Promissory notes, Ponzi schemes top investor threats for 2020, says NASAA
Oct. 4:
Suit alleged the insurerimproperly increased monthly costs to avoid guaranteed monthly interest payments.
State regulators also see trouble in real estate, cryptocurrencies and social media investments
Promissory notes and Ponzi schemes are the leading products or schemes that are likely to trap investors in 2020, according to the North American Securities Administrators Association.
Filling out the top five likely investor traps are real estate investments, cryptocurrency-related investments and social media/Internet-based investment schemes, NASAA said in a release.
The organization of state and provincial securities regulators in the United States, Canada and Mexico, said its top-five list is based on investor complaints, ongoing investigations and current enforcement trends.
The most common telltale sign of an investment scam, said Christopher W. Gerold, NASAA president and chief of the New Jersey Bureau of Securities, is an offer of guaranteed high returns with no risk, who noted that many of the threats facing investors involve private offerings, which are exempt from federal securities registration requirements and are not sold through public stock exchanges.
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