Investor given ‘free iPhone X’ but lost £47k in elaborate scam, say PSNI

Police have urged investors to be on the alert after a Craigavon man lost around £47k in what appears to be an elaborate and sophisticated scam.
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Police have urged investors or traders to check out the details of the scam which included giving the man a ‘free iPhone X’.

According to Scamwiseni the man signed up with a trading and investments company.

Scamwiseni said: “This man was familiar with investments and for quite some time he didn’t think anything suspicious was going on.

Scam warning.Scam warning.
Scam warning.

“He made a number of investments and received some returns from ‘good’ deals.

“The company even sent him a free iPhone X to enable him to communicate with the broker and check his account.

“One day, one of the brokers telephoned him to “train him” on how to make trades for himself on his phone.

“This was supposed to be training only and not making real transactions.

“He made a number of trades, thinking they were just practice, and after about an hour £47,000 of his invested money was gone.

“After this he has been completely unable to contact this company, whereas he had no difficulty before. This is extremely difficult to spot, because it seemed so legitimate; but there were a few things that raised red flags:

1. The brokers got him to install software on his computer that allowed them to remotely access it.

2. The company he used is not authorised to operate within the UK.

“Always check those things before you enter into investments, especially when there is big money involved. This was a very elaborate scam and can be difficult to spot, so be extra careful.”