd trust the dart to pick me a winner over CE's any day.

Guys
Why doesnt someone start a virtual portfolio.
5 or six of CE picks against a random selection on the dartboard with some throwing a few darts.
I would find the outcome interesting
Stevie

Clover,#
Great post, sorry about the losses.

Stevie,
You throw the darts and I will follow the progress. Take 6 stocks and we will
compare them to the July 2005 equitity market update posted above. Let me know the stocks that the darts have landed on. The easiest way to do it is throw 6 darts at the Ft AIM index sheet.
Crock

I might try that this weekend, I will be in touch unless someone who can do it quicker wants to have a go.
Steve

Crockanure*,

Wow that is some list!

I happen to have received the Jan 2006 CE update.

In it they feature ALD, APA, CET, NMI, OXB, and TEL.

ALD has done ok, +6%, but the rest are either sideways or down slightly.

clover,

well they got LAC wrong!

All the others show their normal rate of consistency though!

A recent comment about boiler rooms from The Daily Reckoning, quoting the Sunday Times.

--------------------------------

I now know, buying an unheard of company, in a very
high risk sector from an untraceable Swiss-based
American is akin to sweeping banknotes into a pile and
putting a match to them.
Today, as investors we have the power of
electronic information at our fingertips and stronger
investor protection laws on our side and yet...le plus
ca change le plus cest la meme chose.

Or, more locally, it appears nothings really changed.

According to the The Sunday Times last week-end,
boiler room share trading operators continue to prey
on the unwary.

The scam has been updated a little but the techniques
remain fundamentally unchanged. From operations often
based offshore (to be outside the reach of UK
regulators), victims are cold-called over the phone.
Sweeteners such as free research reports and discounted
dealing are sometimes dropped in as enticements.
Investee companies are usually small speculative names
that are, of course, just about to hit the big time.

There does appear to be a new twist, though. The Sunday
Times describes the touting of Regulation S shares. A
new one on me, so I did a quick search...and it
certainly looks one to avoid.

The perhaps reassuring legitimacy of the word
Regulation in the name is somewhat misleading. This
is not an investment about abiding by the law but one
of exploiting a loophole within it.

It effectively permits US shares that do not meet
American listing standards, to be flogged to
foreigners. That includes us here in the UK.

Plus this little beauty also comes with a sting in the
tail when you want to sell... they are not freely
tradable shares.

They are prohibited them being traded back in the US
for one year and even then you must pay a US lawyer
to remove the restriction, says the FSA.

For further details click through on the FSA link below:

www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/01_WARNINGS/protect/shares.html

So if some unknown salesperson clogs your phone line one
day with a little gem of an investment, be sure to
tread carefully.

Of course, financial cons will always be part of life.
Regardless of higher levels of investor information and
protection the golden rule remains.

Caveat Emptor...
buyer beware.

I have just completed the transfer of all my rubbish shares from City Equities to my regular dealing account from where I can begin to offload them (at a heavy loss). I was pretty stunned to get a call from my contact at CE to say they had completed the transfer and that I should now set up a special account. Apparently this would ease the transfer of future crap purchases into my regular account. If I hadn't been so stunned that they had called I would have told him that I planned to dig a big hole in my back garden and throw ten pound notes into it when ever I passed by as I figured that this would be more profitable than staying with CE's.

I have got a few 'Introduce a Friend' flyers from them over the time but haven't yet hit on anyone I hate enough to introduce to them!

Clover,

LOL!

Their auduacity knows no bounds it seems!

I wonder whether CE took NML around Xmas time?

Apparently FSW Europe did, and another broker of a similar ilk, and within days, NML were suspended from AIM, and then delisted a month later!

I wonder how they explained that to their clients?

Clover,

If you are still here, check out the price of Eurasia today!

Pacific Continental have made the news again!


Click HERE!

A. S. W. writes: I was very interested to read about complaints you received against stockbroker Pacific Continental Securities. I also lost a considerable sum through the high-pressure sale by this firm of US Regulation S shares. Until I read your article, I had no idea that such shares could not be sold to Americans. The only restriction stated by the broker was that they could not be traded for 12 months.
The complaints against Pacific Continental - dubbed Britain's riskiest or unluckiest broker by Financial Mail - continue to roll in.

==============================================================

The number of unhappy investors who lost out after being talked into buying shares in high-risk US companies that do not meet American investor protection standards - but under Regulation S can legally be sold to non-Americans - has now reached 70.

The story is always the same. The salesman talks up a storm, predicting great things in return for accepting the one-year lock-in period. But by the time the year is up, the shares have collapsed.



For full story click the link above.

Beware... I just got stung with something I bought from CE in a weak moment...why do I fall for it I ask myself !
couple of weeks ago they phoned me wanting to get me in on IGH...I went in with 1000. @ 5.5p .. now a few weeks later the bid is down to 4p with sells of 3.75p today.. grim or what.. anyway hoepfully IGH will turn good but for now it looks grim !

CE just sold GGG to their clients.

Will be worth watching the price for a while.....

CITY EQUITIES ARE YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE. BY THE TIME THE PENNY DROPPED I WAS WELL STUNG. CONSTANT HARASSMENT EITHER TO BUY SHARES, OR TO SELL YOUR HOLDINGS TO FACILITATE MORE DEALS. RANG ME THREE TIMES WHEN I REFUSED TO BUY, USED PERSUASIVE TACTICS, IE BOILERROOM TO STOP YOU SELLING. THE MAIN PERPETRATOR IS NOW WITH A BOUTIQUE OUTFIT IN CANADA SQUARE. WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE

ATOTAL BOILERROOM OUTFIT I WAS CONNED BIG TIME

I CANNOT BELIEVE CITY EQUITIES ARE STILL IN BUSINESS, AND HAVE NOT BEEN CLOSED DOWN BY FSA. THEY ARE A CON OUTFIT. SO MANY PEOPLE MUST HAVE BEEN STUNG, THEY SOLD ME CONDOR RESOURSES WHO WERE DOWN 90 PC THE NEXT DAY. ANGEL BIO, GOD ONLY KNOWS HOW OR WHY THEY EXIST, COOLABI SUSPENDED, UNIVISION, JESUS I FEEL SUCH A MUG, AS I WAS A PRETTY GOOD TRADER MYSELF

LUCKY IS NOT MY MIDDLE NAME, FIRST I WAS INVOLVED WITH PACIFIC CONTINENTAL, GOT OUT WITH AN 8 GRAND LOSS BEFORE THEY WENT TO THE WALL, OUT OF THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE WITH CITY EQUITIES, THE MOST DESPICABLE PEOPLE EVER. DO NOT GO NEAR THESE PEOPLE . TOTAL SCAM MERCHANTS. I DIDN,T GO TO THE FSA, BUT I DID PURSUED K SWANN THE MAIN DEALER ON THE INTERNET, SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF HIM, HE,S NOW WITH CENTRAL MARKETS. CAVEAT EMPTOR. SOME OF THE CALLS I HAD FROM HIM BEGGAR BELIEF, I WAS IN A DAZE

DOES ANYONE ACTUALLY KNOW WHO THE DIRECTORS ARE, CE.INNUMERAL COMPLAINTS MUST HAVE BEEN MADE ABOUT THEM TO THE FSA.. FOR TOP CLASS RESEARCH ,FARADAY AND SHAREWATCH UK ARE SUPERB, FARADAY,S LAST TIP SCANCELL ARE UP 450 PC. I SHOULD HAVE MADE A MILLION OUT OF SHAREWATCH UK BUT I WAS DEALING WITH A DUMB IRISH STOCKBROKER, OR MUPPET

ACTUALLY VERY FUNNY HAHA, THEY ACTUALY MADE A PROFIT ON A STOCK BUT SWANN CAME ON WITH HIS SPIFFLE ABOUT CONDOR RESOURCES, SAYING I,LL GIVE YOU 300 QUID FOR XMAS ABOUT 6 OR 7 TIMES. CONDOR WERE DOWN 90 PC THE NEXT DAY. BUT WHO ARE THE REAL PERPETRATORS OF THIS SCAM OUTFIT?. NAME AND SHAME IS ALWAYS THE BEST

KEITH SWANN IS NOW WITH CENTRAL MARKETS , AMERICA HOUSE CANADA SQUARE. SWANN WAS THE BIGGEST PERPETRATOR OF SCAMS EVER, A NATURAL. RUTHLESS EXPLOITER OF TRUST AND HONOUR. BUT WHY ACT LIKE THAT, INEXPLICABLE, HAVING A DESIRE TO DO YOUR CLIENTS. HOW THEY STILL EXIST AMAZES ME.