'Landmark' crackdown on fake shares fraudsters

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Criminal gangs who trick people into investing in worthless shares have been targeted by police in the biggest ever international crackdown on the fraud.

The operation resulted in 110 arrests - mostly in Spain and the UK, the BBC reports. Police targeted the masterminds and facilitators of the "boiler room" fraud - so-called because of the cramped conditions they work from. There are 850 confirmed victims of the gangs in the UK, but the real figure is likely to be in the "multi-thousands". Detectives said the aim of the two-year investigation, codenamed Operation Rico, is to "decimate" boiler room fraud in Europe. They believe it is the biggest ever operation into the crime. Operation Rico, which culminated in a series of raid...

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