Don’t give your money to scammers

Everybody wants a high return investment, but investments that offer very high returns could be scams.

The charity AgeUK estimates that £1.2bn is lost due to investment fraud every year. Not everybody who has lost money has reported the fraud, so the true figure could be significantly higher.

A typical investment scam involves being cold called or receiving an investment offer in an email. These offers promise high returns for very little risk, but apply pressure by saying that the offer is for limited periods only and immediate investment is needed to avoid missing a valuable opportunity.

Sometimes, a caller will flatter someone by saying that they have been specially chosen for the investment opportunity that is available for a few select clients.

Some people do start seeing returns on their investments if the scam is a Ponzi scheme where dividends are paid out to early investors from the investment premiums of members who join later. This pyramid type scheme collapses once a large number of investors have joined.

The best advice is to not invest in schemes offered by cold callers and emails from companies of which you are not a customer. The Financial Conduct Authority website has an investment warning list, where you can enter the name of an investment and it will tell you if the investment is on its scam list.

Better yet, see an independent financial advisor for investment advice that excludes all scam investment schemes and concentrates on the best strategy for growing your wealth.

Investments – The value of units can fall as well as rise, and you may not get back all your original investment

Sources used: http://www.investopedia.com/university/scams/scams1.asp http://www.ageuk.org.uk/money-matters/consumer-advice/investment-scams/fca-warning-list/