Avoid investment scams

Older people have a lot of money obtained through their hard earned savings, profit from sale of a property or from CPF withdrawal. It is easy for these people to be cheated in the investment scams that are quite common in Singapore,.

There are so many scams and many of them are being advertised regularly. It is easy for the ordinary people to be misled into thinking that, if they are allowed to be advertised, these investments are approved. It is hard for them to imagine that they could be cheated.

I know of these scams because many of the victims approached me for help - land banking, wine, guaranteed buyback arrangements. They could even be cheated by life insurance and investment linked products, as the insurance agent hide some of the essential facts from them - i.e. the high distribution cost, annual charges and high penalty on withdrawal.

When the victims complained about losing a lot of money on these scams or bad investments, IT IS TOO LATE. There is little, if any action, that can be taken to recover the loss.

I talk about these scams and bad investments in the Financial Planning Workshop organised by FISCA. I encourage the older people to attend and learn how to avoid these bad investments.