The hallway is narrow and hot but dozens of people wait desperately outside the door of the Al Ufuq investment company in the Jordanian capital Amman. When an employee of the company steps out of the elevator they jump up. “I need my money, 5,000 Dinar. It is for medicines for my daughter,” one man pleads, with tears in his eyes.

The aftershocks of the global financial crisis have exposed what the authorities say is a large-scale financial scam. Dozens of companies, including Al Ufuq, which set themselves up to trade in foreign stocks and currencies have been closed by the government and have had their assets frozen as the credit crunch appears to have exposed widespread embezzlement.