Beware of trick or cheat

No matter how the investment industry adds anti-scam regulations and new laws to deter fraudsters, barely a month passes without hair-raising stories of how scammers continue to take advantage of unwary investors.

The Financial Conduct Authority, along with Action Fraud and the Pensions Regulator, have dedicated websites to help prevent investors from becoming victims.

According to Action Fraud data, consumers lost £197 million to investment scams last year – an average of £29,000 per victim. Some 85 per cent of these involved shares and bonds, forex and cryptocurrencies.

Cold calling remains the outstanding investment scam, but the scammers are increasingly moving online. As FE Trustnet reports, there are “crediblelooking websites that make attractive