When it’s a clone
One of our clients recently asked us to investigate an investment they were considering. Within moments we knew something was wrong as the website our client had first looked at for the ‘offer’ looked wrong. A little digging later and we realised there were literally thousands of similarly cloned websites.
The Wall Street Journal published an article in May about a financial adviser in Beverly Hills, California named Ray Kay who had promoted via Radio advertising a supposedly high-yield, low-risk investment. Unfortunately, the company behind the investment is now in bankruptcy and is being investigated as a Ponzi Scheme. Mr Kay himself, it turns out, was “barred from the securities industry for allegedly running a fraud, and later fined $5,000 for breaking that ban.” The challenge for investors, however, was that when he was prosecuted for those offences he was known as Raymond. L Kotrozo. Changing names is a common tactic employed by fraudsters.
Ponzi schemes can be complex, even when they operate on a relatively small scale. They can be run by a single person or group & to keep the scam going, those behind the plan convince numerous victims that they’re investing in a legitimate fund that promises great returns. Then the scam artists take money from new “investors” and use it to pay off existing investors. But for the scam to truly work for everyone’s benefit, the orchestrators would need access to an infinite supply of new victims.
Despite success by the Financial Conduct Authority and Police in prosecuting Boiler room operations, the fact that such easy money can be made from these criminal acts means this type of scam is on the increase.
The scams work by presenting clients with shares or bonds, which are in fact worthless. The initial approach can be a cold-call, or it could be via advertising in newspapers, magazines or on social media, direct letters, or even seminars where an offer is made to buy or sell shares or bonds for a significant return.
These scams work well with even seasoned investors being caught out. The police recently recorded one individual who lost £6 million from such a scam. As ever, the devastation left behind for those caught out can be dreadful.
The curse of the ‘secret investment’ clubs
The IYE Global Investigators are highly experienced and long in the tooth. There’s not much in a lifetime of investigating criminal fraud that they haven’t come across. A perennial theme and one that causes untold hardship for its victims and their families are the con artists favourite, the ‘secret investment’.
Jail Time
At IYE Global we always tell our clients that in any investigation we undertake, wherever and whenever we find evidence of criminality it is immediately reported to the relevant lawful authorities. One of our most recent cases resulted in arrests being made in both South and North America. In both cases, the individuals were working for banks.
If you are involved at the highest level of professional sport the chances are you’ll be earning good money, in a few cases, substantial money and that makes you a target. It’s always simple with hindsight and it’s easy to be critical but if you’re inexperienced in financial matters and often very young, you are prey to unscrupulous individuals who are far more interested in what they can earn from you than they are in looking out for your best interests.
