News

Don't get swept away by a romance scam.

Dating apps and social media platforms may be a popular way to meet new people, but be cautious if someone turns an online romance into an opportunity to solicit an investment or asks to borrow money. Scammers are increasingly posing as potential romantic partners to lure people into fraudulent investment schemes. This alert discusses common tactics fraudsters use in investment-related romance scams and gives you steps to take to protect yourself from these schemes.

In our digitally connected world, some investors turn to online chatrooms and social media platforms for information about investing or specific investment opportunities.  And with today’s trading technology, it’s easy to go from zero to invested in a matter of minutes.  Phone apps can turn inexperienced investors into day traders, and online investment chat forums make it easy to use these sources for investment advice rather than relying on the services of a registered investment professional. While ever-evolving financial technology innovation makes investing more accessible to greater numbers of people, investors must understand the risks created when financial innovation and social media intersect. 

The relationship you have with your investment professional is a key element to meeting your long-term financial goals.

If your stockbroker or investment adviser representative leaves his or her employer, you should make sure that you understand how and why it happened. It could be as simple as a move to another city or retirement, but there could be other reasons too. It is critical to find out what happened before deciding who will help you with your investments going forward. After all, it’s your money and your financial future.

Crypto assets, including cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, tokens, and other digital assets have been of increasing interest to individual investors over the last few years.  This Investor Advisory highlights the risks that may be involved in a new financial product related to crypto assets—an interest-bearing account for crypto asset holdings. 

The North Dakota Securities Department has released its annual list of top investor threats and urges caution before purchasing popular and volatile unregulated investments – especially those involving cryptocurrency and digital assets.  Along with the list of top investor threats, the Department also provides guidance for investors, including steps to take to protect against fraud in the new year. 

As part of its ongoing effort to raise investor awareness, the North Dakota Securities Department has issued an investor advisory discussing Decentralized Finance (DeFi), a relatively new blockchain-based set of financial products and services.

In a combined effort to provide additional protection for investors, FINRA and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), of which the North Dakota Securities Department is a member, have announced a new campaign urging investors to provide their financial firms with a trusted contact. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (SEC OIEA) is also collaborating on this initiative. 

Mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) offer investors a cost-efficient way to invest in professionally managed portfolios of securities. While it is often tempting to make a purchase based on a fund’s historical performance, informed investors know that past performance is no guarantee of future performance, and that they must review a fund’s prospectus, shareholder reports and portfolio holdings to see if the fund’s risk/return profile aligns with theirs. An informed investor will pay particular attention to a fund’s expense ratio, which, over time, can eat into a fund’s earnings significantly.

Bismarck ND –  Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, securities regulators continue to urge investors to be on guard against an anticipated surge of fraudulent investment schemes.

Affinity fraud is a fraudulent financial scheme that involves a scammer who is or appears to be part of a community or interest group. The scammer builds trust within the group, and exploits that trust to push fraudulent, non-existent, and too-good-to-be-true investments on other members of the group.