Falling for Financial Fakes? Revealing the Secrets With The Tips to Avoid Investment Scams

Have you heard about investment scams?
Investment scams are financial frauds where scammers trick businesses and individuals into investing their money in stocks, commodities, real estate, bonds, or currencies. They have become prevalent in today’s digital landscape. You don’t know what danger is lurking in the shadows, hiding behind false promises!
If you are an investor, don’t fall for the “high returns, low risk” trap. Instead, carefully check all the prospects before you make any investment online.

So, are you ready to dive into the murky waters of stock trading and investment scams?
Let’s get this started! Toward the end of this article, you will have an idea of the various types of investment scams and how to stay safe from financial predators.

Some Investment Scams That Will Blow Your Mind

• Deepfakes on Zerodha: Deepfakes are AI-generated fake voices, videos, and images used to deceive businesses and individuals and cause them losses in terms of money, personal data, and reputation. The popular stock market and financial platform, Zerodha, reported a deepfake incident in which a woman was too close to becoming a victim and losing INR 1.80 lakhs.
• Forex trading fraud: In Karnataka, a woman lured a businessman online, scamming him of around INR 1.6 crores via a forex trading application. Another businessman reported losing INR 70 lakhs to forex trading fraud the same day.
  With technologies emerging and hackers getting more advanced, there are many stock trading and investment scams that continue to happen daily. So, know your enemy, have resources to tackle them, and stay safe!

But, Who’s the Enemy Here?

It’s the scammers! They make false promises and provide fake information to steal your money and cause a data breach.
Here are the different types of investment scams that you must watch out for:

• Crypto scams: Being digital and decentralized, cryptocurrency assets are easy to exchange. Scammers lure investors with exciting opportunities and trap them.
• Ponzi schemes: These scams use new investors’ money to pay existing investors as returns. When the scammers can’t find a new investor, they can’t pay existing ones. Ultimately, the scheme collapses, leaving investors scammed.
• High-yield investment scams: Fraudsters use aggressive marketing and false data to attract investors and guarantee unrealistically high returns.
• Pump and dump: The scammers purchase cheap stocks but sell them to investors at very high prices by lying about the quality and statistics. When the stock’s price drops, stocks become worthless.
• Affinity fraud: Fraudsters target a group of individuals with a common workplace, religion, or affinity towards something. They trick them emotionally to gain their trust and influence them to invest.
• AI voice scams: Scammers use the AI-generated voice of a real person to impersonate and fool investors, causing financial disasters and data leaks. Many Indians have become victims of AI voice scams or know someone who suffered from it.
• Boiler room scam: It happens when a scammer convinces you to invest in a company. They show a legitimate-looking site and office address, but it’s fake.
  Other types are advance fee scams, exempt security scams, pyramid schemes, real-estate scams, etc.

What Are the Red Flags?

If you spot any of the below red flags, it’s time you stop and reconsider your next steps:

• Ugency: Scammers will rush or even pressure you to take action quickly, offering a limited-time offer or opportunity window.
• Unrealistic promises: You might receive a “too good to be true” offer. This could be unrealistically high returns or guaranteed profits at low risks.
• Unsolicited approaches: You might receive an unexpected email, text, data breach alert, or call from unknown people with exclusive offers.
• Insufficient/confusing details: Scammers usually have half-baked or confusing information about what they are selling.

So, now the real question is: How to Stay Safe from Investment Scams?

Research Thoroughly

• Carry out the background check on the representatives and their authority.
• Verify company registration and track records.
• Find out what regulatory or government bodies they are registered with.
• Check product licenses, and assess other documents.

Bonus tip: Look for phrases like [company name] + scam (or fraud, compliant, or review).

Visit Their Website: Visit the company’s official website and thoroughly assess all the details. Try calling the phone number and visiting the office if possible. Should you find anything suspicious, stop there.

Written Documents

• Ask for all the offers and benefits in writing.
• Read everything with a clear mind.
• Validate whether the information is legitimate or not.

Ask Questions

Never hesitate to ask questions related to the investment. Scammers may struggle to answer your questions. If they do, verify their answers. Ask for full details with the appropriate license and paperwork.

Don’t Fall for Urgency or Pressure

When someone tells you to make investments in a hurry, giving you a limited time window or pressurizing you for it, don’t fall for it.

Seek Help

If you are in doubt about making an investment decision, consult your financial advisor, especially if you are a new investor. They will help you spot red flags and verify the right investment opportunities.

Secure Your Data

Secure your data, devices, and network and enable safe banking and safe browsing using advanced technologies like Quick Heal Total Security. It will prevent scammers from accessing your data that they later use to launch scams.

Here are some of its excellent protection features:

1. Safe online payments and shopping
2. Ransomware protection
3. Phishing protection
4. Browsing protection
5. Malware protection
6. Firewall protection
7. Email Protection
8. Data breach alerts

What to Do If You’re Scammed?

If you are ever scammed:

• Document the scam details you remember like the company name, representative, product, contact data, date and time, conversations, invested amount, etc.
• File a complaint at your nearest police station
• Report the incident to state or center regulatory bodies.

Wrapping Up

If you are an investor, stay vigilant about stock trading and investment scams. Research properly, invest wisely, and use advanced antivirus software like Quick Heal Total Security to safeguard yourself from investment scams.
Get Quick Heal Total Security today!