Tempted by the lure of promised gains online? Here's how to spot an online investment scam…

With the Internet and all things related firmly part of our lives, it's sometimes hard to know what's genuine and what isn't.

And this couldn't be more true that with ‘investment opportunities'. Promises of great riches can leave some people confused. Should they or should they not invest?

To help you uncover the genuine opportunities from the scams, read on…

Uncovering investment scams tip #1: Check the company and its people out

If you’re interested in an opportunity you see or receive online, check out the company behind it. It’s very easy for anyone to put together a website, so you need to do some proper digging.

Check that the firm is a member of the necessary regulatory bodies too, Sophia Baker in the Financial Mail explains. And make sure you Google the company to see if any other people have made comments about it in the past.

This is a good way of determining if an opportunity is an investment scam or not.

Last year in SA, a giant Ponzi scheme affecting nearly 200,000 people came to light, reports BDLive. The man behind the scheme, Chris Walker, is now behind the promotion of a scheme called Kipi.

On its website, Kipi asks its members to “register a ‘dream’ on its website,” adds BDLive. The site gives the idea that members will get the cash to find their dream. They just have to part with a “donation” first.

This shows that it pays to do your research into any potential investment and find out who’s behind it. Finding this out can be very telling in itself.

Uncovering investment scams tip #2: Be sceptical with promises of huge returns

The old saying, ‘if it sounds too good to be true it generally is’ makes a lot of sense when it comes to promises of investment gains.

Promise of big gains over a short period of time aren’t an easy thing to achieve. So be very wary of letting rand signs get in the way of your judgement.

Uncovering investment scams tip #3: Understand the offering

If you don’t understand what you’re embarking on, don’t do it!

If you think you have come across something with the potential to make money, make sure you understand exactly how it works.

It’s your money at risk and it’s essential you know what you’re doing with it.

So there you have it, how to spot an online investment scam.


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Tags: investment scam, online investment scam, how to spot an online investment scam, kipi, investment scams,