Don’t let scammers ‘bond’ with your money.

How to spot an investment scam before it finds you

The world’s full of investment opportunities. But increasingly it’s the scammers who seem to be cashing. In fact, Aussies reported over $1.9 million in losses to investment scams in 2024¹. So invest a sec to find out more now – it could save you a fortune in the future.

What’s an investment scam?

An investment scam is a when a scammer lures you into a fake investment opportunity with the promise of high returns for little or no risk.

But at the end of the day all they’ll do is steal the money you invest.

How it works

The scammer will contact you out of the blue often by email, social media or a phone call.
They’ll offer you an unbelievable investment opportunity in shares, term deposits, real estate, cryptocurrency or something else.
To help get your trust, they may also direct you to a fake website, investment platform or document that show false returns.
The scammer will usually use high-pressure sales techniques – like a tight offer expiry date – to convince you to invest quickly.
Then once you invest, they’ll disappear together with your money.

Here’s how it happened to Ana

ING customer Ana* received an email out of the blue for an ING Term Deposit offer.

The attached document outlined a range of deposit options, with terms from 3 months to 5 years and returns that seemed too good to be true.

Looking more closely, Ana noticed some things weren’t quite right.

The email didn’t come from the usual ‘@ing.com’ or ‘no-reply@e.ing.com.au’ address. While the document also didn’t look professionally designed.

Wary, Ana visited the real ing.com.au website to check the number to call to confirm her suspicions and report her concerns.

*Name changed for privacy

4 tell-tale signs

Every crime has it’s MO, so here are some good clues it’s an investment scam.

Unsolicited offers. If you receive an unexpected investment offer, especially from someone you don’t know, there’s a good chance it a scam.
Unusually high returns. Be suspicious of promises of high returns with little or no risk. Real investments always carry some level of risk.
Pressure to act fast. Scammers will try to create a sense of urgency to push you into investing immediately without giving you time to think.
Complex or secret strategies. If the investment strategy is too complex to understand or shrouded in secrecy, it’s a red flag.

Specific things you can do

To help avoid an investment scam you should:

research reviews, complaints and the credentials of the company or person
speak to a professional advisor to get a second opinion about the opportunity
never give your money or banking details to a person you don’t know.

Better yet: Stop, Reflect & Protect

Whatever the type of scam, keeping these simple steps top of mind could help prevent you from becoming a scam statistic.

3 steps to spot scams before they find you

Stop. Before sharing any details or money, take a breather to assess if you really
know or trust who’s asking.
Reflect. Ask yourself: ‘Does this investment opportunity sound too good to be true?’
Protect. Don’t proceed if things seem fishy! If you’re an ING customer and notice unusual activity on your account, place your card on hold in the ING app and call our 24/7 scams line on 1800 052 743.

For our latest security alerts and more ways ING can help to protect you and your money, visit ing.com.au/security

¹The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (2024), https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/research-and-resources/scam-statistics

The information is current as at publication. Any advice on this website does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs and you should consider whether it is appropriate for you. ING is a business name of ING Bank (Australia) Limited ABN 24 000 893 292, AFSL and Australian Credit Licence 229823. Before interacting with us via our social media platforms, please take a minute to familiarise yourself with our Social Media User Terms https://www.ing.com.au/pdf/Social_Media_User_Terms.pdf.