An upsetting thing has happened to me. My professional identity has been stolen and is being used on WhatsApp to entice my online Coursera students to invest in who knows what!
Let me be clear. I would never encourage students or anyone else to buy a particular investment, and I certainly would not contact people about investing using WhatsApp. The WhatsApp account that is impersonating me is fraud!
I’ve taken steps to try to stop this. Ultimately, though, we need to protect ourselves from investment fraud. Scammers use all kinds of ways to reach people: by phone, social media, letters, in-person and more.
Warning signs of fraud
Con artists are good at what they do. Watch out for these warning signs of investment fraud:
- Pressure to act quickly,
- Investment needs to be kept secret,
- Asked to pay for investments by credit card, gift card, or wiring money abroad or to a personal account.
- Promised high return, and
- Sounds “too good to be true.”
Steps to protect yourself
Investing is a good way to grow our assets and provide future income. By investing we can diversify and protect our savings from inflation.
Before you invest, consider taking these steps:
- Ask questions,
- Take time to talk to a knowledgeable person and/or financial professional,
- Research the investment opportunity
- Conduct a background check on the person selling the investment at Investor.gov.
Learn more
For more steps to avoid investment fraud, visit the Investor.gov website.
If you have been a victim of fraud, report it to your local police as well as file a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General’s office; call 800-243-0618 or complete an online form. Not only may these organizations be able to help recover the money you lost, their efforts also may stop the fraud from continuing.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Take time to learn a little bit more about investing and growing your money. Check out the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) website for fun ways to learn, like the Investing Quiz. #WorldInvestorWeek
Ready to learn more about investing? The Get Savvy webinar recording, “Investing Risks and Rewards” is an excellent place to start.
Kathy Sweedler provides personal finance online education with Illinois Extension. Kathy’s emphasis is to encourage people to be confident in their financial decisions, and to help them explore new ways of thinking about and managing money. When Kathy is not engaged in Extension work, she is often traveling and piecing together family genealogy. Genealogy is a puzzle, not that different from managing money!
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