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By Derek Craddock

INVESTOR BEWARE

How to watch for investment scams after warning from province

Mar 14, 2024 | 3:00 PM

The province has warned potential investors against an online firm prompting reminders to be safe with their money.

Earlier this week, the provincial government issued an investor alert for SimpleWealthFX, which claims to offer Saskatchewan residents trading opportunities, including cryptocurrency, foreign exchange, options, commodities, shares and indices.

However, the province noted that the company is not registered to trade or sell securities or derivatives in Saskatchewan.

For Cole Kachur with Kachur Wealth Management, it’s uncommon for the province to release an investor alert like this, which leads him to believe several complaints were filed.

Kachur noted that a lot has changed over the last decade for investment options with many going online instead of in person.

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Cryptocurrency has also become a major risk factor in the world of investing.

“I think that there’s probably a lot of different access to platforms specifically for people looking for more higher risk investments that would generally be where the bulk of these issues would probably take place,” he said.

When it comes to spotting a potential fraud with investments, Kachur said you should confirm the seller’s registration status on the Canadian Securities Administrators’ database at aretheyregistered.ca.

It also helps to hear from other people who may have used the service or have seen suspicious activity related to them.

“If there’s word of mouth or referral or if the investor comes from somebody who has experienced and dealt with them in the past because then you’re not going in blind,” he said. “There is obviously some type of background where there’s a connection to somebody or connection to the local community where you’re not just risking your money due to a website or something that looks good.”

Referring back to cryptocurrencies, Kachur noted there have been numerous examples of companies not being regulated and leading investors into an uncertain investment.

At the end of the day, if it sounds too good to be true, do your research and back away if need be.

“Anytime you’re in something where it’s not regulated by either a Securities Exchange, by a provincial or federal governing body, that there’s more risk to the investor and you just have to be careful that the risks that you’re taking outweigh or the rewards that you might get outweigh the risks that you’re taking and I think a lot of those markets do not,” said Kachur.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com