The Bulletin - who reads it and what interests them We are grateful to the 138 readers who completed the survey put out with the October 2005 issue of The Bulletin. 50% of these people said The Bulletin was very useful and 48% found it of some use. The graphs show who they are and the areas of our work that interest them. New twists in telephone share scams Overseas telephone fraudsters are using innovative new twists to con New Zealanders into share deals. These include: using real (or very similar) names and addresses of genuine registered securities firms in jurisdictions such as the USA, UK, Canada, Hong Kong or Germany. The fraudsters appear to have telephone numbers originating from leading financial centres but calls to the number are redirected to other countries. following up unsolicited calls to New Zealanders with faxes on letterhead that is the same as that of the genuine firm except for the phone and fax numbers. Websites that imitate those of genuine firms are also used but the links go to the fraudsters. follow up letters referring to a registration number that is the genuine number of a registered securities firm. referring the Kiwi victim to an official-sounding but phoney securities regulator to confirm the credentials of the “broker”. “Telephone share scams have plagued New Zealanders, particularly those with small businesses, for several years,” Commission Director of Enforcement Norman Miller says. “Many millions of dollars have been lost to them.” “The end result is always the same - the victim is convinced that the deal is real, and conned into sending more money out of the country. This money is always lost.” The Commission ran a second publicity campaign to alert people to this scam late last year. It encouraged people to “Slam the phone” on callers offering share deals and referred them to www.sharescams.org.nz. Similarly publicity in June and July last year brought a flood of inquiries to the Commission. Avoid being defrauded: Hang up on callers offering share deals - there is no way to confirm the location of a person from a telephone number. Go to www.sharescams.org.nz to learn more about this scam. Do not call regulatory agencies recommended by the cold callers. They are not genuine. Your call will be answered by the fraudsters. Visit www.iosco.org which lists the legitimate securities regulators around the world.

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THE BULLETIN January 2006