16 Investment Frauds You Must Watch Out For

One of the best ways to avoid becoming the next victim of investment fraud is to recognize the true nature of the beast – before it costs you money. There is nothing new under the sun, and most investment fraud cases follow a typical pattern that you can learn about to safeguard your assets.

In this final installment to my series on investment fraud prevention I show you the 16 most popular investment frauds, how to recognize them, and how to never become a victim.

If you are a newer subscriber and missed the earlier parts of this series, or if you just want to review earlier posts then you can find the entire investment fraud education series here.

I know it is not the most entertaining subject in the field of wealth building, but I spent a lot of time writing about these issues because it’s a genuine problem. I’m confronted with a surprisingly large amount of investment fraud when working with my financial coaching clients. The stuff is out there so don’t just pretend you won’t have to deal with it. The problem exists, and it can cost you money if you don’t know what you are doing.

That’s why I bother writing these articles (and hope you bother reading them:-)) They are important.

This final installment in this series describes the 16 most common types of investment fraud. The premise behind this article is to learn what investment characteristics create the highest risk for investment fraud so that you know when to be most on guard for the problem. When you are considering an investment that fits into one of these 16 categories you should be more alert and use thorough due diligence to protect yourself.

We are not alarmists here at Financial Mentor – just realists. Most investments are legitimate and most investment representatives are honest: the sky is not falling and the world is not coming to an end. However, you would be naive to translate a general environment of honesty into blanket trust because investment fraud exists and con-men work very hard to steal your money. Or as the old adage goes, “Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel.”

A smart investor strikes a proper balance between the two extremes of blind trust and blanket distrust by learning the most common types of investment fraud and how to recognize the characteristic warning signs of investment fraud. Forewarned is forearmed.

Please let me know what you think about this series on investment fraud in the comments section below. How has it helped you? What have you learned? What did I miss? Tell me below…