Protect yourself from investment scams!

Remind yourself that if an individual or organisation contacts you randomly about an investment opportunity, it is likely to be either a scam or an investment carrying high risk.

Consider that in the UK, almost all financial services firms must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which operates the Financial Services Register and Consumer Helpline. Details can be found on the Get Safe Online website.

Learn to spot the classic signs of an investment fraud, such as unrealistically high returns (although this is not always the case), undue pressure or limited time offers. Over-familiarity or flattery, absence of a physical address or being requested to provide remote access to your device.

​​​​If you receive a cold call offering an investment, do not engage in conversation, but instead end the call by either disconnecting straight away, or after saying “No thanks, I’m not interested.”

If you receive an online or text communication about an investment, ignore it and if it’s an email, delete it. Do not click on any links or attachments.

Think about registering with the Telephone Preference Service and Mailing Preference Service to reduce the number of unsolicited calls and letters you receive.

Callers may pretend they are not cold calling you by referring to a brochure or an email they have already sent.

Ignore any unsolicited offers of help in recovering money you have lost to a scam, as this will undoubtedly be another scam.

Get more advice here.