Tag: investment

Beware Of The Comment Scam Ring

Posted on by Nicholas Peart

The “Comment Scam Ring” (CSR) is an alarming phenomenon that has become a huge problem on social media. It is most common in the comments section of various popular finance, investing and cryptocurrency related videos on YouTube. Below, I am sharing a random example of one of many such CSRs, which I extracted from the comments section of a video by a popular finance influencer on YouTube who will remain nameless…

Such CSRs prey on unsuspecting and financially inexperienced individuals by creating a false and deceptive narrative of success by luring them into financial schemes that are completely fraudulent. In the case of the above example, a fake non-existent financial expert/adviser called Jessica Dawn Walters is used.

I broached this issue recently with ChatGPT to get some information. The way such a CSR operates is as follows…

Firstly, it starts with “The Setup”, which is the first original comment. In this case…“As an investing enthusiast… I’ve been sitting on over $545K equity…”. This is the “bait comment”. The individual making the comment tries to come across as a genuine investor with a sizeable although not enormous sum of money (In this case $545k to create a false sense of honesty and trust) that they are looking to invest, but are not sure what to do. The goal of this original comment is to be as convincing as possible by targeting individuals in a similar situation.

That first comment is followed by the first reply in the form of “The Helpful Advice”…. “I lack the time… I’ve enlisted the services of a fiduciary…”. The purpose of this reply is to create the “idea” of a trustworthy professional. Many times a “fiduciary” is used that paints a picture of someone responsible and legally bound to work in your interest. This sets the stage for the next step, which is recommending a fake adviser.

But before we get to that stage, there is “The Curious Observer” comment in the second reply….“How can I participate in this?…”. This is the “fake social proof”. Another fake account pretending to be a normal curious person asking for more info. This is simply designed to make the whole comment thread more believable to unsuspecting individuals.

Then we arrive at the fourth stage of this CSR; the third reply in the form of “The Pitch”. This is when the name of the fake financial adviser is dropped…“I’ve stuck with Jessica Dawn Walters for about five years…”. A plain and realistic-sounding name is used to make it all look genuine. However, those who try to research the name via Google will invariably find fake websites and LinkedIn Profiles as well as fake WhatsApp or Telegram numbers.

This is then followed by the final stage in the thread or “The Closer”. In this case in the fourth reply, a fake account comments, “Thank you for this amazing tip…”, further stating that the fake advisor has been contacted and thus adding a deceptive layer of legitimacy to this whole fraudulent operation. Sometimes such a CSR can be on steroids where there are many fake closer comments all endorsing the fake adviser and stating that they have scheduled a call etc.

To many seasoned investors and financial professionals such CSRs instantly appear deceptive and unconvincing. However, there are many individuals who sadly fall for such scams. The relatability, fake sense of trust as well as the triggering of the primal FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) bug in such people leads them down this shady avenue. Such scams usually result in situations where these victims end up paying up-front “consulting” fees and falling for Ponzi scheme style “high yield” investment offers. In even more severe cases, once one of the victims has engaged in such acts they may be emotionally manipulated via further follow-up contacts and other too-good-to-be-true “returns” schemes to keep them parting with more of their money.

What amazes me is the lack of pro-activity (and action full stop) in dealing with such CSRs by the content moderation teams of the YouTube segment of Alphabet (the parent company of YouTube). It seems that much of YouTube’s content moderation system is automated thus allowing such scams to persist. But sadly such scams are common throughout the entire world wide web, which, since it became mass adopted almost 30 years ago, continues to be a messy wild west space. We can only hope that one day in the future the internet becomes a cleaner and safer space to interact in and where all the harmful and nefarious elements are kept out.

By Nicholas Peart

31st July 2025

(c)All Rights Reserved

Is Now A Good Time To Buy Gold?

Posted on by Nicholas Peart

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This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot these last few months. Looking at all the current global events including the upcoming US elections and the sense that the world is becoming increasingly unhinged, could gold (and by extension other precious metals such as silver) be a good place to put some of your savings/hard earned cash into?

Gold has traditionally been the place to put your money into during times of global unrest. Out of all the world currencies, the US dollar is often seen as the main currency. If you live in a country where the local currency is notoriously unstable, it is often seen as a smart idea to have any cash savings in US dollars. Especially since, unlike other major currencies such as the Euro or British Pound, the US dollar is accepted absolutely everywhere. Yet what happens when even the US dollar becomes unstable? This is where gold comes in.

All paper currencies, whether you have US dollars or Zambian Kwacha, are all just that; paper currencies. Furthermore, if the government wanted to, it could print more and more of its currency thus increasing the money supply and triggering inflation which reduces the value of a country’s currency against other currencies. Unlike paper money, gold is highly prized for its scarcity.

Gold can be seen more as a security to protect your money as opposed to making money. Of course if you buy gold at $1,300 an ounce and the price a few months later is $1,600, you would have made a nice profit if you ever decided to convert some of your gold back into cash (and conversely, if the gold price went down to $1000 and you needed cash you would be selling your gold at a loss).

There are also of course digital currencies out there with Bitcoin being the the most well known, established and traded of all the global digital currencies. Even if digital currencies may be seen as the future of money especially with the Bitcoin (which was once the pariah of the financial world) becoming increasingly accepted and recognised as a legitimate global currency, this is a world where my expertise is limited. I am also scared by the high chance of wild fluctuations and the whole intangibility of it all. Gold just seems less complicated. It is a precious tangible metal with a limited supply and that is all I need to know.

Looking at the gold price chart of the last twenty years, gold has already had a hell of a run going from a low of just $252 an ounce in 1999 to a high of $1889 an ounce in 2011. The current gold price as I write this article is $1307 an ounce; still several multiples of its 1999 low yet a good chunk lower than its 2011 high. Some say that the gold price could surpass its 2011 high and breach the $2000 an ounce mark if the world really did begin to tilt off its axis and spin in some crazy time signature. Yet predicting the future price of gold is a fool’s game. What I can say with ‘certainty’ though is that during times of ‘uncertainty’, gold is a good thing to have.

 

How To Purchase Gold

Gold can be purchased physically in the forms of established gold coins and gold bars. It can be good to personally own some bits of physical gold and keep them in a safety box (or dig a deep hole somewhere in your garden to hide and store them – just make sure you don’t forget where you put them!). On the other hand having lots of physical gold in the house can create a feeling of insecurity. If you are lucky enough to have a big gold pile, it would be best to keep it in a robust security vault by an established and reputable firm. Below I am listing some useful contacts…

Apmex based in Oklahoma, USA, is the world’s largest online retailer of precious metals selling more than 10,000 gold, silver, platinum and palladium products in the form of bars, coins, bullion, rare collectible editions etc.

BullionByPost based in Birmingham, UK is the UKs largest online gold dealer and a good contact to have if you are a UK resident.

For Australian residents, The Perth Mint is a good contact.

Other established global gold/precious metals dealers include the Canadian company Kitco and the Indian company RiddiSiddhi Bullion Limited.

The London based company BullionVault is an online peer to peer gold and silver bullion exchange. Since its founding in 2005, the company has been very successful. This is also a great place to trade gold and silver if you don’t have much money at your disposal since there is no minimum amount of gold or silver you can trade. BullionVault charges a flat 0.5% – 0.05% fee per trade depending on the amount of gold or silver you buy or sell. The other additional costs are the annual fees for storing and insuring the gold and silver you purchase which are 0.12% (0.01% per month – $4 minimum) of the value of your gold and 0.48% (0.04% per month – $8 minimum) of the value of your silver

 

By Nicholas Peart

5th November 2016

(All rights reserved)

 

image source: http://www.therealasset.co.uk