Beware financial fraud, we always hear. Yet, people still get conned. This cautionary tale goes ‘behind-the-scenes’ to take a closer look at the methods fraudsters use to fool so many, and the new ways in which these villains plan to scam you.
Join us as a fly on the wall at this fictitious villain's meeting where we will learn how criminal masterminds look to scam individuals. Now, please be quiet, mute your microphones – their meeting is about to begin...
“Order! Order! Let the fifteenth AGM of the Empyre of Evill begin,” went the chair, banging his gavel, stilling the chattering in the rather hazy (from vaping, no longer cigars!) boardroom.
“We, the Empyre of Evill, pride ourselves on duping the herd and separating them from their hardearned savings. Recall our three pillars: one, financial statement fraud; two, fraudulent mis-selling. And finally, today’s focus, financial scams – from investment sham businesses to Ponzi schemes and financial identity scams.
“Today, our collective is gathered to discuss new ways forward.”
A hand shot up. It was that young new data science guy, Doc Data. “Er. Pardon me, but…um…Why is the organisation name spelt wrong?” The table groaned. Someone hissed “Not again!”
The chair patiently intoned with an iron glare. “Yes. Yes. We know. Our Nigerian prince 419 scam operative never got around to installing the English US dictionary on his pirated Eastern European Office software. It’s our website name on the dark web, and so be it.
“Google spam filters now spot those corkers a mile away. Can we stick to the agenda? New ideas. How do we trick people now?”
Ms X of Incredible Wealth Inc. piped up: “We still love emails and dubious marketing. You simply cannot beat this old chestnut. Take the best short period of an investment track record, say it went up like 20% in three weeks, and blow it up over a year and dupe them so you can get 346% per annum!” ((52/3) * 20%)
The shield of financial knowledge
This story is from the 15 August 2019 edition of Finweek English.
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This story is from the 15 August 2019 edition of Finweek English.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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