Page 103 - Speedhorse February

that we may want to look this over before he went through with it, but he insisted. A couple of weeks after, he called again and needed more funds to pay the capital gains tax on the gold futures investment that
was performing so well. This was a major red flag for us because if the performance was so good, he could have easily paid the capital gains tax with his profits. We then told the client that this was very likely a scam and we would highly advise against taking more funds out of his accounts. He once again insisted. This time, we made him sign a form saying this is against our recommendation and is likely scam. Finally,
saying you have won something? My guess is yes. I have received hundreds. If you fall victim to this, the scammer may ask for your ad- dress, credit card, social security information, bank account info, etc. If you do not remember en- tering a lottery, you probably did not win anything. One of the best things to do here is to avoid the message altogether.
4. Investment-Related Scams – The example I share of the ex-client is loud and clear. A big one to watch out for nowadays is those involv- ing cryptocurrency. There is very little regulation around crypto and
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he made another request for all of the funds. We begged him to not go through with this as all of the red flags were loud and clear. This client lost everything he had in his retirement accounts. An entire life worth
of work gone in a few months. He thought he had struck gold with this new, shiny, investment that was going to potentially quadruple his money is a short time frame. Now, he is back to square one.
LESSON – Trust your hired financial professional if they suspect fraud. It is
not going to hurt to get a second opinion
on matters like this. Beware of the “get
rich quick” investment schemes. People
have been getting burned on these since
the beginning of time. Cryptocurrency investments are a source of many investment related scams following this same pattern.
MOST COMMON SCAMS AND HOW TO AVOID THEM
1. Imposter scams – Imposter scams tend to involve older folks. Some- one is pretending to be someone else. This can be over the phone, email, text message, etc. This type of scam can also be in the form of romance. Someone pretending to have a romantic interest to break down the barriers. Be cautious
if someone unexpectedly tries to get in touch with you and ask for personal information, asks you to click on a link, or open a file. Look the person/company up before proceeding. That would be a good indicator to if the person is legit
or not.
2. Online Shopping Scams – This
involves websites that do not de- liver a product you ordered, or they overcharge you for something. Look for anything unusual on the website such as misspelled words, prices that seem low or inaccurate, or virus warnings, etc.
3. Prizes and Lotteries – Have you ever received a message or email
can lead to some major scam. Over $1.6 billion was lost in crypto scams in 2023. I do not see this number going down. Fraudsters can spend weeks/months getting to know
you before they drop an idea on you which leads to scam. Be care- ful when someone mentions large investment returns, a secret invest- ment vehicle, or any sort of prom- ises. FINRA has a website you can use to investigate anything that may have the potential for scam as well: https://www.finra.org/investors/ protect-your-money/ask-and-check
For advisor training, I have to keep up with different forms of fraudulent behavior and how best to avoid them. While writing this article, I had to do a training on a
new type of scam called “Deep Fake.” There is software available today to imitate someone’s face or voice. People are using this software to make inappropriate content with someone’s face/voice and threaten to post it on social media if they do not send them money. Kids in school are using the software to bully other students by using a picture of their face
on explicit content and sharing it around. With this kind of capability in the wrong people’s hands, I expect Deep Faking to become a leading form of fraud. Someone could easily send a video disguised as someone’s boss, colleague, friend, etc.
and convince them to transfer money to a different account.
Most scammers work with a sense of urgency. Rather than fall victim to their made-up story, take a moment to pause and try to reach this person from a different channel. Double checking never hurt a soul. I fully anticipate this sort of AI to advance and progress into both very helpful technology as well as very harmful. Be overly cautious in this day and age. I’m afraid the days of honesty and integrity may be behind us.
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