By
Gary Scott
Here are four scam types I run
across often.
Four Scam Types #1:
The first of four scam types
is the Ponzi scheme we have been reviewing often in our messages. They offer huge
returns for investors, sometimes as high as 10% to 20% per month. Watch out for
anyone who offers this type of return.
Four Scam Types #2:
The second of four scam types
I come across again and again is the financing rip off. In this case con artists
offer to arrange financing usually for an inventor or businessman trying to start
or expand a business. The finance gets delayed for one reason or another and eventually
a fee or bribe becomes required to get things going. The loan of course is never
"funded".
There are legitimate ways to
obtain overseas finance. One reason to do so is outlined by our attorney and advisor
Leslie Share who writes
"The US government imposes
a 30% US gross withholding tax that is generally imposed upon interest payments
(not of course the principal payments) to foreign persons who make loans in the
U.S.
However, if the loan is set up,
maintained and documented properly, and the facts and circumstances of the loan
so qualify, the withholding rate under these circumstances is reduced to -0-,
either under (here) the US-Germany income tax treaty or as a "portfolio interest
exemption" loan. In either case, it can be a good deal for the lender (depending
upon local tax consequences), and another reason why the US is itself a "tax
haven" in certain cases (such as through tax-free interest on foreigners'
US bank accounts)."
Four Scam Types #3:
The third of four scam types
is the accomplice con. In this case a person is contacted by someone who claims
they have a way to rip off some third party. One big perpetrator of this scheme
is from Nigeria. Police reckon they have stolen billions from unsuspecting people.
The story is that someone in Nigeria is about to fill some big government contract
and they have figured out how to dupe the Nigerian government into overpaying
millions of dollars. All they need is an invoice and a bank account to receive
the money. The sucker is asked to send an invoice on their letterhead and give
a bank account number and offered a share of the booty for their help. As soon
as the invoice is sent the con artists send the letterhead (with a forged signature)
to the bank account and clean it out. What are you going to do? Call the police
and tell them you lost money while in the process of trying to cheat a government?
This has been going on for years and I have been approached myself numerous times
from Nigeria.
Four Scam Types #4:
The final type of the four scam
types is the tax avoidance scams such as pure trusts, etc. where promoters offer
ways to avoid tax. There are only two legitimate ways for small businesses to
use overseas structures to defer tax that I know of left. One is through the use
of overseas life insurance policies. (For more details contact Club advisors Joe
Cox at jcox@coxnici.com).
The other way is to gain tax advantages is through a genuine overseas business.
This is why our course International Business Made EZ can helps you have a new
full or part time business at home which is one of the easiest ways to have a
genuine tax deferred global business.
(See GaryScott.com)
Until next message, good global
investing!
Gary
My novel the 65th Octave looks at scam protection issues. The hero is a scam catching
expert who works for big banks. The book outlines why scams work and why suckers
always lose. I recommend you read the book. It has some in depth economic information
but is also a fast paced, fun read.
Order the 65th Octave
at GaryScott.com
Sometimes one picture is worth
a thousand words
To avoid scams balance
yourself in nature like this cabin at Gary and Merri Scott's Merrily
Farm where you are welcome to visit and stay Little
Horse Creek. |
