It’s been nearly half a year since I’ve mentioned a financial scam or con job, but something came across my desk last week and it definitely had to be shared.
It was a glossy brochure full of emotive language and pictures of tropical islands, luxury yachts, black tie dinners, expensive sports cars and endless games of golf.
The pictures and emotive language were selling a “sophisticated software program” that was for the first time available to the general public and would help them buy and sell the right shares.
It followed with results and a graph showing how specific shares traded over a two year time frame had turned $2,000 into $54,000 – these were all historically accurate trades.
The implication was the piece of software would show the buyer when to buy and sell particular shares, giving them huge profits.
Yet if you looked past was what being implied and looked at what little was actually being said about the piece of software, you’d note it was nothing more than a historical charting tool that downloads yesterday’s share market data.
And in the one (and only) piece of fine print it admitted as much:
“The program is merely a method of accurately recording data, or charting the data. It provides purely factual information relating to the performance of a share. It does not recommend, suggest or advise the purchase/sale of a particular stock.”
Despite all the hints it could make you rich, all it could do was tell you what had already happened.
These pieces of software usually have some indicator that makes it look like you should buy a share, but usually that indicator is generated by previous movements of the share itself.
The scary thing is this company is cold calling elderly people and asking thousands of dollars for their “sophisticated software”.
It’s an ongoing scam and for that reason it’s pointless me naming the company.
Because as soon as they have enough disgruntled customers they’ll shut down and re-emerge under a new name.
I’ll detail some ways to spot these shonks next week.
Peter Mancell is a director of Mancell Financial Group and FYG Planners AFSL/ACL 224543, www.mfg.com.au This information is general in nature and readers should seek professional advice specific to their circumstances.
