Scams They Are Real

Have you ever read something too good to be true? More often than not, it is.

We have scams presented to us every single week:

*People emailing us telling us that we have won the lottery. Then they ask for your name, address, phone number, birthday and bank account details. So how do they know you have won the lottery, if they don’t know your name?

*People writing us letters telling us they are princes from other countries that have been jailed and they need our money to get them out. Once out they will reward us with huge riches.

*Newspaper adverts offering extremely high percentages of interest on invested funds.

As I looked through Adelaide’s biggest paper the other day I saw a classified advert offering 37% on any amount between $25, 000 and $2 million. It had an 1800 phone number to call to leave your details for more information.

Right away this classified advert has a huge number of red flags written all over it.

Let’s start with the fact that it is a classified advert. Classified adverts are the cheapest way to advertise in a newspaper. In fact it will only cost you around $50 to $100 for one of these small adverts compared to 1000s of dollars for even a medium sized advert at the front of the paper. If this company is so good at making huge percentages on your money why don’t they advertise with a full size advert at the front of the paper?

The second point is why when you call the 1800 number is there only an answering machine for you to leave your details? Surely any company that can make 37% profit on your money would have the money to hire someone to answer the phone call?

And the biggest tell all is the 37% that is offered. 37% is not a good return on your money it is a massive return on your money. In fact the world’s 2^nd richest man (Warren Buffet) has only managed to average a 20% return on his money since the 1960s. This company/advert implies that it can give you a 37% return. A 17% better return than the world’s 2^nd richest man has achieved.

Plus if you’re getting 37% on your money, they would need to be making more than 37% on their investment so they could make some money of their own. This makes their claim even more ridiculous as they would need to be making 40% plus to even consider giving you 37% on your money.

The bottom line is, this is not a real company at all. Not real in the sense that the offer could possibly be true. This is a scammer somewhere with an answering machine attached to an 1800 number. However people still fall for these scams. And you know how I know people still fall for this, because these types of adverts have been running in newspapers since before I was born.

They would not run these adverts week in and week out if they had no takers. It makes no sense to keep advertising something that no one wants.

If you took up the offer to invest $25,000 in their moneymaking venture at 37%, then you left your money with these people over 10 years and let the interest compound, you would have $797,748. This is a ridiculous return on $25,000. But if you took up the full 2 million dollars you would have $46,583,880.

Boy, if only this were true... but it is not. Use your calculator and your mind before taking up any business offer.