US Petroleum Holdings

[JakNife]

I've been contacted by a broker who uses the name "Regency" that is trying to sell me stock of US Petroleum Holdings.

I can't find out much about US Petroleum Holdings but they have a website here:

www.uspetroleumholdings.com

The BBC mention them on this site here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ch/6624475.stm

But all that they're really saying is Do Your Own Research.

Has anyone heard of either Regency or US Petroleum Holdings?

[borisf96]

100% sure it is a scam

If you check their website, it is basically empty page. Even "About US" is unaccessible. And please do not buy that "Not Authorized" crap. No phone contact too.

Their website are also got registered and gets technical support through some Bahamas company about a year ago. What legitimate US or UK company would do that?

If "regency" has thick accent, it is Nigerian 419 scam.

[JakNife]

I've done a little more research, it appears to be another boiler room scam.

The Motley Fool have picked up on them here:

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp...&sort=username

And note that the FSA have warned about Regency:

Regency Equity Consulting:

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Re...erseas.shtml#r

So basically Regency's (www.regencyag.com) promotion of US Petroleum Holdings (www.uspetroleumholdings.com) is a boiler room scam.

[Counterpoint]

I was contacted by Regency Equity Consulting, Dubai last year.
My research raised a number of issues which had a bad smell.

I have just been contacted by Klein Fisher, Geneva and surprise, surprise, they are offering US Petroleum Holdings. A pre IPO at about 3$. Same plausible "patter", well educated and extremely good communicator.

I notice that Regency EC have shut their web site or just renamed?

I would love to know the nature of this operation. Are they just selling shares in a company that is unlikely to ever make any money, but pays some salaries? or is it a total scam?

[texas 402]

I have been an investor with regency for the last 4 years. I have been involved in two IPO's and now I'm involved with US Petroleum Holdings. They have shown me great returns in all my investments with them. I have had very good experiences with them.

[JakNife]

Hi texas 402,

I don't understand how you could have been "an investor with regency for the last 4 years" as far as I can tell they only started to scam investors about 18 months ago?

But in any case, the FSA have confirmed that Regency are an illegal boiler room, you can find their name on this list here:

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Re...erseas.shtml#r

Similarly, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority have also warned people about dealing with these crooks, see:

http://www.fi.se/Templates/AlertList...4.aspx?query=R

If you search the internet using keywords like "Regency", "www.regencyag.com", US Petroleum Holdings, "www.uspetroleumholdings.com", "boiler room" and "scam" then a whole host of other sites also get listed where people report these people.

There's a lot of people out there reporting that they've been scammed, sorry it sounds like you're one of their victims.

JakNife

[JakNife]

I've been digging deeper and there's another boiler room also promoting the shares of US Petroleum Holdings (www.uspetroleumholdings.com).

A check on Google:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=1...holdings&meta=

shows that the boiler room Guardian Worldwide (www.guardian-worldwide.com) is also promoting US Petroleum Holdings.

JakNife

[Counterpoint]

Re: US Petroleum Holdings

This company is incorporated in Nevis. Nevis is a small Caribbean island in the Lesser Antilles archipelago. Population of about 12,000. Actively promotes offshore investment and many relevant web sites highlight the fact that registered businesses lay outside US, UK and other regulatory control.

These circumstances alone should raise questions in the minds of any investors!

US Petroleum Holdings' bank appears to be Washington Mutual, US Highway 19, Holiday, Florida, USA. This is the bank that investing parties would eventually be depositing funds.

I am aware that Andrew Titley is a director and that Janet Carriger is Company Secretary. Janet Carriger might be of some interest. She also appears to have run "Budget Corporate Renewals" which offers corporate setups on a budget! Her website is interesting "www.budgetcorporaterenewals.com". There now appears to be some activity from someone claiming fraud has been committed. All in all, cause for some concern!

[Counterpoint]

Re: US Petroleum Holdings

This stock has recently been offered, as an IPO, by Klein Fisher of Geneva. Their website has changed out of all recognition in the last few weeks. It previously provided a UK style telephone contact and an address in Geneva. The site was basic but demonstrated some possibility of being a financial services organisation. Now the same web address is a joke and no contacts available. Check it out - "kleinfisher.com". Klein Fisher now recorded on the FSA's blacklist.

[Counterpoint]

Hi Texas 402
Interested to know more about your trouble free and profitable dealings with Regency, particularly US Petroleum Holdings. Have you sold any shares to date?

[JakNife]

Hi Counterpoint,

Could you confirm how you've got the details of Andrew Titley as a director and Janet Carriger as Company Secretary? Is this from an announcement somewhere?

FWIW US Petroleum Holdings, Corp (www.uspetroleumholdings.com) also get a mention in the Dorset Daily Echo:

UNSUSPECTING residents in Bournemouth are being targeted by "boiler room" scams - overseas operations using high-pressure phone selling techniques to persuade investors to purchase virtually worthless shares.

According to the Financial Services Authority, boiler rooms prey on older, male investors, particularly in London and the South East, with victims losing an average of £20,000.

The Daily Echo's John Nesbitt received three phone calls in three days from a company offering him shares with US Petroleum Holdings.

full story: http://www.thisisdorset.net/display....phone_scam.php

regards,

JakNife

[JakNife]

Andrew Titley from here?

http://www.caribbean-trust.com/about_us.htm

[katiealan]

I have also been contacted by Regency and they use an international number to contact you.

[JakNife]

katiealan,

Are Regency still using this website: www.regencyag.com

or did they direct you to another one?

And is it still US Petroleum Holdings (www.uspetroleumholdings.com) that they're trying to sell?

JakNife

[Counterpoint]

Re: US Petroleum Holdings

Hi JakNife
Andrew Titley signed US PH documentation sent to me. The profile you found was interesting. Is it all true?

Cheers

Counterpoint

[Counterpoint]

RE: US Petroleum Holdings

Hi JakNife,
Sorry I forgot abot Janet Carriger, the Co Secretary. She was mentioned by the "salesman" at Regency EC in Dubai. I traced her in Las Vegas (via net search) whilst attempting to confirm existence of USPH in same city. Her involvement in her other "business" was what finally rang the alarm bells - see "budgetcorporaterenewals.com".
Hope that's of use.
Counterpoint

[Glooch]

I too have been contacted by Regency offering me a fantastic offer of shares in US Petroluem Holdings at $3.15. The well spoken lady with a american accent introduced herself as Laura Gates ( not sure if it was Bill's wife doing a bit of moonlighting ). She told me I could invest in USPH and would make an incredible return when the company went public in mid December. She anticipated the shares would be worth $13 and I would cash in.
She gave me their website and guest password and login details as well as that of Regency.
I quizzed her relentlessly and she seemed to have all of the answers to deflect my sceptism.
I checked out the websites and found them worryingly lacking in detail. The members area was quite frankly no different to the main pages. When she called me back several days later she was full of how the price of oil had risen and that she was projecting great things for my potential investment. I told her about the websites and how I thought my 13 year old son could have produced them. She again seemed to have all of the answers but I played along. Just for fun I asked her what sort of investment she was offering. 3 options, 25,000 shares, 10,000 shares and 5,000 shares. But I could go back after this initial offer and buy as many as I liked.
She then started on the hard sell, asking me what name I'd like on the share certificates, why not put them in your wifes name as a gift, what a great Christmas present they would be etc etc. She even paused in mid conversation to speak to a colleague who told her that an investor had just bought 63,000 shares, all so that I could hear. It was great theatre. She also asked a colleague what time her flight was the next day to meet USPH. It was a great act.
Eventually getting bored I told her I wouldn't be investing. She then gave me another password for the websites saying she'd checked and all of the missing financial info for USPH was now back up and running.
I must have told her four or five times that I wouldn't be investing but as the true professional she was she kept on and said when she phoned me back we would talk some more. I told her that was it and she eventually and reluctantly said farewell.
I'm not surprised people fall for these type of scams as unlike some other messages I've read about the sales staff, she was good, but not good enough.
I think the old addage that if it appears too good to be true, then its probably is, applies here.

[gerrard]

Hi,

I've recently been contacted by a London based firm by the name "Matheson Lloyd" (www.mathesonlloyd.com), and they pushed "USPH" as a very good investment. Initially they informed me that they were "limited" to selling only 5000 shares (at a price of $3.15), due to the high demand. When i stated that i wasn't interested they said as a "special" favour they could in fact sell me 16000 at the same price. They pushed the hard sell tactic and informed me that the shares will go on the market in mid Nov at a minimum price of $6, but potentially as high as $12 per share. After further investigation it seems "Matheson Lloyd" are doing the same as "Regency", but still i might as well waste there time and mess them around for a while!

[Top Prat]

I have actually invested alot of money in US Petroleum Holdings and feel that I have been a prat in parting with such a large sum, with the hope to get rich!
Reading the posted messages,I presume this is definately a boiler room scam. I had been dreading this day.Can anyone confirm this 100%.

[Notsodaft]

I have just received 2 very pushy phone calls from a well rehearsed and educated man allegedly calling from Bahrain and his 'advisory' company called Regency Advisory Group. He is trying to sell me stock options in US Petroleum Holdings so I did a little Internet digging after I managed to get away from his sales patter (very convincing stuff but also a little to pushy, I might add!) and came up with your website and joined the forum. I have some more information below which I gleaned from the Regency Advisory Group website:
Address:
Almoayyed Tower, 21st Floor
Seef District
P.O. Box 18259, Manama
Kingdom of Bahrain

Telephone: +973 17 566 702

Fax: +973 17 566 710

Address:
Rectangle 1D, D-4
District Centre, Saket 110 019
New Delhi India

Telephone: +91 11 4051 4210

Fax: +91 11 4051 4211


Email: infod@regencyag.com

BEWARE! This is definitely a scam and do not under any circumstances part with your money. As mentioned before in your forum, US Petroleum Holdings and Regency Advisory Group are UNREGULATED by US, UK and other reputable Financial regulatory bodies.

[benstack]

same as notsodaft. an hour ago had long conversation with Edga ? j Tirney from Bahrain quoting Regencyag.com trying very hard to sell shares in us petroleum holdings, was very persistent and kept persevering in spite of me taking the p**s When I eventually told him I wasn't interested in his scam he continued to keep tryng. After about 15 mins I put the phone down

[beliver]

I guess I fit the profile Male over 50. I was contacted by Regency 3 days ago attempting to get me to invest in a breaking deal investing in a company that buys up old oil reserves. The company has a method of making the old reserves profitable produces once again. Very smooth operator “Dale”. I decline his offer of giving me the opportunity of making a lot of money.
Dale called once again to see if I really wanted to miss out on the opportunity of making a lot of money. I declined his persistent offer. I then started to look into the company on the net and lo and behold I found Scam .com. Lucky escape!!

[ziczac]

Just had my phone call today from RegencyAG and have to say the sales lady (Victoria Andreas) was very plausible. I looked at both web sites and was uncomfortable with the lack of detail. I was told the shares, for US Petroleum Holdings, would be offered at $3.15 and would quickly rise to $9. I guess I am also within the target audience as I am over 50. I had a quick search using scam and Regency and found this site. Thank you for all the great detail. I am expecting her to ring tomorrow. I am sure we are going to have a very interesting conversation.

[empera]

I too have been contacted by RAG today offering me the opportunity to invest in USPH at $3.15/share with an expected minimum share price of $12.00 upon floatation in Q4. Very professional adviser Sarah Martins, not pushy and alsmost convincing but as one of the previous commentators has stated 'if it sounds too good to be true it probably is'...........my motto. I undertook the internet investigation and came across SCAM.COM. Thank you all for confirming my suspicions. I have asked for the contract to be sent to me however at least it ensures that some of their time and effort goes to waste. Sarah is ringing me tomorrow..........I can hardly wait.

[JakNife]

empera,

Could you post the bank details that are contained in the contract please, their bank can then be alerted to the scamsters actions.

JakNife

[beliver]

Hi Jaknife
It seems regency sales team also read your comments. I was contacted by one again today and when I reiterated that I was not interested and said that the company had attracted some adverse publicity he mentioned your name. What fame!!

[empera]

JakNife,

Bank details are as follows:-

Name: Washington Mutual
Location: US Hwy 19, Holiday, FL. USA
Routing No. 267084131
Swift no. WMSBUS66
Account no. 1810422434
Account name Equinox Escrow3

Futher information. The letter head has US Petroleum Holdings with an address stating:-

Kennedy & Company
410 Park Avenue, 15th Floor
New York, NY10022
Phone (212) 231-8517
Fax (212) 918-1597

[JakNife]

beliver,

Please pass on my warmest regards to the thieves that Regency (www.regencyag.com) employ as a "sales team" to steal money from honest hard-working people.

JakNife

[JakNife]

The FT also have an article on this scam:


No rush for gushers
The latest investment to be touted in cold calls to Britain is Texas oil wells.

A reader reports that he lifted the receiver to hear the sultry tones of “Tracy” trying to persuade him to get straight into oil.

Calling – she said – as a consultant for Regency Equipment Consulting, a part of regency.ag.com, Tracy offered direct stakes in six oil wells through uspetroleumholdings.com. The minimum investment was a cool $70,000 (£36,000).

Apart from its homepage, the contents of the the US website – including the contact information – are only available to registered “members”, while the Regency website does not appear to exist and the company cannot be traced.

The telephone number Tracy gave for herself did not work. Regency Equipment Consulting is not registered with the Financial Services Authority as it must be to make calls legally.

from: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1974b19e-d...b5df10621.html

[Keith Grocott]

Originally Posted by JakNife

I've been digging deeper and there's another boiler room also promoting the shares of US Petroleum Holdings (www.uspetroleumholdings.com).

A check on Google:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=1...holdings&meta=

shows that the boiler room Guardian Worldwide (www.guardian-worldwide.com) is also promoting US Petroleum Holdings.

JakNife

I have recieved a contract note etc from US PH via a contact with Guardian "Micheal" and "A Scottish guy" I have not signed anything meerly expresed an interest. Do I just dump the "Contract Note?"

[JakNife]

Hi Keith,

No!

Send it to the FSA:

25 The North Colonnade,
Canary Wharf,
London E14 5HS

If you get called by another boiler room then you can use this online form to report them to the FSA:

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/Doing/Re...rts/form.shtml

And if you want to find out more on boiler rooms then there's an FAQ here:

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=10212932

[empera]

Guys,

I have been in touch with the FSA and provided them with all required details from the contract I was sent by USPH. Namely address, tel and fax nos. along with all bank details. I was told they would be investigating. It was also confirmed that RegencyAG are not a regulated company.

[Notsodaft]

I am still getting persistant calls from Regency. Despite me telling them that I am not interested in any of their 'investment opportunities' they continued to presssurise.
There is one way in which you can all disuade them though. These are my tips:
1. Emphasise that you rent a flat
2. You do not have a pension fund
3. You are a blue collar worker in a factory or shop
4. Don't know what they are talking about

They are only concerned with people who have plenty of money and can afford to lose some.

[jackthewiser]

I had a phone call last nite from a Andrew Bolden of Regency AC offering me to buy stock of US Petroleum Holdings at an IPO of $3.15 They are due to be floated soon and would easily fetch $8 + He had strong american accent and gave me website for USPH with logon id & password to look at . However, this logon id was only valid for the day. He asked a lot of questions as to what I do for living and have I invested in stocks & shares and if I do this thru a broker, etc, etc. I told him I will have a look at the site and think about any investment prospect. He said he will call me again tonite - let him as he is paying for the phone call. I am never keen when people phone me to sell something but as a curiosity I did some web search and found scam.com to see all these experiences.

[nemo2002]

Many thanks to the contributors to this thread. Last Friday I was contactacted, as so many have been, by the smooth talking, answer for every question scammers at Regency AG offering US Petroeum IPO shares. I got Keith McCain a fast talking American, who explained everything and answered all the usual questions many raised from this thread, as I was reading from Scam.com. He had me on the 'phone for 20 minutes and told me he would 'phone back today. Despite the fact I had also checked them out, and reported them to the FSA, his first words were 'I'm glad you raised that.' Very confident, so I hung up. 5 minutes later he rang back, I couldn't say what was on my mind as my children were in the room, but I think he got the point. Yes I am in their target group, ecxcept for being broke at the moment.

[JakNife]

Apparently Regency (www.regencyag.com) have changed their name and are now cold-calling under the name Crown Fidelity. Has anyone else been called by Crown Fidelity (www.crown-fidelity.com)?

[Foolx1]

I cannot believe I have just parted with my cash and invested in US Petroleum holdings as advised by Regency Advisory Group having just read all of this!

I was first approached in september but was very suspicious and ended up hanging the phone up on a very persistent sales women who appeared very unprofessional. I gogled the company and regencey at that time and did not find anything particularly suspicious however I didnt like the fact they werent regulated or the look of the website on USPH.

2 months later and I was called again by a different rep apologising for her colleague and claiming to be more senior and certainly had better responses to my questions. This time I was short of time, leaving for holiday, obviously vulnerable and told I could invest far smaller sums. I stupidly thought maybe it was worht a flutter and perhaps I was being too sceptical given my nature. I did not have time to re-google unfortunately or I may have come across this thread.

I have parted with cash to an escrow account at washington mutual but have not received any certificates yet despite haveing returned ffrom hols. I became suspicious following a call today from the Cheif Trading Officer (CTO) of regency taking a personal interest in me and my investment objectives. It was a very slick pitch but made me more suspicious and hence I did a search and found this. I feel sick!

If anyone has any advise on recovering this money or is int he same situation i would love to hear from you.

Everyone else - BE WARNED. I have also regsitered it with the FSA now.

[Cyberdosh]

Hi folks,
I'm normally a casual reader here but have decided to bite the bullet and post. I've been doing a little bit of research into how these people select the telephone numbers and have spotted what I think could be a link.
Does anyone you know who has been targetted submit letters to online newspapers? Or, of anyone you know who does submit and use their initials, surname, town and country as their signature, have they been targetted?
It's just a thought.

Most recent:
Lady called herself Monica, claimed to be from Bahrain and gave a Bahrain contact number that we didn't try phoning.
Minimum investment requested - 3000 shares at 3.15 to make 8 by time they are available in January 2008

Will be very interested to hear if anyone else has spotted any coincidences regarding who is chosen for the calls.

[JakNife]

Foolx1,

People do get their money back but you need to act quickly:

1. Go to your bank and tell them that you've been the subject of a boiler room fraud and ask them to try to recover the funds. Be polite but firm and don't accept "no" as an answer until you've spoken to someone who knows what they're doing - people have recovered their funds up to two weeks after paying.

2. Contact USPH and ask them for a refund, find out who their lawyer is (is it on the docs?) and contact them directly, explain to the lawyer that the approach was from an illegal boiler room.

3. Contact the FSA and your local fraud police.

4. Write to one of the main newspapers, eg Tony Hetherington in the Mail on Sunday frequently writes about boiler-room scams.

If you want the money back you basically have to work damn hard, people have written positive stories over here:

http://www.boiler-rooms.co.uk/secureforum/default.asp

for example, where they've got their money back, albeit after being very persistent.

JakNife

[tonymacaroni]

Hi all,
I too have been contacted by "Matheson Lloyd" wanting to flog me some at $ 3.15 and they say the company will be offering a very special dividend in Dec and will be listed on th AMEX during the 1st quarter of next year. They say the div yield will be about 7% for the year! and they haven't yet pumped any of that oil out! Sounds bloody good....

When they do eventually come to the market i wonder what the opening price will be? $1 or 50c or less? The only people making the money are the rogue investment houses marking the price up buy 1000%

Have a look at this scam that was similar to this one

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp...864&sort=whole

If you think the oil company sounds good might be best to buy when it is listed at least you wont be ripped off.

[JakNife]

Tony,

Is this "Matheson Lloyd"?

www.mathesonlloyd.com

JakNife

[contech]

I have just been contacted by another mutation of Regency, called Guardian. Same pitch on US Petroleum Holdings, except the 'float' is now scheduled for Q1 08.

[contech]

Hi JakNife

Originally Posted by JakNife

empera,

Could you post the bank details that are contained in the contract please, their bank can then be alerted to the scamsters actions.

JakNife

Is it worth always pretending to go along with these scams in order to get a contract note from them with their bank details? Can regulators then act quickly to close down accounts? It would be nice to think we could collectively make life as difficult as possible for these vipers - hey, they might even be forced to get an honest job like the rest of us.

Jonathan

[JakNife]

Absolutely contech!

[tonymacaroni]

Hi jaknife, yes i believe it was although i didn't look at their web site at first, they weren't that pushy like some are. My guess is that they have bought what was left over from regency.

[Skizz]

Just had a call from Monica at Regency. Thanks guys for putting in the good work to warn me. But I'm sad that I've been put on the "Gullible old fart" list:cry:.

[Counterpoint]

COUNTERPOINT

Hi Texas 402
There are so many negative messages on this board re USPH that I am anxious to know more about your positive experiences. Did you buy USPH stock? If so have you received any further info from them. Without further information I am suspicious about your contribution.

[empera]

Hi guys.

Things seemed to have moved on a bit since my last entry, having kicked Carla Martins (Regency AG) into touch, after the 5th phone call approx. 3 weeks ago. Just to recap........at that time she was telling me that the shares would be listed on the NASDAQ in the middle of December. No doubt they have not yet reached their target and have moved the goalposts eh?

Be carefel out there!

emp.

[Aussie Pom]

you mention that Regency may now be trading as crown-fidelity, any other experience of that?

i have been contacted by them about a soon to be listed America "superbrand" at very attractive prices, preferential listing and all that,

the web site for crown-fidelity is very basic, no e-mail addresses, limited 0800 contact details from Switzerland

unwilling to provide e-mail as a means of correspondence,

must say sounds a little fishy to say the least

AussiePom

[Notsodaft]

Dear Aussue Pom,

You are right to be wary! Do NOT in any circumstances follow this through. These scumbags are after your hard earned cash and have no scruples. If they phone again, try to get as much info from them as possible (contact phone numbers, addresses, their bank details etc) before putting the phone down. Then post it on this website. It has worked well so far for me and is a great help to others less fortunate in the gullible stakes.