Investment Scam ………. Beware !!!

What comes in our mind when we hear the word INVESTMENT? Of course, saving our money with the intention of earning better returns. But imagine that you invest your money in thousands or lakhs in a company and after some months you come to know that your money is disappeared with the company…….. !!

Guys, imagine tomorrow morning when you wake up, you get a call from some telemarketing company with a beautiful voice pleading and influencing you to invest your money in their company and you get so influenced with the talk between you both that you invest your hard work money in their company. You get monthly returns in proper manner and after some years you stop getting returns and the firm does not exist…… AB KYA KARE …DOOB GAYE PAISE… GAYE PAISE AUR MEHNAT PAANI ME!! Remember PHIR HERAPHERI scene???

Investing is a long journey filled with twists and turns before you reach your destination. This path is often littered with traps designed to catch unwary investors.

New types of investment scams appear every day. You can be approached over the phone, in person, through a spam email, or through Internet web pages. If an investment you’re interested in raises any of the red flags below – STOP! This might be an investment scam.

World has a crowd of such fraudsters and we have to protect ourselves as well as our money. After some years we are actually going to keep our baby steps in the real market and step out of protective shell of our college and family. We are going to earn our own money and save it for our future so guys don’t you think that we should create that protective layer around our money. What are the kinds of investment scams?? How people fall prey of such fraudsters???  Let’s have a look!

Basically there are around 10 types of scams but here I am highlighting the top 5 methods through which you can easily lose your money..!!

1. AFFINITY SCAM: – Affinity fraud targets groups, such as social clubs and ethnic or religious communities. The scam artist plays on our instinct to trust those who are like us. In some cases, the scam artist may be an established member of the group. In other cases, they may build relationships with influential members of the group in order to gain acceptance.
2. HOUSE PROPERTY SCAM: – The criminals search websites that list homes for sale. They take the information in those ads—lock, stock, and barrel—and post it, with their own e-mail address, in an ad on Craigslist (without Craigslist’s consent or knowledge) under the housing rentals category. To sweeten the pot, the houses are almost always listed with below-market rental rates.

An interested party will contact the “homeowner” via e-mail, who usually explains that he or she had to leave the U.S. quickly because of some missionary or contract work in Africa. Victims are usually instructed to send money overseas—enough to cover the first and last month’s rent—via a wire transfer service (because the crooks know it can’t be traced once it gets picked up on the other end). 

Renters might sometimes be asked to fill out credit applications asking for personal information like credit history, social security numbers, and work history. The Nigerian crooks can then use this info to commit identity fraud and steal even more money from their victims.

3. PONZI SCHEMES: – In these schemes they Promise High Rates of Return, Little or No Risk. They use money from new investors and pay earlier investors. And when they are unable to pay the m money firm is closed.
4. PYRAMID SCHEMES: – Unsustainable business model primarily of enrolling other people into the scheme, rather than supplying any real investment or sale of products and services to the public.

5. HIGH YEILD INVESTMENT SCHEMES:- Promise Double or Triple-Digit Returns Through Access to “Risk Free Guaranteed High-Yield Instruments” . These are Prime Bank Schemes. Also called as “Secret Off-Shore Trading Programs”.

According to the study it was observed that these fraudsters target high earning people. Around 65% of the targets were DOCTORS, LAWYERS AND SOME PROFESSIONALS. Just imagine if such well experienced people can be the target.. TOH HUM KIS KHET KI MULI HE YAAR!!! .So let’s see what can be the precautions taken to avoid such frauds:-

• Ask Questions – Be An Informed Investor
• Don’t Be Afraid To Hang Up The Phone
• Monitor Your Investments – Always Stay In Charge Of Your Money
• Get Everything In Writing And Keep A Copy Of All Documents
• Risk No More Than You Can Afford To Lose
• If You Don’t Understand The Investment – Avoid It!!!

Remember guys everyone here is TARGET…… SAWADHAN!!!!!

BY SAYALI MOKAL