Preventing fraud

The ABCs of fraud prevention is a simple strategy for you to keep control and seek independent expert advice.

Ask questions 

Ask the person offering you the opportunity lots of questions about the offer. Some examples of questions include:

• If the opportunity is so good, why isn’t everyone buying into it?
• Why am I being offered this opportunity?
• What are your qualifications?
• Have you have invested in this opportunity? (Ask for proof)
• Is your investment registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)?
• How can you provide a guaranteed high return but be of low risk?
• What is the track history of this opportunity and how can it be independently verified?
• Who are the people involved and how can their identities be independently verified?
• Explain the investment is detail and take the conversation away from their prepared script.

Be prepared to take notes of the discussion so that you have plenty of material for your follow-up research. Consider recording the conversation (depending on the law where you live).

Be prepared

Be prepared to challenge what you have been told – you do not have to believe everything you are told! You are allowed and advised to question the investment, including how it works, its security and the potential returns. Also, question the people behind the scheme.

• If an investment opportunity sounds too good to be true, it is!
• It is not realistic to believe that a person you have not or just met is going to make you rich without any risk to you!

Check it out

Make your own inquiries. There are many sources where you can make inquiries on an investment opportunity presented to you to see if it is as good or reputable as it sounds. Examples include:

• ASIC
• Queensland Office of Fair Trade
• Queensland Police Service at your local station
• Queensland Police Service Fraud and Cyber Crime Group
• Bank manager
• Lawyer
• An independent financial consultant you have located from your own inquiries, not an adviser recommended by the person attempting to get you to invest in the scheme.
• Online inquiries with trusted agencies such as Scamwatch or Stay Smart Online. 
• Treat general online inquiries with caution as some fraudsters make their own websites that recommend their investments and provide fake testimonials, including prestigious sounding awards. Some of these websites are created several years before being used by the fraudsters to build longevity and content. 
• The educational or training facility where the person offering the investments says they studied. Contact the educational institute and ask if they can independently verify whether the person gained that qualification and check the person providing the investment opportunity is the same person.

As well as the ABCs of fraud prevention, consider a further thought:

Don’t rush

If you are pushed to investment immediately without the opportunity to independently research the offer, this is a major warning sign that you are being pressured into a scheme that is potentially fraudulent. The fraudster does not want you to make independent inquiries.

If you are being pressured by the fraudster, the organisations listed above will be very happy to help you.