The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has warned investors to beware of a rise in imposter bond investment offers.
Acting Chair of ASIC, Karen Chester said the scammers pretended to be associated with well-known domestic and international financial service firms and offered high yield bond investments.
“In many circumstances, the scam occurs after the investor completes an online enquiry form expressing interest in receiving investment advice, often via a third party or comparison site,” Ms Chester said.
“When individuals decide to invest in these bogus bonds, they are directed to pay funds into a bank account,” she said.
“It can be difficult to recover money lost to scams, especially if the scammers are based outside of Australia, and the funds may be permanently lost.”
Ms Chester said investors should be wary of claims that seemed too good to be true.
“Interest rates globally are currently extremely low, and expected to remain so for some time,” she said.
“if you see or receive offers of high yield bonds, they are either high-risk or they may simply be bogus and a scam.
“Investors searching for income-generating investments are at risk of being duped into buying these imposter bonds.”
Ms Chester warned investors to be sceptical and make proper inquiries before investing.
“These bogus bond funds are raising not thousands, but millions of dollars from Australian investors,” she said.
Ms Chester said investors were also at risk of identity theft and should check that they were actually dealing with a real company and refrain from sharing personal information online unless they could verify who was using the information and how.
