Did you know? In 2021, Canadians lost more than 88 Million dollars to these Investment Scams. Manitobans lost nearly $370,000!
If an investment seem too good to be true, they often are!
An Investment Scam is when a scammer uses are a range of techniques to induce investors to making an investing decision. This often includes untrue or misleading information or fictitious opportunities.
Scammers will contact victims via phone call, email, text message, or even on social media.
Some will use a technique known as affinity fraud to build a relationship in a community, and then exploit that relationship to get victims to invest in to their scheme.
These most common investment scams include opportunities in:
- gold
- gems
- offshore investments
- new forms of cryptocurrency
- franchise and business opportunities
Some red flags to watch for when making investment decisions are:
- Big promises of low risk/high return or guaranteed return investments
- Investment opportunities that come out of the blue
- High-pressure sales or attempts to have you make a quick decision
- Someone claiming to have insider information
- An unregistered trader
- Spelling mistakes or incorrect grammar in messages, emails and websites
- Offers to hide your investments from the man or to help you avoid taxes
Some of the best ways to protect yourself is to make sure to…
- Check the name of any person to sell you investments or stocks on mbsecurities.ca
- Research opportunities and investments to determine their legitimacy
- Avoid making payments using unusual payment methods such as gift cards, wire transfers or cryptocurrency
Slow down and ask a trusted individual for help. Family member or friend, lawyer, accountant or financial planner.
