What Are the Common Signs of Investment Fraud

What Are Common Signs of Investment Fraud and How Can Our Investor Attorneys Help? 

Red Flags May Help Identify When You Have Become The Victim of Fraudulent Activities

If you are someone who has suffered significant losses to your investment or retirement funds, it is important that your financial advisor explains to you what happened. Unfortunately, all too often there are investors, including retirees, who will have sustained financial losses due to poor account mismanagement, broker negligence, or securities fraud.

Here Are Some Common Signs of Possible Investment Fraud

• Your broker-dealer is aggressive about convincing you to invest, including insisting that you purchase a security or make a trade right away lest you lose out on the opportunity.
• Your financial advisor guarantees you will make high returns or promises there will be no investment risk. (Any time you invest you are always taking on some risk—many financial products, however, are more high-risk than others and not suitable for most retail customers.)
• You were told that you could only pay cash to invest.
• Your broker is unavailable or unable to answer questions about your investment.
• You are not receiving financial statements about your investment.
• Your financial advisor claims that the investment you purchased doesn’t have to be registered.
• Your broker sold you an investment that was not approved or fully vetted by the brokerage firm where they work.
• Your investment is making returns that seem too consistent even when market conditions are volatile.
• You notice unauthorized trades, missing funds, or other issues in your account statements.
• Your financial advisor recommended an investing strategy that is so complex that they can’t even explain what it is about to you.
• You were sold a security that doesn’t have any accompanying documentation to go with it.

How Can You Recover Investment Losses When Your Broker-Dealer or Broker Is Responsible?

Every case is unique and these red flags are not always an indication that you have become the victim of securities fraud. This is why you need to speak with knowledgeable investor lawyers who know how to:

• Assess your investing profile and financial goals.
• Study the information your broker provided you.
• Examine the activity in your brokerage account as well as your total losses (and any commissions or fees you paid).
• Help you determine whether your broker, another financial advisor, or some other party can and should be held liable.

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (investorlawyers.com) have represented thousands of investors in recouping their losses caused by their brokerage firm or financial advisor. Should we decide to work together, our dedicated investment fraud lawyers will use our experience, skills, and resources to build a solid investor fraud lawsuit on your behalf and represent you against your broker-dealer in Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration.

Why It Is Beneficial To Work With Knowledgeable FINRA Attorneys 

You should know that not all incidents of losses on your investment warrant grounds for financial recovery. Often, investment losses are normal. However, there have also been many times when our thorough due diligence has allowed us to review client records and identify incidents of broker misconduct or investor fraud that might otherwise have gone undetected.

This is not the type of legal case that you want to pursue without seasoned FINRA securities arbitration attorneys fighting for you while protecting your legal rights. The ruling made by the FINRA arbitration panel will be final and cannot be appealed.

What Steps Should You Take Immediately To Prevent More Investment Fraud Losses?

Call Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas at (800) 259-9010 or contact us online. Your initial consultation with us is a free, no-obligation case assessment.