How to identify an investment scam

[Value Collector]

Know the feeling, but suicide is not a correct response, as it is irrevocable.
L]

+1

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Losing money is a terrible feeling, it can be gut wrenching, but the pain does go away. The best thing you can do is try to learn as much as you can and report them to the authorities. You will get over this i promise you, please dont do anything rash, the sun will come up tomorrow, your family will still love you, and all life's simple pleasures will still be available.

 

[burglar]

+1

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Losing money is a terrible feeling, it can be gut wrenching, but the pain does go away. The best thing you can do is try to learn as much as you can and report them to the authorities. You will get over this i promise you, please dont do anything rash, the sun will come up tomorrow, your family will still love you, and all life's simple pleasures will still be available.

You say it so much better than me!
I hope he listens!!!

 

[luutzu]

+1

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Losing money is a terrible feeling, it can be gut wrenching, but the pain does go away. The best thing you can do is try to learn as much as you can and report them to the authorities. You will get over this i promise you, please dont do anything rash, the sun will come up tomorrow, your family will still love you, and all life's simple pleasures will still be available.

Yes, don't lose any more than what you already has.

In the end, it's only money.
Money lost can be found again;

Anger and sadness will soon turn to laughter and wisdom;
The dead can never be brought back to life.
[I just ripped off Sun Tzu, haha]

Trust me, your loved ones will not be as harsh on you as you already are on yourself.

 

[ROE]

Hi All, I write this with great pain and the lack of intelligence, I have subscribed to two not 1 investment packages from A Company called One Wealth (2x $19,500.00) and feel almost no not almost I FEEL SICK and stupid after reading the threads on this company. Can anyone help ? does ASIC know about them? Has ACA been notified ? Feeling Stupid, Suicidal, Agro and wanting Revenge. Jethro

Dont do anything that you will regret, our system is fairly weak dealing with scammers once you got scammed
prevention is the best medicine

Just cop it on the chin and write off as a very expensive lesson and take steps so you dont repeat the same mistakes or fall for the same sale pitch ...education is a powerful weapons against the scammers so take time and learn a bit about money and risk/return in general, money management is fair simple .... just take a bit of time and a bit of effort to educating yourself.

Plenty of people on this forum can answer most of your general money questions so all you have to do is ask or search existing topics.

If you doing it right that money can be recovered through better future return, with time and looking back it maybe the best things that happened to you as it wake you up and put you on the right path.

 

[Cruzer]

Hi All, I write this with great pain and the lack of intelligence, I have subscribed to two not 1 investment packages from A Company called One Wealth (2x $19,500.00) and feel almost no not almost I FEEL SICK and stupid after reading the threads on this company. Can anyone help ? does ASIC know about them? Has ACA been notified ? Feeling Stupid, Suicidal, Agro and wanting Revenge. Jethro

Hi All, I write this with great pain and the lack of intelligence, I have subscribed to two not 1 investment packages from A Company called One Wealth (2x $19,500.00) and feel almost no not almost I FEEL SICK and stupid after reading the threads on this company. Can anyone help ? does ASIC know about them? Has ACA been notified ? Feeling Stupid, Suicidal, Agro and wanting Revenge. Jethro

Hi Jethro, I am a relative newbie to this forum site, but not a newbie to 'life' so I've witnessed a few highs and lows over the years. 'Time' is the greatest healer following events like this so let the dust settle and in weeks or months to come you will merely look back on this miserable occurrence as another one of life's curve balls; but hang in there as you will bounce back stronger and wiser.

I don't know anything about the organisation you are referring to but I'm assuming this was a type of 'black box' software or subscription service? Many people are scammed on a daily basis and I've been the victim of a few ranging from credit card skimming to broker collapses which I incurred fairly substantial losses from so I empathize with the anger and frustration you feel. There are processes you can follow to attempt recovery and organisations which may be able to help you but you must focus firstly on your mindset and then tackle things methodically one step at a time.

I can direct you to some sources of assistance if you want? You are not the first to feel scammed and you won't be the last so don't curse yourself; things will get better once you get over the initial shock and there may be avenues open for a partial or full recovery?

 

[dutchie]

 

[kriskros]

Hi All, I write this with great pain and the lack of intelligence, I have subscribed to two not 1 investment packages from A Company called One Wealth (2x $19,500.00) and feel almost no not almost I FEEL SICK and stupid after reading the threads on this company. Can anyone help ? does ASIC know about them? Has ACA been notified ? Feeling Stupid, Suicidal, Agro and wanting Revenge. Jethro

Jethro, the people who run One Wealth are called API Associates. Here is the info.

http://newsfromatlantis.freeforums.org/api-associates-is-a-scam-company-t3193.html

 

[Joe Blow]

I have managed to obtain the telemarketer/sales spiel used by an investment scam company from a contact and am attaching it to this post as a PDF file.

If you are dealing with a company who is using a similar approach to the one in the PDF then cease dealing with them immediately.

 

[Joe Blow]

I have attached ASIC's Anti-hawking guidelines to this post.

Under the Corporations Act, a person must not offer financial products for issue or sale in the course of, or because of, an unsolicited meeting or telephone call. An offer includes inviting an application for their issue or sale. An offeror includes issuers and sellers of financial products, as well as their agents and representatives.

Investment scam companies usually ignore these kind of guidelines, so it's good to be aware of them.

A breach of the hawking prohibitions is a criminal offence. The maximum penalties are:

(a) a fine of $2750 for an individual or $13,750 for a body corporate;
(b) 6 months gaol; or
(c) both.

The consumer may also have a right to:
(a) return the product; or
(b) undertake civil proceedings against the offeror

If a company you are dealing with has breached these guidelines, please report them here: https://www.edge.asic.gov.au/008/co...ails/t=a1e0bcc8e12ced7af0615edfe187153ae92cbf

 

[drillinto]

One book to read:"The money miners - The great Australian mining boom" by Trevor Sykes; Allen & Unwin; 1995.

This is a story of greed, a story of those who were more interested in mining money rather than minerals.

 

[Joe Blow]

A useful article on forex and commodity scams/fraud: http://www.forexfraud.com/forex-scam.html

 

[Joe Blow]

Great article about cold-call investment fraud: https://www.police.qld.gov.au/online/Documents/ColdCallInvestmentFraud.pdf

 

[Kerti]

Hi

Do you mind sharing the name of the institute where u did your diploma course in share trading.

I have a similar senerio that fits my experience to. I have entered my details on a website to do a share trading course and I just got one call and few emails about the course and their trading strategies. VET FEE help also available to do the course but not sure if it's worth the money investing on the course. For a diploma in share trading it costs around $11,500.

I m currently looking to educate myself on share trading and understanding the strategies, psychology dealing, money management. Unable to decide if I need an institute to help me understand trading or self education and research is enough. The depth of the share market is infinite so just hanging loose where to start.

Thanks
Kerti

Great post!!

I agree to most but to some degree its not all bad for a website to ask for your contact details , I did a Diploma in financial Planning and when I was looking I put my name and phone number into a website to get some information and got a call the next day, I was sceptical at first but went ahead after numerous calls from their "sales guys", had never done an online course before but worked out great and exactly what I was looking for.

I also did a Diploma in share trading and investment and again put my details on their website and got a call from their guys, they were genuine and no pressure, you either want to educate yourself or not and they give you the details, send you the info leave it to you to make the decision, I too done my research and found barely any bad feedback, confirmed their credentials and went ahead.

I've read so many stories about people getting ripped off by not doing the proper research and these virtual offices and companies with no FSL's are tell tail signs, but I found the 2 Diplomas I have done great.

The best decision I made was doing the Diploma of share trading and investment, it's giving me structure and now I trade full time and this all started from putting my details down on their website, I guess since they are both Diploma's they are and RTO's and are a recognised qualification by the government.

So from my experience getting called from online courses that ask for your mobile number and details aren't all bad, after all its only a phone call what do you have to lose, just don't be naïve and make a decision on the spot .

You just need to do your research and check for some of the obvious things stated in the post.

I have found share trading to be exactly what I want to do, its taken a few years to get to the stage I can trade fulltime, education is the key, now I don't have t fight the traffic everyday like most and have more time to enjoy life.

We all have to start somewhere, just be smart, and what seems to good to be true usually is.


Happy Trading everyone!!

 

[elbee]

Hi

Do you mind sharing the name of the institute where u did your diploma course in share trading.

I think you will find that "Gregfinney" is a scammer.

 

[RT14]

Hi All, I write this with great pain and the lack of intelligence, I have subscribed to two not 1 investment packages from A Company called One Wealth (2x $19,500.00) and feel almost no not almost I FEEL SICK and stupid after reading the threads on this company. Can anyone help ? does ASIC know about them? Has ACA been notified ? Feeling Stupid, Suicidal, Agro and wanting Revenge. Jethro

Go through the regulator. Enough of us former clients did and looky kooky here, it took a while however for the good of everyone, we won:

http://www.search.asic.gov.au/cgi-bin/gns030c?acn=009247214&juris=9&hdtext=ACN&srchsrc=1

 

[ConnorLockington]

Excellent analysis joe !!!
I have also gone through the links that you have mentioned....

 

[SirRumpole]

The latest Bitcoin scam.

Amazing how seemingly intelligent people are still sucked in by this stuff.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07...teals-thousands-from-canberra-couple/11271742

 

[basilio]

The latest Bitcoin scam.

Amazing how seemingly intelligent people are still sucked in by this stuff.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07...teals-thousands-from-canberra-couple/11271742

Clever little scam isn't it ? Actually paid money back to people long enough to keep them hooked and prepared to throw in more.
It reminds of a similar very successful ponzi scheme back in the mid 200o's called PIPS (People in Profit system) . Again very convincing. I watched a number of friends become convinced they were onto the Holy Grail
There are plenty of people who have been sucked into these schemes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ponzi_schemes

 

[SirRumpole]

Clever little scam isn't it ? Actually paid money back to people long enough to keep them hooked and prepared to throw in more.
It reminds of a similar very successful ponzi scheme back in the mid 200o's called PIPS (People in Profit system) . Again very convincing. I watched a number of friends become convinced they were onto the Holy Grail
There are plenty of people who have been sucked into these schemes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ponzi_schemes

They have been going since the 1800's !

I thought they were a modern invention.

 

[Joe Blow]

The latest Bitcoin scam.

Amazing how seemingly intelligent people are still sucked in by this stuff.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07...teals-thousands-from-canberra-couple/11271742

These scammers tried to swindle ASF visitors but were exposed instead: https://www.aussiestockforums.com/threads/good-forex-bitcoin-broker.34057