How to Spot Scams!

Minimise the risk of losing your savings to scams by recognising the different types of illegal investment schemes that are plaguing our society. Here are some typical characteristics and promises made by scams:

-For every investment that you make, you will receive a high return, for instance, 20-30% per month, every month.

-You are not shown the so-called quality product you are allegedly selling, but you will get paid for every person you recruit or sign up.

-You are told that the offer is for a limited time and that you MUST join or buy today.

-You are told to send money to some foreign banks in foreign currency to claim a prize but you do not remember entering into any contest or lucky draws.

-You receive unsolicited phone calls offering investment opportunities and you have no idea how the company has obtained your phone number.

-You receive unsolicited e-mails asking you for your bank account number because they want to send you money, usually millions of US dollars, from some foreign countries. This is, strictly speaking, not an investment scam, but is still a scam, and a popular one.

-You are offered an investment product that guarantees large profits with no financial risk.

-You are asked to invest in an investment scheme. The address and contact information of the investment company offering you big money is located in a foreign country where you cannot verify its physical location.

-You are offered a “free gift” in order to get something later, for example, a larger amount of money.

-You are offered job opportunities with high pay without any need for relevant experience or academic qualifications.

-You are approached by someone who claims to be an agent for foreign trading houses (e.g. based in Macau, Bahamas, British Virgin islands etc) to trade in foreign indices (e.g. Hang Seng index), commodities (e.g. coffee) or forex (e.g. US$, Yen etc) but you need to deposit some money as a “margin” in some foreign currency before a trade can be executed.

It is hard to find any information about the company’s licence or physical existence in any regulator or authority’s website.
If you are faced with any of the above situation, what should you do to protect yourself?