As part of its continuing work in this area, the FSA investigated the shares sold by various boiler rooms in two North American based-companies, Rocky Mountain Gold Mining Corporation and Rocky Mountain Gold Mining Inc (Rocky Mountain).

It found that UK investors had sent about GBP1.25mn to North America where Rocky Mountain's operations were based. The FSA worked with Canadian regulators, the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) as well as the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), to freeze the funds investors had sent over. The FSA also helped to ensure that plans were put in place to refund the money.

The UK financial services regulator observed that investors were very fortunate in this case, as usually boiler rooms are structured to prevent such enforcement action. The funds returned to investors at this stage amounted to 90% of the sum invested, but it is expected that there will be other future payouts.

Jonathan Phelan, Head of Department in the FSA's Enforcement division observed that:

"This is a rare bit of good news for investors who have been persuaded to hand over money to boiler rooms as usually the money disappears without a trace. Investors are reminded to just hang up the phone when contacted by boiler rooms as in most cases these investments do not have a happy ending."

"Working in partnership with our Canada counterparts on the case helped to ensure that investors were able to get their money back this time."

Commenting on the case, Michael Watson, Director of Enforcement for the Ontario Securities Commission added:

"With the information initially obtained from the British Columbia Securities Commission and other sources, staff of the Ontario Securities Commission were able to act quickly to preserve the funds sent by investors. After these funds were frozen, the cross-jurisdictional co-operation between the OSC, the BCSC and the FSA was crucial in achieving this result."