Father and daughter team 'con 15,000 Britons out of £35m in US boiler room scam'

Paul Gunter, 58, and his daughter, Zibiah, 25, are under arrest in Florida after an international police investigation into a huge investment scam.

Police say Gunter masterminded a scheme targeting Britons with money to spare – largely pensioners – through high-pressure telesales calls offering worthless shares.

Scroll down for more ...

After the victims handed their money in, it simply disappeared.

Fraud experts in the City of London Police were alerted by duped investors, and officers in America swooped on Thursday.

Florida police said yesterday that the "boiler room" scam – so named because of the high-pressure and misleading sales techniques used – operated out of Tampa, and focused on duping Britons into believing they were investing in lucrative social networking websites.

Others believed they had bought shares in Caribbean resorts, diamond mines and property development in Florida. Shares in a total of 54 companies were involved.

But all turned out to be worthless – and investors handed over an estimated £35million in just two years, wiring the money to Florida bank accounts allegedly operated by Gunter and his team.

City of London police said yesterday the smallest sums involved were around £1,500, while one victim gave more than £1million.

Both Gunter, from London, and his British-born daughter were remanded in custody after their Tampa court hearing on Thursday, and now face up to 100 years in jail.

It has emerged that Gunter was declared bankrupt six years ago and has switched address 20 times in 15 years.

Bail was refused after the pair were declared a "flight risk".

Gunter was born in North London and brought up in Pinner in West London. He became a successful self-employed salesman of life insurance and endowment policies – usually from the Sun Alliance – and bought a large house in Hatch End, West London.

He and his wife Dulcie struggled to have children and eventually adopted two girls.

As they were enthusiastic Christians, they named their first girl Zibiah and their second Jerusha, after royal figures in the Old Testament.

Gunter, said to have separated from his wife, left England for America in around 1992.

His lawyer, Howard Anderson, confirmed he had frequently returned to Britain but was in the process of becoming a U.S. citizen.

American authorities say Gunter and his team "hijacked" defunct companies that only existed on paper and pretended to be stockbrokers offering shares.

Some potential victims appear to have been "cold-called" after their names were taken from the register of shareholders at Companies House in London.

Tactics used in "boiler room" scams include saying that the company is about to make an announcement that will send shares soaring.

Prosecutors have been able to trace the flow of money from the UK into accounts reportedly operated by Gunter – but remain unsure how much money, if any, can be recovered for investors.

Gunter lived in a £200,000 ranch-style home overlooking a lake in Odessa, Florida.

His daughter moved out of the house in 2004 and bought a condominium in nearby Oldsmar, where she was known for hosting loud parties.

She obviously had no inkling of her impending arrest when she made her last entry on her MySpace page.

Under the heading "mood", she wrote "happy".

Last night, a former friend of Gunter, who did not want to be named, said: "Paul and Dulcie split up in the 1980s, and he got custody of the children.

"By then, he was very successful at selling insurance.

"He was the sort of guy who could sell sand to the Arabs."

Dulcie, 59, lives in West London but yesterday refused to answer her door.

'If it seems too good to be true, then it is'

• A FEW tempting phone calls to his home ended up costing Scott Broom £27,000 in retirement savings.

He is one of 15,000 victims of the shares-selling scam allegedly operated out of Florida by British salesman Paul Gunter.

The 52-year-old design engineer, who had used a stockbroker before, was intrigued when a firm named Conway Mason called two years ago with the suggestion he invest in the Transglobal Oil Corporation.

He was persuaded to invest £27,000 in shares that were effectively worthless.

As soon as he transferred the money to the Bank of America, several other companies started phoning him.

By the time the third one called, alarm bells were ringing and he contacted the bank.

Eventually it turned out his money was apparently under the control of Gunter.

"He refused point blank to hand the money over," he said.

"I think it's an expensive lesson. I just advise anyone who gets unsolicited calls not to listen to them – the more you listen, the more you get hooked.

"If it seems too good to be true, then it is."