Stocks

Avoiding Stock Investment Scams

The stock market, stock brokers and stock investment companies are highly regulated by both the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Apart from insider dealing and suspect commissions there’s very little in the way of scams that can happen directly within the industry.

It’s immediately outside the regulated parts of the industry where the scams take place – and they are multitude.

Many investment scams and frauds involve unregistered securities — so always investigate before you invest. Offers to sell securities must be registered with the SEC or be eligible for an exemption, otherwise the offering is illegal.

Small stocks trade on the “over-the-counter” (OTC) market. Stocks that trade in the OTC market generally are among the most risky and most susceptible to manipulation, such as the pump-and-dump method – so be wary of any investment trick that promotes these.

As well as suspect investments, scams take the form of trading tools, trading systems and tip-clubs where members knowingly or unknowingly manipulate stock prices in low-volume markets like penny-stocks.

Tools can include trading bots – which will promise huge profits for little effort and typically cost a few hundred dollars. They don’t ever work (after all Wall Street would be using them if they did) and you might be lucky and get a refund – however the scammer will have already pocketed a large commission when you join the required trading platform to test the bot.

Trading systems can and do work – especially when promoted by well-known and respected industry figures with decades worth of verifiable track record – but most of the time, chances are high they won’t make close to the claimed earnings in the hands of new users who will inevitably cut corners.

Other trading systems are outright scams and follow such a complex set of rules that even experts would have a hard time sticking to the plan. In these cases individuals will see the failure as their own and as a result not request a refund, because after all it was “their fault”.

Tip Clubs are one of the most notorious scams and typically involve groups of 100 or more “insiders” following “stock tips” in low volume trading markets. They’re following just behind the leader who buys and then sells ahead of the inevitable market movement caused by their tip being acted upon, meaning that members are knowingly or unknowingly participating in an illegal pump-and-dump which will net big profits for the tipster, but little or nothing for the members.

These are the main scams operating in the stock investment field – and most new scams will involve at least some part of one or more of these.

So how can you protect yourself when looking for real estate investments?

• Only use legitimate and trusted companies or services, such as those we list above.
• If a deal looks too good to be true – it probably is. Look out for overstated profit claims made for tools and trading systems and check any recommended stocks or trading platform carefully before parting with cash.
• Check a service company’s credentials at the BBB and with your local Chamber of Commerce if they are in-state.
• Read online reviews – is there a pattern of complaints with the company or service concerned?

Remember – all markets are filled with professional traders. If a system or tool could make big profits consistently they’d be using it.