Money does not fall from the sky

Money does not fall from the sky
By Bob Yong
Cashing on human greed, fraudsters are capitalizing their skills to making fast bucks by coming up with all kinds of tactics to hoodwink the public to part with their hard-earned money. These get-rich schemes promoted by unauthorized investment companies are offering high returns or interest on deposit placed in trust with the bogus companies. The scam is normally in the form of a direct sales model whereby a multi-marketing level method is used. The modus operandi is nothing new and yet many people are still drawn to these get-rich-quick schemes without hesitation. When a scam comes to light, many would have lost tens of thousands and even millions of ringgit. The biggest surprise is many of these people who being conned are educated and some of them are successful professionals.
More than 18,000 cases, involving total financial losses of close to 2 billion ringgit (2007) are now being investigated by the police. Attention is drawn to the much talked about conman, Bernard Madoff who heads a bogus investment company, ripping off billion of dollars from the public in United States of America. Those who believe in easy money must realize that money does not fall from the sky.
The ingenuity of the fraudsters is beyond comprehension. These con-men are clever enough to come up with schemes that are so convincing that even experienced investors cannot tell the difference between the genuine and the false one.
Of late, there are restaurants offering membership to the public. These are restaurants that have many outlets all over the country. Besides collecting membership fee which may amount to RM100-200, members are encouraged to place with them deposit which guaranteed interest. Membership allowed members to redeem points, based on their deposit sum by patronizing the food outlets and members will also receive a fixed monthly interest on the deposit amount for a stipulated periods.
All scams prey on the public greediness and emotions. Legal opinion cautions investors that before one commits in any scheme, it pays to check it out first. Senior citizens are often targeted and it is prudent for them to learn more on how to protect and keep their hard-earned money safely. Learning, identifying and differentiating the true investment from the scam are itself an investment technique which can save them from falling victims to fraudsters.