Spotting Genuine Investment Opportunities

If you're lucky enough to have a bit of spare money left over every month then you might be looking for a way to invest it. Learning to make your money work for you is more difficult than you might think. Investments are nothing new and the most simple way would be to invest the money in your bank account.

Investing in a bank account is normally almost completely risk free. This means that the rates of return are lower than other forms of investment. This includes if you invested on the stock market. If you are after bigger returns on your investment then you will have to think about alternatives from using your bank account.

High Yield Investments

High Yield Investments are commonly referred to as HYIP. These are very popular investment programs because they claim to be able to make the investor a lot of money very quickly. This sounds absolutely brilliant. Who wouldn't like the idea of being able to maximize the amount of money they can make while minimizing the risks?

The problem is that almost all of these plans are investment frauds and will not be able to make you any money.

Spotting Investment Frauds

It is very important that you are able to identify investment fraud so that you can minimize the risk of it happening to you. Identify the common features of investment frauds so that you can be on the look out for them.

Guaranteed Returns

All investments have a certain level of risk. Even bank accounts aren't completely free of risk. No investment fund will ever guarantee returns on your investment because the investment market is volatile. It could be that you will have positive returns for a longtime, however after this they will start to slip away.

You can use past figures to predict the future; however it's not possible to use exact figures for future rates of returns. If an investment fund promises guaranteed rates of return then avoid it like the plague.

Secure Investment

Again, no investment is guaranteed. It's impossible. If the fund managers try to tell you that your investments are guaranteed then this is a lie. If you try to enquire how this is possible then you will find that there are no definite answers.

Independent Accounts

To minimize the risks of fraud it's important that the money is not sent directly to the company itself. You should have an account in your own name so that you retain control of the funds. Sending money directly to the investment company is a big no no and it shows that it's a fraud.

Scammers can be very convincing because they allow you to send money to them in many different ways. This makes their operation appear to be professional and so it's very easy to believe it.

Account Access

Similar to the point above you must retain control over your money. Many of these scams don't allow you the ability to log in and take a look at your money. They may be able to provide you with statements every month, however this doesn't' mean anything. It's very easy to falsify financial statements.

You need to be able to log into your investment account and find out how things are going in real time. Every single transaction and fee you are charged should appear in this online account summary page.

Investment frauds could leave you open to identity theft and could also end up costing you a small fortune. All investments are risky however, and you need to make sure you actually have a chance to make some money too.

Make sure investment companies are legitimate by checking out their social profiles.

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In 2003, more than 10 million Americans fell victim to identity theft.

Identity theft costs business and individuals $53 billion dollars annually

In 2003, Americans spent 300 million hours resolving issues related to identity theft.

70% of all identity theft cases are perpetrated by a co-worker or employee of an affiliated business.