If you've lost money to the Boiler Room thieves then you have our heartfelt sympathies. However, there is almost nothing you can do to get your money back unless start to think like Elliot Ness when taking down the mobster Al Capone.

As we know the Chicago Police were toothless in trying to combat Capone simply because he murdered the clean coppers and paid off the rest. In another historical note the famous but late Colombian Drugs Overlord Pablo Escobar used a similar strategy to great effect with his policy of 'plomo o plata' - accept my 'lead or silver'.

With Boiler Rooms it’s unlikely the UK Police will be able to help because the criminals are located far away, usually in the Far East. Instead, try to think along the lines discussed below.

Go After Bankers

• If we'd had money stolen from us we'd go after the bankers of the crooked brokerage companies
  
  
• Try an implicate them that they are part of the crime by dealing with these crooks, in many ways the banks are 'facilitating' the theft
  
  
• We would create an aggressive campaign in complaining to the banking regulator of where the bank is located
  
  
• And we would work the internet to try to find other people who've had money stolen from them. Consider setting up a simple website - if you look around the web there are sites that offer websites for less than £10 a month, sometimes even cheaper
  
  
• We would also write to all the directors on the bank's main board and explain to them what has happened, and how they are acting as bankers for money laundering thieves. Try and back this up with all the correspondence you have, the more the better

Summary

Without the banks the offshore brokers cannot be in business, which is why we'd work on the 'helping to facilitate the theft' angle.

It might take some time but fighting them using this strategy is probably the only chance that investors have, and even then the chances of success are slim.

Still, as the old saying goes – it’s better to try than not try at all.

Good luck, and to be successful with this strategy you have to be persistent.