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I'd like to ask for a bit of help. In a bad moment I put a good amount of money into a supposedly broker firm.

Now we are in a situation where it happens my shares are preferred shares and they can't be sold openly on the market, I first have to convert them to normal shares. And the conversion cost of one share 20 dollars having 250 shares, I should pay 5000 dollars, then they could sell the money. Now the broker I'm having these conversation sounds extremely legit, and well studied (which a scammer can be as well) well known with the financial terms.

Now the registration, and everything seemed pretty legit, and everytime I sent them money I got back a receive of payment paper, with my account id, deal id things like that, and everytime they were consistent with the earliers. they also asked for every transaction to write there my account number, and invoice number.

I spoke with more than one person, they have an official phone line.

Do you have any idea how can I be sure that it is a legit company? they are based in Finland (previously wrote Ireland my bad).

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    are you sure it's based in Ireland? I did a quick research in their website and the offices they show are in Helsinki, Finland and Seoul, S. Korea.
    – geo1230
    Aug 31, 2017 at 15:55
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    I'm confused - did you invest in gbstone directly or buy preferred shares in another company through them?
    – D Stanley
    Aug 31, 2017 at 15:57
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    How did you find this broker in the first place?
    – Chris W. Rea
    Aug 31, 2017 at 16:29
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    You need to get a better handle on what you actually have before getting advice. What company are the preferred shares in? What are the common shares worth? How much do you have invested now? Do not send them one more cent until you fully understand what you're dealing with.
    – D Stanley
    Aug 31, 2017 at 16:32
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    It is extremely unusual and generally inadvisable for a novice investor to buy preferred stock, and I immediately distrust any company selling non-liquid stock investments - and you should too. Yes, you should be very careful and are right to distrust. It sounds like you have money in a boiler room operation, selling stock in a private company that is a shell/fake - especially if it's something like "pre-public/pre-IPO". Don't give them more money, and attempt to get any money out - and I suspect they won't actually give you any back.
    – BrianH
    Aug 31, 2017 at 17:12

4 Answers 4

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The idea that you should pay $5,000 up front to convert your shares and sell them to ultimately receive some larger amount is crazy.

If in fact the shares need to be converted (unlikely), they should be able to deduct the fees from the proceeds of your transaction, and you would not be out-of-pocket anything at all.

You didn't provide much in numbers, so I will make some up:

For example: If you have 2,000 shares valued at $10 each, your account should be worth $20,000.

If the liquidation cost is $5,000, they should be able to sell everything, deduct the liquidation cost, and send you a check for $15,000.

You should NOT have to pay money up front to get your own money, and that is a sure sign of a scam.

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GB Stone are known scammers. I don't know why "Joe Taxpayer" removed this essential information from the question.

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From what you have written, it could be a boiler room company. These operate with fancy website and have proper book keeping systems but are elaborate scams.

How did you find about this broker. If there was a seller when you purchased the shares, there is no reason you can't be seller

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Definitely, check if they are regulated by the Finnish financial regulatory board. Google FIN-FSA regulation. It can also be that they are regulated off-shore, no matter just find it out. Besides try to find the terms of you're contract, if cant find ask the broker to point out.

Wonder what will happen, following this thread

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