Ex-Civica and SoftwareONE man part of pair who conned ‘innocent and vulnerable’ people
A former Civica and SoftwareONE employee has been jailed for his part in conning £1.2m from “innocent and vulnerable” people as part of a boiler-room fraud.
Mark Sisson was a key account manager at Civica for a short time in 2011 and according to his LinkedIn page was a global accounts manager at SoftwareONE from January 2012 to date.
He was jailed last month for two years for one count of fraud by false representation. The offences took place between 2007 and 2010 – before his stint at either reseller. His trial took place last December and he was jailed in January.
Sisson, along with fellow fraudster Alexander Pratt, who was also sentenced to two years in prison for two counts of fraud, ran a fraudulent investment firm in Madrid, with Sisson managing the boiler room and Pratt selling shares in fictitious energy firms at “hugely inflated prices”.
The duo flogged S-Reg shares – restricted stocks which often do not allow the buyer to sell the stock for a certain period of time – to about 30 “unsuspecting victims”, often the elderly and vulnerable. One victim was conned out of their entire life savings of nearly £140,000.
“The fraudsters led the victims to believe the shares were worth much more and sent out glossy brochures and share certificates in the post to try to authenticate and reassure the victims that they had invested in a worthwhile business,” City of London Police said.
“However, the shares were effectively worthless and often valued at less than one per cent of the purchased value. In addition, the victims were not informed about the high legal fees they would incur if they chose to sell the shares on, which often cost more than the initial investment.”
The duo used false names to hide their identities and Sisson personally recruited new staff to work in the boiler room, even going so far as to book their flights to the operation’s Spanish location.
Detective superintendent Maria Woodall of City of London Police said: “These fraudsters deliberately targeted innocent and vulnerable people and misled them to believe they were making worthwhile investments in shares that were effectively worthless.”
Sisson was arrested in August 2010 and was charged in April 2013.
In a statement Civica said: “Mark Sisson was employed only for a very short period from 24 October 2011 to 31 December 2011, which was ended by the company as he failed to pass our standard three-month probation. The company is committed to a level of high integrity and does not condone criminal behaviour. We are unable to provide further comment as Mark Sisson was not employed by the company at the time.”
SoftwareOne said: “SoftwareONE can confirm that they did not have any knowledge of the situation regarding Mark Sisson’s conviction. It was first brought to the company’s attention on 21 January 2015, upon which immediate action was taken as necessary to ensure there was no impact or risk to its customers, partners and the company as a whole. Mark’s employment with SoftwareONE was terminated with immediate effect in line with our corporate governance and code of conduct.”
http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/2394781/ex-var-salesman-jailed-for-gbp12m-boiler-room-fraud