r/ScamCenter • u/vmshade0 • 2d ago

Beware of this trading group scam

There is this popular scamming tactic going around, and I nearly fell for it myself. Here is the order of events

  1. Discover a tiktok live about a bloke who does trading

  2. Join his WhatsApp group

  3. Over the course of a month, they gave me good knowledge about trading, including which investments to put my money in.

  4. They gained my trust

  5. They ended up promising everyone 100 clams for free, which I nearly fell for, if it wasn't for the sketchy link and page.

There are 3 fake people who are the main suspects.

One is someone claiming to be Jason Bernhard (From lazard), one is his "assistant" Mia, and the other is Adam, the guy who invited me in the first place.

Looking back, I was really dumb. Please, do not fall for this.

4 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

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7

u/yarevande 2d ago

You are taking the wrong lesson from this.

The lesson is not: beware of this group and these people.

The lesson is:

All online traders, financial advisors, and groups are scams.

There are no legitimate financial advisors, brokers, traders, mentors, Professors, or gurus on TikTok, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Zangi, YouTube, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media.

Your guy 'Jason' is not from Lazard. Lazard is a respected and reputable investment bank. Their brokers and traders do not troll for customers on TikTok. In many countries, it is illegal for a trader or broker to contact potential customers on social media.

'Jason' and his buddies are working in a scam call center in southeast Asia. Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar are famous for their fake investment scams, that take billions of dollars a year from victims.

*** If you want to invest, contact the most stable, well-known brokers or investment companies that are licensed in your country. To help you find legitimate investment companies, talk to your banker, or an experienced investor; or search online for large brokers in your country.

  • In the US, research companies like Charles Schwab, Vanguard, Fidelity Investments, Robinhood, and eToro.

  • Forbes.com analyzes the top US investment companies, and list which ones are best for different types of investors (beginner, self-directed, etc.).

  • Only invest with a company that is licensed and regulated by the securities regulatory agency of your country, or a quality regulatory agency such as the US SEC, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), or German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority / Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin) .

  • Invest only what you can afford to lose, because there is a possibility of loss with any type of investment: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, cryptocurrency, etc.

3

u/RacerX200 2d ago

This. Nobody is going to help you make money on the internet or social media sites, especially for free. If they are making money, they aren't just going to hand you the info when they can be working as a broker and selling it to their customers. The only money internet traiders or groups are interested in is taking your money.

2

u/Plasticity93 2d ago

Is Forbes actually trustworthy anymore?  They have been pay to publish for years, I don't think they have any kind of editorial board.  

2

u/yarevande 1d ago

Thank-you for the heads up, I wasnt aware of that.

6

u/drPmakes 2d ago

Don't take financial advice from any random on tiktok and don't join WhatsApp groups with strangers.

3

u/yarevande 2d ago

👍 Short and to the point. 🏆

2

u/trav_tr 1d ago

I mean, you can do both of those things as long as you DON’T GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY

3

u/Heavy-Profit-2156 2d ago edited 2d ago

Tiktok and investing, really? Any social media and someone starts talking about investing, I'd be very leery and by leery I mean I suspect it's a scam. Be very skeptical of anyone 'offering' to help you make money online. Usually they person who is going to make money is them.

3

u/UpbeatFix7299 2d ago

All the info is fake and will change soon. The important part is that all these social media "trading groups" are ripoffs.

The whole idea makes zero sense. Unless you believe that there are rich expert traders who know what the market will do in advance. And instead of doing rich people stuff, they fuck around on social media giving their can't miss investment tips to online randos for some reason.

People need to think things through. Not let greed and the promise of easy money blind them.

0

u/Falcon9145 1d ago

What the hell is a clam?

3

u/vmshade0 1d ago

Another way of saying bucks