S/o non LH! Investment schemes that lost you money

amother

Mon, Apr 17 2023, 10:55 am

So we don’t want anyone to say that it’s LH.
This is a thread where you can post and make people aware of investments, or scams you fell for where money was lost…
And prevent other people from making similar mistakes..

One issue that many people I know get scammed in is when they buy houses on paper that haven’t been built yet, and don’t have legal rights too, only a Yiddish shtar.
Many people lose lots of money when either the builder doesn’t come through, the developers split up and no one wants to honor your deposit….etc…..

amother

Broom

Mon, Apr 17 2023, 11:01 am

There is a common scam I was unaware of and I fell for, when someone who owes you money sends you more than they owe and then asks for the difference back. Sounds like no problem, right? After you pay back you find out their check is no good.
They add small details along the way to make you trust them. We thought the check he gave us was from our mortgage bank, which is easily researched online.

amother

Dill

Mon, Apr 17 2023, 11:09 am

I think that anything you don’t really understand is a scam. For example, we lost a lot of money in Bitcoin over the past few years (for the second time!). My grandfather and my parents both independently lost money investing with friends in real estate in a far away place (Canada, Texas, South Carolina). Oops - the project went bad …

That’s why if you don’t want to lose your money, you should open a retirement account with Vanguard and invest in mutual funds … or buy ETFs (exchange traded funds) of a broad spectrum of the stock market like the S&P 500.

Our big losses are all for the best. If we are so money dumb then we are probably meant to be working jobs in order to get our money and there’s really nothing wrong with that.

Genius

Mon, Apr 17 2023, 11:28 am

amother OP wrote:

A legit shtar is honored in court. You need to know what you’re signing. That said, I wouldn’t buy a house that is non existent. It’s hard to imagine space, and the rooms can end up a lot smaller than I thought it will be.

amother

DarkPurple

Mon, Apr 17 2023, 11:41 am

amother Dill wrote:

Do you understand etfs? Or is it just the standard assumed safe investment? Right now etfs are the biggest scam ever.

watergirl

Mon, Apr 17 2023, 12:27 pm

I have a few ex-family members who were involved in insider trading. They are very charismatic and both of them can sell a jar of sand to a person living in the desert who really just needed water. They managed to convince their immediate family and many frum institutions to invest in a few stocks based on their insider intel (whatever it's called). Everyone lost everything. My father was part of this, but he didn't trust the people so he only invested as much as he was willing to lose (my father is very informed about the stock market and has his entire life savings invested, which is terrifying but he seems to be conservative - his call to make). People lost EVERYTHING when the stock failed to do what was promised. Shocker. People came knocking and calling. I was very close to this, it was very uncomfortable to say the least.

The thing is, my father was the only one who knew the basic rule of investment - only invest what you are willing to lose.

Anyone who is investing because they want to get rich quickly is more likely to lose than to win.

I won't go into detail on what happened to the ex-family members who were doing the insider trading but if you REALLY want to know, you can pm me. BH not jail, although one of them should be sitting there now.

amother

DarkPurple

Mon, Apr 17 2023, 12:27 pm

amother Aster wrote:

Why are etfs the biggest scam ever?

Because of operational shorting, lack of diversity as everyone is invested in these 20 stocks including retirement funds, liquidity multipliers.

Here's a video on the topic
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ncq35zrFCAg

amother

Butterscotch

Mon, Apr 17 2023, 12:37 pm

rainbow dash wrote:

I was listening to the podcast and I think one problem is that some people don't have Internet access and take people at face value. So they can't check if its a good deal or not.

That’s a very shallow conclusion.
Some of the victims are Williamsburg’s wealthiest yungeleit who aren’t as sheltered as you imagine.

giftedmom

Mon, Apr 17 2023, 12:46 pm

rainbow dash wrote:

I was listening to the podcast and I think one problem is that some people don't have Internet access and take people at face value. So they can't check if it’s a good deal or not.

And this is why posters said to stop. Because people who have no idea what they’re talking about come up with these brilliant conclusions.

amother

DarkPurple

Mon, Apr 17 2023, 12:51 pm

giftedmom wrote:

And this is why posters said to stop. Because people who have no idea what they’re talking about come up with these brilliant conclusions.

It's hysterical how the go-to reason is always the lack of internet and education. Such an easy scapegoat. Poor uneducated, internetless, millionaires being taken for a ride. If only they'd have a masters in business baloney. Rolling Eyes

WhatFor

Mon, Apr 17 2023, 12:57 pm

amother Butterscotch wrote:

That’s a very shallow conclusion.
Some of the victims are Williamsburg’s wealthiest yungeleit who aren’t as sheltered as you imagine.

If Rainbow Dash is talking about the Zev Brenner podcast about the pesach thing, it came up in a different context. The guests were discussing how people get away with scamming multiple people for pesach/shabatton programs. So someone said they just change the name of the program and go to another community. And then one guest said something to the effect of, they might still be able to do this again in a community where people don't have internet, and he said this person might still be able to get away with this in the specific type of chassidish community that doesn't use internet, so they wouldn't see all the hype about the failed programs.

I'm not saying I agree or disagree with that. Just repeating what was said.

amother

Mon, Apr 17 2023, 12:58 pm

amother Butterscotch wrote:

That’s a very shallow conclusion.
Some of the victims are Williamsburg’s wealthiest yungeleit who aren’t as sheltered as you imagine.

Please stop referring back to any specific case….it’ll go in circles…
This is general advice.

amother

Dodgerblue

Mon, Apr 17 2023, 1:01 pm

WhatFor wrote:

They type of people who are so chassidish that they don't have internet wouldn't go to a pesach hotel program either. Let alone one advertised by some random group who they never heard of.

But seeing that the OP doesn't want the topic changed. End of the day the bigger the chance of gain the bigger the risk is a basic investment principle . This may be an oxymoron but people are probably subconsciously knowingly taking that risk as well when they invest with shaky investments.

giftedmom

Mon, Apr 17 2023, 1:06 pm

amother DarkPurple wrote:

It’s the same reason people need to know why someone died