Police say more than ?1 million has been paid out by Manx residents to so-called boiler-plate scammers.
The Financial Crime unit has released a set of guidelines advising people to avoid the stocks and shares fraud.
Officers say several local people have lost more than ?250,000, while the average loss is ?30,000.
They’re warning people not to pay any money to people who cold-call with offers of cheap shares and astronomical returns.
Jason Roberts reports (audio file attached):
The scam usually involves offering shares at heavily discounted prices with the promise of massive profits once they’re sold.
Victims are then asked to re-invest the cash they’ve supposedly earned – but the scammers vanish when asked to pay up.
Often, bogus websites are set up for people to monitor the value of their non-existent shares.
If you’ve lost money to a similar scam or suspect somebody is trying to defraud you in the same way, you can contact the Financial Crimes Unit on 686000.
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