Investeringsbedrägerier - Engelska
Have you received emails or telephone calls from investment advisors who want you to invest your savings in shares or funds with "good" prospects? Or speculate in raw material, traditional currency, crypto currency or binary options? It may involve organised investment fraud.
Translated page: This text has been translated from Swedish. The text and appearance of the page may look different from the original page.
Keep this in mind
If an offer sounds too good to be true, it often is.
Contact your bank and report to the police if you have been a victim of fraud. You can also tip off the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, which can issue warnings via its warning list.
Want to invest? Research the company before entering into an agreement. On the Financial Supervisory Authority’s website, you can see if the company is authorized for its operations or is on the warning list.
More information
Investment fraud often starts with a telephone call from someone who is offering a lucrative investment. The offer may also turn up in a text message or an email.
The scammer is often knowledgeable and good at instilling trust. You often also see a website that looks well made and professional.
Advertisements on social media
Investment fraud can also begin through fake advertisements on social media or the internet.
The ads often feature interviews with celebrities who talk about how they made a lot of money in a short time with a new method. The celebrities are not asked for permission. They are just exploited to create interest. You are encouraged to submit your contact details and then receive an offer for an investment.
Often starts with smaller amounts
You are often not asked to deposit more than a couple of thousand SEK as your first deposit. This is followed by prompts to deposit more and more money.
Sometimes you also get a login where you can see the value increase. This is manipulated to create a sense of security and convince you to deposit more money.
If you have once been a victim of investment fraud, there is a high risk that fraudsters will try again. Sometimes shortly after the first fraud and sometimes only several years later.
It could be about a new investment. Someone might also call and offer you help to recover lost money.
Another variant is that you have to pay some form of fee to get help. The fraudster may claim that it is, for example, a contract fee, license fee, tax, or bank fee.
Information about a company in the financial sector can be checked with the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (FI) and its equivalence in other countries.
The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority's company list and warning list
FI's company register contains companies that are licensed to conduct financial activity or are registered with FI. If the company is not included in this register you should not do business with them. You should also make sure that the telephone number and postal number that you have received from the company matches the official information that the authorities have.
Contact FI if you suspect that you have been subjected to investment fraud. FI is unable to take your individual case further, this is something that you need to do yourself. However, if you notify FI about it you may help to improve the financial market.
To the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority's company register
To the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority's register of warnings for companies
There are several things that you should keep in mind to avoid being scammed:
- If you receive an offer that sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
- Hang up if someone calls and tries to convince you to invest.
- Never allow someone you don’t know to remotely access your computer.
- Do not use your bank ID at someone else’s request.
- Do not log in to your bank at someone else’s request.
- Never share your login codes.
- Never invest if you do not understand what it is about.
- If you want to invest – check the company.
Read more on how to avoid investment fraud on konsumenternas.se
File a police report if you are the victim of investment fraud. You can do this even if you have not transferred money, already know that you have lost the money or if you have only been subjected to attempted fraud.
If you have just transferred a payment through your bank or your card you can try to stop it. Contact your bank or card issuer.
Read about investment fraud on the website for the Swedish Police (in Swedish)
