1) Find “high-return, no-risk” opportunities and give them your money
2) Do business with someone who tells you to “trust me”
3) Do business with someone who discourages you from talking to other people (“this is a confidential matter, don’t tell anyone about it”, “don’t let your friends and family be dream-stealers!”, “don’t talk to a lawyer/banker/accountant, they’ll suck the blood out of you and stop the deal because they’re overly conservative”)
4) Do business with someone who wants to teach you how to make lots of money (by doing a deal with them where you put up your money and they dictate how every element of the deal will work in order to “teach” you)
5) Blindly follow a “secret path to wealth”. Get angry at anyone who questions the path or points out flaws.
6) Pay gurus for “secret” information
7) Pay guru-students for second-hand “secret” information
8 ) Invest in “business opportunities” discovered on lamp posts, in the classifieds, on USENET or in your e-mail inbox.
9) Ignore anything that’s “too complicated” and only pursue simple strategies
10) Believe that its easy to “work smart instead of hard” (and that someone can show you how to “work smart” in a short period of time)
Any other ideas?
3 replies on “How To Get Scammed”
I have to say that I don’t think #9 is the worst thing to do. If you don’t understand a strategy then maybe it’s worth avoiding.
I’d say buying an investment for tax reasons only (LSIFs) are a good way to get scammed.
Mike
I see what you mean – I was thinking more in terms of strategies like smith man., leveraged investments etc.
If someone doesn’t have an rrsp because they don’t understand them…they might be better off with a MF salesman!
Mike
I think #9 is definitely a keeper – it’s probably the most common problem on the list.
I think it should be something like:
9) Don?t bother trying to learn any basic investment knowledge – just blindly purchase investment vehicles.
It’s not perfect and it may not be what you were originally going for. But it’s true!
Mike