The COVID-19 virus has turned much of the investment world upside down in recent weeks, but one thing hasn’t changed: scammers.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) warned in an email on Monday.
“While the financial, cultural and societal changes are fresh, scammers will begin perpetrating schemes that require little or no advance planning and minimal sophistication," said Joseph P. Borg, Alabama Securities Commission director and head of NASAA’s Enforcement Section. “Most will simply be old scams dressed in contemporary clothing.”
Scammers will likely prey on retail investors’ fears over the current volatility of the stock market; desires to profit from companies that produce medical and surgical devices and accessories; and social conscience by marketing unregulated securities, precious minerals, real estate and get-rich-quick schemes that are too good to be true.
To combat scammers, NASAA recommends that investors deal only with licensed salespeople, contribute only to established charities and not give out any personal information that can compromise them.
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