After a few weeks when not a lot happens, you are suddenly contacted by Edward Chandler (Ed) who says Charles has other things to take care of, and he takes over now.
Ed is convincing with his experience on the phone and says he’s brief but direct. He has many clients, but will take the time to explain me as a new customer everything in detail.
So the actual story goes like this:
There is a small company in Hong Kong called ABE Technology which does some of the known AI stuff for medical purposes, like finding tumors on x-ray pictures. This company is public, and their shares are the target of a takeover by a larger (US) company, who has addressed Ed for help to get the majority of shares. So a (hostile) takeover is planned, but the US company can’t be bothered with getting the shares together, but will pay a fixed price per share once Derwent Investments has secured the majority of shares.
So from Ed’s perspective (who says he has been working on the deal in the background for a while and has now finally received the signed contract) it’s a 100% secure deal ensuring over a return of over 300%!
Your initial reaction will certainly be something like: “Are you kidding me? That’s way too good to be true!”
And his response then will be: “Welcome to the world of institutional investments, where you have been chosen to participate so that not the same old greedy guys get everything this time”
And when you say: “If this is true and so secure, why don’t you do this yourself or your friends and family?”
his response is “That would be insider trading and I can’t do that as broker. I’m happy with my 1% of the total deal. That’s good money for me.”
So you are left wondering, but know you don’t have much time to decide.
Others (there are supposed to be 24 participants in this) are awaiting your decision to move forward. And they all have existing trading accounts where the money (made in past deals) is readily available…