Do you have the full range of savings accounts with savings accounts, life insurance, retirement products and are you looking to diversify your assets towards alternative financial investments? Attention ! These products should only represent a tiny part of your capital and are intended for large assets.
To avoid serious disappointments, or downright scams, never invest with your eyes closed. Before you start, go back to the fundamentals of financial theory: by nature, a very profitable investment is necessarily very risky. However, most of the time, scammers lure savers with the assurance of a quick “gain”, the promise of “guaranteed capital”, obviously accompanied by “low taxation”.
They also read the heritage press to find out about investments in the spotlight and adapt their speech in order to better help you. For example, in recent years, a large number of them have offered speculative investments in Forex (the convertible currency market), cryptocurrencies, wine, parking spaces in airports or nursing homes, etc.
Be sure to read the instructions!
Most of the time, the underlying product doesn’t even exist. As soon as you have paid the required amount, the intermediary simply disappears. Even otherwise, be wary of investments that are too exotic because their value is extremely variable. To hope for capital gains, you will have to sell at the right time and therefore monitor your price in an almost professional manner. You will also need to ensure, in advance, that the secondary market is active because these investments are rarely liquid. And don’t forget that, to recover your funds, you will sometimes have to wait a long time or accept losing a large part of your capital.
To know what you are getting into, it is essential to read the explanatory note for the targeted investment, which must be provided to you before subscribing. And if you have trouble understanding it, move on. Also avoid financial products whose issuer or manager is a small, unknown company, especially if it has a domicile outside France (Cyprus, Great Britain and the Channel Islands, Luxembourg or Malta are addresses often used). In the event of a problem, recourse abroad will be more complicated, if not impossible.
Make an appointment in person
Another piece of advice: if you are contacted by telephone by an “investment expert”, after leaving your details online on a site, make a physical appointment with him before entrusting him with your money. As many scammers operate remotely, this precaution will protect you from most scam attempts. Do not hesitate to consult the official sites, such as that of the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR) and the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), which register approved or registered professionals after having verified their quality.
If in doubt, you can contact the AMF Epargne Info Service platform. He answers questions from investors canvassed by telephone (01 53 45 62 00, Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.) or via the Internet (amf-france.org, Savers area section). The regulator also updates blacklists online which list unrecognized intermediaries and outright scam sites.
And if, despite all your precautions, you have been the victim of a scam, quickly notify the ACPR or the AMF. You will thus prevent other savers from being trapped in their turn.
An article from the L’Express special report “Investing in 2024: the right strategies for an uncertain environment”, published in the weekly on February 15.
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