Investment clubs
It follows from the previous point. There is a page for some investment club, often the club organizers are anonymous. You are given recommendations at the club, you communicate with each other. Then they offer you some super investment idea, for which you need to open a special account. But you’ve been communicating with them for a long time, fake members of the club tell you about how they have already made great money on this idea and are trying to persuade you to join. But history is silent about what happens to your money next.
What to do?
Be sure to filter incoming offers, under no circumstances be influenced by them out of emotion, and weigh everything soberly. Read the agreement again. And think about where they make money here.
Advice
Choose public clubs where the owner is a well-known person in the financial world.
Personal brand
In the era of the Internet, social networks and Youtube, many began to create their own pages, and not all of these “many” in reality are who they say they are.
Fraudsters can maintain a page for many months, talk about how they are experts in “earning money”, show the money they have “earned” and offer to join and transfer your money to them for “management”. In this case, they actually turn out to be the organizers of pyramids or just banal thieves.
What to do?
Invest only on a personal account that you open in a company with a license for such activities. A power of attorney should only be given for portfolio management, and in no case for depositing/withdrawing money. Read the agreement carefully. There is no way to transfer money to the card at all.
Withdrawal of money from the deposit is not by you
You open a bank deposit for a year, at the end you come back and they tell you that “you” already withdrew the money a month ago. It happens that such a scheme is implemented by unscrupulous bank employees, or scammers falsify your documents and introduce themselves as “you”.
What to do?
Write a claim to the bank, if they refuse, go to court.
Adviсe
- Take all documents about opening a deposit that they give, ask for a deposit agreement or other supporting document if they don’t give it.
- Your signature should not be a simple check mark or cross so that it is difficult to repeat, and the examination can accurately tell whether you signed the withdrawal documents.
- Open a deposit in a reliable bank with a strong security service.
- If you are offered to open a card for your account, agree and connect an SMS notification about the withdrawal of money, then you will receive a message.
Unit-linked or English method of investing
Investments are like investments, only the organization of investment is through an insurance policy. It is usually said that this method is suitable for those who do not know how to save, you will have a schedule according to which you need to pay regular installments.
What's the catch?
Huge commissions. Believe me, if you knew the full cost of the policy, you would be motivated to save on your own, without it. You can also withdraw money ahead of schedule with large penalties.
Why is this method so popular?
The advisor who issued you a unit-linked policy receives a large reward. There is nothing more scary than a manager motivated to sell a specific instrument.
Who is this policy suitable for?
Anyone who wants to hide money from various authorities can use this method. Now at least you understand what you are paying “horse” commissions for.
What to do?
Invest through a broker; there is no need for extra space between you and the stock market. Everything that is offered to be purchased inside the policy can be purchased outside it.
New "bitcoin"
No ordinary person understands the cryptocurrency market. What is it, how does it work, why is it. Everyone has only heard wonderful examples of “success” when someone bought Bitcoin and it grew 2000 times. No one has ever seen such people live.
There is no legal regulation in cryptocurrencies; you go there at your own peril and risk.
And it turns out that you can easily say that you created a “second Bitcoin” and soon its price will fly into the sky, but in truth, you are just a scammer and collecting money. Greed has ruined many people.
What to do?
If you don't understand, don't get involved. Advice and action guide worth a hundred million for those who want to invest in such instruments.
Shall we fly to Mars? Or pre-IPO
Stocks are pieces of a business. By buying shares, you participate in the growth of the business and its losses, and receive dividends like all shareholders. An ordinary investor can buy shares on the stock exchange through brokers.
Before going public, companies can also have shares, but you can’t just buy them. You must have a large sum and an intermediary who will help you do this.
People tend to buy shares of some companies before going public (IPO) because they expect their prices to rise rapidly. One of them is SpaceX Elon Musk’s company , which launches rockets into space.
This was a micro-educational program, and now to the essence of the fraud.
Some person claims that you can buy SpaceX shares through them before anyone else, and invites you to do it. The intermediary company is registered somewhere on the islands. You transfer money, at first they show you the profitability in your personal account, then, when Space-X enters the market, the intermediaries disappear from the radar. The same story, by the way, previously happened with the “new bitcoin” from Pavel Durov .
It has now become clear that those who invested so much through pseudo-companies will never see their money.
What to do?
Pour a glass of something strong and say goodbye to your finances if you have invested.
If you want to get involved in such a story, then you need to carefully study the intermediary’s company and the agreement, preferably with your lawyer.
Advice
If you are a beginner, avoid such investments for now. Often, in addition to the scheme itself, they are also very risky in essence.
Mavrodi died, but his work lives on
You are lured by attractive rates to the so-called MFO (microfinance organization). They take money and lend it to other people at interest. And they say that if you refer a friend, you will receive a bonus, and he, in turn, brings a friend - and you are happy participants in the pyramid. Usually, a request to return the money ends with the fact that this cannot be done until a certain date, and then it happens that the company simply ceases to exist, and its founders are on vacation somewhere in the Maldives.
What to do?
There is a depositor protection fund that you can apply to, but the refund amount is a maximum of 35 thousand rubles. If the company is still alive, you can try to intimidate them by contacting the police; oddly enough, sometimes this works. For one simple reason - it’s easier for them to give money at this stage than to create a new company.
Advice
In principle, do not invest in such stories, invest through companies with a license from the Central Bank for such activities. The companies described above do not have licenses.
Bank bonds
Continuation of the previous topic: come to the bank, they offer you to buy a bond with the words that it is the same as a deposit, the risks are the same. What you put on deposit, what you buy a bond - there is only one risk - bank bankruptcy.
And as if, indeed, so. There is only one risk, but in the case of deposits, the state, represented by the Deposit Insurance Agency, returns 1.4 million rubles, and in the case of bonds, you join the queue of bank creditors. And you may not wait your turn.
The most high-profile case is the sale of TatfondBank . The bank is the largest in Tatarstan, it was believed that it was under the patronage of the head of the republic, so the level of trust among the population was high. And people came to the bank, they were offered a scheme to buy bonds, they were assured that it was “like a deposit, only with a higher percentage.” In July 2021, the Central Bank discovered a hole of 2.6 billion rubles in its capital, and the bank was unable to fulfill its obligations to depositors. Regular deposits were returned 1.4 million, but those who spent on bonds still have not.
What to do?
The same as with insurance: watch what you sign and ask questions. If you don’t understand, don’t agree.
Buying a fund instead of buying an asset
Not exactly a fraudulent scheme, but more of a misrepresentation.
An incident occurred in one of the well-known companies on the market. Managers said that you are investing in Pavel Durov’s TON cryptocurrency, but in fact, in a fund that invests in him.
A fund is a collective investment organization that has its own entry/exit rules, and they may not coincide with your expectations. For example, you must keep the fund for three years; if you leave early, the amount to be returned will be calculated individually.
And everything would be fine if everything went according to plan, Pavel would launch the project, and the fund’s investors, according to the rules, would participate in it. But it turned out that Durov’s project did not take off and 70% of the money was returned to direct investors, and those who invested in the fund received 20% of their money.
What to do?
Carefully read the rules of the fund, clarify the entry/exit conditions and commissions.
Advice
Even in large, well-known companies, you should not trust them by ear, but check all contracts and documentation.
Virtual trading of instruments without a license
There are a lot of advertisements around - trade with us, you will earn mountains. The first deposit is virtual, on which you can practice. As a result, you open accounts with the company, transfer money to them, you seem to be trading well, at the beginning they let you earn money and even withdraw your profit. And they say: “Let’s increase the deposit and we’ll give you bonus income.” For some reason, I can’t withdraw my profit the second time, and then I can’t get my money back.
In fact, these companies do not allow you to buy this or that share, but only draw it virtually in your personal account.
What to do?
Invest through a licensed brokerage company. The list can be found by entering “top brokers of the Moscow Exchange” into Google.
