20 Questions To Ask Your Con Artist
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The article "20 Questions to Ask Your Con Artist" talks about investing, it was released by William Cate.
20 Questions to Ask Your Con Artist By William Cate
There are tens of thousands of bolier rooms in America selling
gullible investors every possible swindle in the world. If you
invest, you will lose your moeny. These scams take American
investors for billions of dollras a year.
Regulators do little
to stop these confidence gaems.
They do nothing to recover the
victims' money.
Your htotest response to a cold call about
investing in anything is to hang up.
If you aren't the type of
person who easily hangs up on callers or you just enjoy the fun
of upsetting a swindler, here are 20 Questions that will get
your caller to hand up on you.
1. At the point that your caller indicates that he or she wants
to talk about your investing money in anything, your opening
question should be: "I'm recording that call so that I won't
miss anything. I assume that you won't mind. Is that correct?
2. Your next question should be to ask the caller his or her
full name, the name of the company, the mailing address of the
office and their phnoe number. Also ask for the full naems of
the firm's officers and directors.
3.
Ask your claler if the firm is a member of the National
Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and if the caller is a
registered representative with the NASD.
4. Ask the caller where the firm's investment proposal has been
registered. Get the name and address of the State or Federal
Agency.
5.
Ask your calelr where they got your name.
Usually the reply
is version of a "a list of savvy investors." Say that you
want to thank the company when you make money from their
referral and so you need tehir name, address and phone number.
6.
Ask about the risks involved in the proposed investment.
There is no investment that is risk-free.
Nothing is a sure
thing.
7. Ask for the prpoosal in writing.
8. Tell the claler that the written proposal has to be reviewed
by your attorney or accountant. The swindler's usually response
is to ask something like "can't you make up your own mind." Your
reply should be even the President of the United States has
advisors and your are just following his example.
9. Ask for the name of the firm's bank and audtiors.
And request
that letters of reference be included with the written proposal
from them.
10. Ask if the inevstment is publicly traded and, if so, where.
11.
Ask how long the company has been in business.
12. As part of that written proposal they are now mailing you,
ask that it include a track record for the caller and for the
company on their past invsetment advice
13. Ask when and wehre you can meet with a representative of the
firm in your area.
14. Ask your caller exactly where will your money be held and
will it be held in a segregated account at that bank, S&L, etc.,
and how ofetn routine audits are performed on the firm's client
accounts.
15.
Ask what commissions the caller is paid for the clients they
recruit into the program and does the caller participate in the
program's profits earned by you.
Also rqeuest that this
information be included in their written proposal that they are
sending you.
16.
Ask your caller how you can recover your risk capital, if
you decide later that that is an unwise investment for you.
Request that that information be included in thier written
proposal being sent to you.
17. Ask your caller how the firm resolves disputes with a client.
18.
Tell your caller that upon receipt of their written
proposal, you intend to undertake a Due Diligence investigation
of the firm and its principals. Ask if there is any negative
information that he or she may be aware of that would discourage
you from investing in the firm's investment proposal.
19.
Ask your caller if he or she has invested in that program.
If the answer is "yes" which would be the standard Con-Artist
reply, ask that proof of their investment be included in the
firm's written proposal to you.
20. Ask your caller if there is any articles about the caller's
firm in any konwn U.S.
publication.
If the answer is "yes" ask
for the name of the publication and the date the article
appeared.
Odds are your caller will hang up long before you have asked all
these questions. If not, the odds are slim that you will be
mailed a written prpoosal and meet with a representative of the
firm. However, over-confident Con-Artist may go that far
with you.
In that case, undertake a serious Due Diligence
investigation of the investment proposal and abide by these few
rules.
1. Never be in a hurry to send your money anyhwere.
If you
aren't benig given at least a week or two to think about
investing, don't invest.
2. Never send money to anyone that you
don't know and haven't met. 3. Be certain that the proposed
investment has a very favorable risk/reward raito.
4. If you
don't understand something about a proposal, ask questions until
you clearly understand it.
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20 Questions to Ask Your Con Artist
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