How to avoid an investment scam? Stay away from 3 poisons.

“Never trust a person that tries to sell you by how righteous they are. I’m telling your right now, it’s a scam.”― Richie Norton

It is a total disaster for any investor to lose their hard-earned money to investment scams.

An investment scam can present to you with different faces and promises but it has only one ultimate aim- cheating your money and life long savings.

How to avoid an investment scam? It is easy if you try to avoid three poisons (三毒）-greed, hatred, and delusion (贪嗔癡) in daily life.

We start off being the target of investment scam because of greed.

Greed- Your biggest enemy

Scammers promise you high returns with low-risk investment schemes. It is certainly too good to be true! No one will help you to be a millionaire but it is human nature to like fast money with minimal effort.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed!” Greed is always the culprit we fall prey to an investment scam. We want fast and extraordinary results even though we know this kind of investment is rarely legitimate or even real.

The modus operandi of investment scam usually combines delusion of wealth with a risk-free high return investment opportunity.

The founder of the scam is usually a well-dressed gentleman wearing a luxurious watch and driving a million-dollar sports car. He is well-spoken with immaculate vocabulary. After attending his Money/Investment /Business seminar, you are given a professional investment brochure/ prospectus. He promises that the return of the investment will be extraordinary with no risk because he has cracked a way to beat the average market return or found a new way of investing.

You are reminded to make a quick decision because the deal will be over soon. He shows you a few investors who have made a handsome return of more than 20 percent in 3 months.

Hatred fuels your stupidity

You hate your life and are fed up with work. Your bank account balance goes up at a snail speed. Friends and relatives around you are living in big houses and driving big ass cars. You are the only one struggling with money and return.

You and your spouse are always in an acrimonious argument because of money. Life is tough, making more money is the only purpose at this moment.

This investment will be the only way for you to get out of your money mess. You are promised higher returns if you can recruit more people to join this once-a-lifetime investment scheme.

Delusion blinds your mind

You choose to believe even though you can’t find the company name on the internet, SSM ( Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia), or ARCA ( Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority).

Even the company you are going to invest in one of the black-listed companies found in Bank Negara or MAS ( Money Authority of Singapore) websites, you are hoping you get the money back and won’t be the last one in the musical chair when the music stops.

Just calm yourself down and think again before putting your earned money in any investment.

Losing money in any of these investment scams will set you back for many years in your investing journey. For you to reach your financial independence, you make little steps every day and do not standstill. Investment scams actually lure you to move backward instead and you have to work extra few more years to fill up the gap!

Conclusion

You can avoid any investment scam by just staying away from these three common poisons that blind your eyes and mind.

Lao Tzu once said, “Manifest plainness, Embrace simplicity, Reduce selfishness, Have few desires.” Your life will be a better one if you practice this advice.

You can’t get rich overnight! Have a plan, stick to your plan, and start investing today and you will be in a better financial position after 5 years!

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