Fraudsters have called up shareholders in the Guernsey-based company - and offered to buy them out at eight times market price.
Investors in JZ Capital Partners have been subjected to an identity theft scam, the Guardian reports.
The shareholders of the Guernsey-based group have been cold-called over the past week, and offered £16 for each share. The attractive offer came about, the callers claimed, due to the firm being the subject of a hostile takeover bid.
However, suspicions were roused by the large prices being offered by the fraudsters; shares in the group currently carry a market value of around £2 each. Accordingly, several contacted JZ to share their concerns - and were told that no such bid had been received, and that the callers were con artists.
JZ has now sent out a letter to all 2,000 of its shareholders, warning them of the scam and advising them to not reply to any further contact from the fraudsters. The firm also indicated that not one of the investors took the callers up on their offer.
Speaking to the newspaper, JZ chairman David Macfarlane said: "The people targeted were private individuals. I suppose the conmen thought they would be an easy touch. But it was such a crass attempt at fraud, anyone could see there was something a bit odd. As far as we know, no one fell for it."
He added: "[Fraud attempts] ha[ve] happened because lists of company shareholders are easily available these days."
