Yesterday (13/11), Bloomberg reported the disappearance of a company called Secure Investment that might inflict around 1 billion USD of losses against investors from all around the world following extensive investigation by Bloomberg Market.

Yesterday (13/11), Bloomberg reported the disappearance of a company called Secure Investment that might inflict around 1 billion USD of losses against investors from all around the world following extensive investigation by Bloomberg Market.

Forex Scam

According to Bloomberg, Secure Investment gathered funds from investors, made trading decisions for them, all the while guaranteed their initial capital safety from losses. The company that previously located at secureinvestment.com claimed to be experienced in handling investment on forex trading and promote profit as much as 1% a day. In their website, they showed their so-called trading history and customer testimonials. Consequently, there are customers in 11 countries on five continents say they have seen their money evaporate to Bloomberg. At a time, secureinvestment.com even said to be more popular on Alexa rating than the more legitimate Forex.com due to the high traffic from keywords secure investment.

However, Bloomberg revealed a number of alarming facts about the company that if those investors are aware of it, they might recognize them as early signs of fraud; some of them are:

 

1. Guaranteed High Return, Zero Risk

Secure Investment claimed that investors has gained an average of 1% each trading day in the past five years; aggregated at around 250% a year. In a certain testimonial video (that later exposed as phony testimonials done by actors), it was even mentioned explicitly that there is no risk to the initial investment.

It needs to be noted that such result is impossible. Even billionaires such as Warren Buffet and George Soros might suffer losses every now and then. In addition, no asset in the financial market could generate that much of gain, including mutual funds, bonds, and stocks.

 

2. Uncertain Address And Ever-Changing Bank Accounts

Secure Investment only published its company names, bank account, and phone numbers. They said they are incorporated in Panama, but was known to have instructed clients to transfer funds to bank accounts in Australia, Cyprus, Latvia, and Poland that was held by various bogus companies set up in Belize, British Virgin Islands, and the UK. However, Panama's securities market authority, Superintendencia del Mercado de Valores de Panamá (SMV) warned against the company in July 2013, because they are not regulated in Panama and their HQ office address in Panama City is false.

It is interesting to see how Secure Investment could set up phonies all around the world and dupe educated customers (the victims intervewed by Bloomberg are doctors). Even more interesting is how financial regulators managed to miss this scam, especially as the US CFTC, NFA, and UK FCA seemed to be particularly diligent in warning investors against unregulated and bogus entities.

Many people forgot that the one single key in financial investment is high risk, high return. The higher the return one wish to gain, the higher the risk he has to bear. Therefore, there is nothing like 100% secure investment with more than 100% return per year. Seen from another perspective, that kind of return means that there is more than 100% risk that might be said as equal to scam. If there is someone telling you about such investment, then the old adage of If it is too good to be true, then it probably is can be applied. Due to the vast nature of internet, even the most stringent regulators may experience difficulty in tackling each and every scam. To support the fight against scams that has repeatedly tainted forex trading, we have tried to share reports on the latest warning, but that too, is not enough. Therefore, each of us has to individually beware of marketing ploys and be aware that in this world, there is no return without risk.


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