Why Singaporeans Fall Prey to Scams
A couple of weeks back, I received the same sms from 2 friends on the $49 worth of free calls by the 3 telephone operators to celebrate Singaporean’s sending out 60 billion local smses. I smell a rat immediately and ask my friend:”Are u sure?”. Both gave the same reply:” No harm trying!”
About 2 years back, a friend was approached to join the Swiss Cash scam. When warned about high possibility of it being a scam, the reply was again “No harm trying”…
Recently, a more innovative “scam” have surfaced. This company sells you gold at a much higher cost compared to the market price. It then guarantees you a 2% interest every month and a buy back at the original bought price when you decide to sell. Many people, including churches, have expressed interest. No harm trying…
A typical scammer will present his scam in this way:
- You invest $X amount of money. Every month/quarter you will get back Y% of your investment. At the end of Z months, you would have recouped all your investments. The monthly/quarterly payments will continue perpetually.
- If you invest more, you get higher monthly/quarterly payout. If you referral more investors, you also get more.
Sounds attractive? Now, lets assume that there is a “honest” scammer (of course, there is no such thing as a honest scammer), and he frame his proposal this way: Point 1 and 2 is the same but there is a point 3
- You and your referrals can lost ALL your investment Anytime
Now, does it sound as attractive?
There will still be people who will put in money, but it will not be their life savings. These people have a gamblier’s mentality and would want to have a bet. No harm trying!
Related Posts
Tags: Investment Blunder, Scams
i totally agree with your post… i think the bottomline is greed… the more you invest the more you get back … i guess thats what happened to lehmann bros as well… greedy singaporeans invest heavily on stuff they dont even know thinking that lehmann is a big company and nothing will happen… GREED… investments without proper analysis…
Before they commit by saying “No Harm Trying”, they will go listen by saying “No Harm Listening”.
By listening to these scammers, there will be a high chance of “No Harm Trying”.
Thanks for sharing…
Hi Ian,
The argument regarding the Lehman Brothers saga is mainly is whether there is mis-selling ie, old retirees sold lehman linked structured products as fixed deposits.
On a more academic view, the lehman structured products did what it was supposed to do, that is to spread the risks. However, the issue is whether the appropriate people held the risks.
Of cos, there are victims who were ‘greedy’ in the sense that they wanted the higher returns without considering the risks involved. But there are many others who just wanted low risks low return stuff.