In two years, online financial investment scams have had hundreds of thousands of victims around the world and amount to nearly one billion euros in France alone. A well-designed system by well-trained scammers.
The methods
The technique is generally the same. It all starts with an e-mail or a targeted advertisement that promises to make you earn a large sum of money in a short time. Sometimes it is about a certain financial investment with an interest rate of around 6 or 8%.
By clicking on the link, the user is redirected to a very credible website, very well done with all the required legal notices and even including certifications that reassure. Generally, it is a site that is just a copy of another site published by a legally registered trading company. It is very difficult to tell the difference between the two because only the domain name has a slight difference.
Everything is set up so that the user can have total confidence in this "bargain". He talks to a "financial advisor" who explains how the site works, he has access to the site through a personal space. From the first investments, he perceives benefits well beyond his expectations. He is then motivated by the ''advisor'' to invest larger amounts. Once this is done, the site disappears or is in "maintenance" and the advisor cannot be reached by phone.
How to avoid these scams ?
When it comes to financial investments, always be suspicious and if possible, seek the advice of a financial advisor. Otherwise, here's what to do:
- Don't act on any investment proposal you don't know the author of
- Make the necessary verifications; ask questions to your interlocutor, check their various accreditations on the Orias and Ragafi files
- Demand to receive written documentation and always take the time to read everything thoroughly and understand all the details
- Do not give in to pressure and always take the time to think things through and do not make any commitments,
- Above all, do not pay any money and do not give your credit card number
Similar articles
