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Absolutely not harshing on the OP here, because my own 85-year-old mother is a gullible sort who could easily fall for something like this. But it reminds me of the adage, "The entire purpose of your life could be to serve as a warning to others."
There are no get-rich schemes in investing, and you certainly don't give your money to someone without some thorough vetting, transparency in reporting, and a host of other safeguards. A surety bond would be a good thing for them to have.
My wife's SIL had a stepfather who was a real bastard. Liked to crap on people. If you didn't have a backbone, he'd double down, which explains why my wife's SIL always had a bit of a whipped-dog demeanor about her. She's such a sweetheart, but her conversations are always laced with wholly unneeded apologies for things she never did. I credit her stepfather for that.
Anyway, during an uncomfortable dinner at her house I was forced to sit across from him at the dinner table. He had developed an investment scheme for investing in the Iraqi dinar revaluation (Here's a little about it: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwas.../#6df535d0684c). He was trying to convince his own family -- and by extension, us -- into investing in what was a patently obvious fraud. I said no, to which he basically mocked me and the other people at the table, asking about our investments. I mean, our investments are in nice, safe index funds and commercial real estate, but none of this was even remotely his business. This interrogation went on for about ten minutes.
You don't know me, but I have a steel spine in such situations. I countered with the fact that our investments were doing just fine. But then I cross-examined the guy for five minutes on how much of his own money he was putting into his loopy scheme. House paid for? Great. Take out a home equity line and buy up all the Iraqi dinar you can. He was always bragging about his money market accounts and his stock portfolios, so I told him that I'd go along with him when he mortgaged his paid-for house and cashed out his portfolios to do this loopy thing, and showed me proof to boot. He started faltering, so I kept at it. Probably not my most graceful moment, but I was tired of his badgering anyone and everybody about this.
I called my wife's SIL the next day to apologize. She laughed. "No worries. If anything you kept my husband from investing in this thing."
So, my parents are planning to break their lease next week and move in with my sister. My mother is already planning how to split up their furniture and store it at my and my sister's houses. This is just terrible. We're waiting to see if there will be any response to the demand letter, which should arrive today.
In the meantime, I found out yesterday that my Dad brought the guy over to my sister's house and he did a dog and pony show for them trying to convince her to invest part of her retirement account with the guy. Fortunately, her 403(B) has restrictions and she couldn't have done that even if she had wanted to. And, still, NO ONE thought to discuss any of this with me and my DH. This has been going on for more than six months and we had no clue until it was too late. We would have done the research and found all this info in a day. Oh well.
About 20 years ago one of our friends was having great success currency trading. He wanted us to convert all our assets to cash, so he could make us a ton of money. We declined. He ended up losing his shirt.
Even if this SOB wasn't a ponzi schemester, currency trading is high risk investing.
About 20 years ago one of our friends was having great success currency trading. He wanted us to convert all our assets to cash, so he could make us a ton of money. We declined. He ended up losing his shirt.
Even if this SOB wasn't a ponzi schemester, currency trading is high risk investing.
I know someone like this too, also with currency trading. He was visiting a friend of mine in NH and bragging about how much money he was making and offered to bring us all in. I would never do such a thing and thanked him and declined (we all did). I also worked for a financial company and had to keep my investments with them anyway, not that I was the least bit tempted.
Well, he ended up losing everything. His wife had no idea how deep in he had gotten and they needed up divorced.
In his case, I think he was honest and not trying to scam anyone, he was just stupid. He had made some money initially and so thought he knew what he was doing.
So, my parents are planning to break their lease next week and move in with my sister. My mother is already planning how to split up their furniture and store it at my and my sister's houses. This is just terrible. We're waiting to see if there will be any response to the demand letter, which should arrive today.
In the meantime, I found out yesterday that my Dad brought the guy over to my sister's house and he did a dog and pony show for them trying to convince her to invest part of her retirement account with the guy. Fortunately, her 403(B) has restrictions and she couldn't have done that even if she had wanted to. And, still, NO ONE thought to discuss any of this with me and my DH. This has been going on for more than six months and we had no clue until it was too late. We would have done the research and found all this info in a day. Oh well.
I'm so sorry all this happened. Sounds like everyone is taking necessary actions. Probably best to take the attitude that nothing will come of the demand letter, the money is gone, and that its unlikely that they'll ever get the benefit of a judgement, given the long list of other claims. If the stars align right and they do see something, it will be gravy.
I'm so sorry all this happened. Sounds like everyone is taking necessary actions. Probably best to take the attitude that nothing will come of the demand letter, the money is gone, and that its unlikely that they'll ever get the benefit of a judgement, given the long list of other claims. If the stars align right and they do see something, it will be gravy.
This has been going on for more than six months and we had no clue until it was too late. We would have done the research and found all this info in a day. Oh well.
Even if they had let you know they were "investing" with this guy, they might not have believed you when you told them about all the other scams this guy and his wife pulled.
Tyler Shultz tried to warn his grandfather that Theranos was a fraud, but George Shultz called him a liar and disowned him.
The lure of easy money is too great. Particularly if it looks like it might be the last chance you ever have to get big money.
So there was no "authorized signer" for the certified demand letter yesterday. It was also sent via snail mail, but I guess there's no way to prove that was delivered. Can't say I'm surprised.
Tell your dad to call the district attorney's office nearest him.....be it the county or state attorney's office. Tell your dad to have written down dates and amounts and anything he can think of ..they will inform him of what needs to be done......I've been a private investor for over 30 years and what happened to your dad is sadly very common....some have larceny in their heart from the get go and suck people in to their ponzi scheme....others really think their smart and that they can trade the markets and will talk family and friends to invest with them only to learn they couldn't trade their way out of a wet paper bag and lose all the money that family and friends and co-workers gave to them....this in my opinion is what happened to your dad...the guy lost it all and the first thing they do is cut off all communications....take it to the district attorney's office now and they will be able to steer your dad on how to proceed.
Yup. Sooner rather than later.
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