IFW Global is actively involved in a long list of cases where victims have fallen for a wide variety of financial scams where international criminals have netted hundreds of millions of dollars.

Real case studies: The insights that could help stop you from falling victim to scammers

As a proactive organisation, we are sharing some real case studies in an effort to raise awareness around the community, as our campaign to stop lives and families being financially ruined is always ongoing.

Despite their pain, our clients have agreed to share their stories, as they like us at IFW Global, don’t want anyone else to be lured down the same terrible pathway.

Over the next few months we’ll roll out each case, so you can learn from others about the wide variety of scams and the techniques being used.

The cold call and the callous crime

• Name: Samir
• Age: 66
• Location: west Sydney
• Total scammed: $AU525,000

Samir has two daughters and cares for his disabled brother. He was busy taking care of his family, and says he was doing too much multi-tasking, he was too distracted.

Sophisticated scammers, who buy personal information from the dark web had obtained his contact details and just enough personal information about him to view Samir as a prime target. They moved on him from offshore.

He received a phone call, a cold call, from the United Kingdom from a man claiming to be from a company called Christoph Famenn Capital. He received another cold call from a man in Ireland claiming to be from Bridge Road Capital.

They were offering investment advice.

“I avoided taking their calls for about six weeks, but they eventually made contact. Their pitch was that they had experience in managing wealth for high-profile clients for several decades,” Samir explains.

“They just don’t stop and as I said I was distracted. They are so highly skilled, it’s not just the sales techniques it’s the little bits of information they get out of you during the calls that they use to keep breaking down your barriers.”

Through persistence and sophisticated sales techniques, the scammers lured Samir into investing money from his parents’ estate and his superannuation.

Brochures and websites

“You have to remember, it’s not just the calls. They have brochures and websites so you can research what they are telling you. It all looks so real, but it’s a mirage, the whole thing,” says Samir.

The scammers claimed they would invest in shares, so Samir started with $5000 to see how they would perform. They gave him access to a website where he saw his investment supposedly doing very well. They lured him further in, until Samir eventually lost about $525,000.

“When I started getting pushy and wanting to get my money out, they slowly withdrew from communicating with me, they disappeared altogether,” he says.

“It’s been heartbreaking and a terrible experience and what hurts more is there seems nothing law enforcement can do or even the government, something has to change.

“I understand that it’s buyer beware but there are vulnerable people out there like me who need to be protected.”

Samir wants laws changed to better protect pensioners and law enforcement given greater powers to track down the criminals.

“Do not answer cold calls from overseas from people claiming to be from financial companies like the ones I mentioned,” he warned.

“I want others to know my story and if it helps save one person from falling victim, then I will consider that a very good step.”

If you believe you have fallen victim to a financial scam or been targeted by criminals please contact us at IFW Global.