Investment fraud
What is an investment fraud?
Investment fraud is when you move your money into a fund that later turns out to be fake.
You may be targeted by cold callers or presented with fake investment opportunities promoted on search engines and social media. Often you will be pressured to act quickly. You may also be asked to provide your personal details to arrange a call back.
Often these may seem genuine because of testimonies or celebrity endorsement, claiming they have received large profits. In reality these claims are false.
Criminals often set up fake websites claiming to be a legitimate investment firms. They may even send out paperwork with official branding to further support their scam. You may also receive an initial payment or even a couple of payments with “returns” on your investment to convince you to invest larger sums of money.
Criminals spend hours researching you for their scams and may provide you with details of previous investments and shares you hold.
These scams include convincing you to invest in markets such as:
- gold
- property
- carbon
- cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin
- wine
Criminals may get in touch claiming to be financial advisers. They may ask you to download a screen- software so they can make investments on your behalf. By downloading the software, they gain access to your financial information.
How to spot investment fraud:
- You see social media adverts, sometimes celebrity endorsed, offering high returns on investments.
- You’re contacted out of the blue by phone, email or social media about an investment opportunity.
- You may be offered a high return on your investment with apparently little or no risk.
- You’re told the investment opportunity is exclusive to you.
- For some types of investment, you’re pressurised into deciding with no time for consideration.