I don't know how it is in other countries, I don't think it will be much different than here in the Netherlands, but at the moment we are flooded with so-called 'Crypto', 'Dropshipping' and investment gurus who promise golden mountains if you follow their "free" strategy. It is really unbelievable and quite disturbing.
In recent weeks there has been a series on television about influencers, finfluencers and other 'scammers'. At least the idea behind the series was to find out the truth about all those (mainly young guys) who promise you the world in returns, investments etc. If you only take a (highly paid) course from them.
one of the most eye-catching "finfluencers"
Kevin Timmer is the founder of the "Trade academy". An online institute where you, if you pay 3000 euros, learn to trade like the best. An online course full of videos that teach you how to trade. A long time ago I signed up here for an introduction. They approach it very carefully, you get an invitation for a Zoom meeting and then you have an online conversation with a convincing salesperson. They do ask the right questions such as: How much risk are you willing to take, how much time do you want to spend per week etc. But in the end it is about one goal and that is to sell you that course for way too much money.
After I indicated that I would think about it, I was harassed almost daily by that person. Until I made it clear to him that I was no longer happy with that and that I would report them to the consumer market authority for guerrilla marketing and exerting pressure.
Kevin Timmer was also approached for one episode of the TV series. They asked if the camera crew could visit him (in Dubai) and that was allowed. He is also a convincing person on TV who (according to himself) only wants to pass on his knowledge. The interviewer then also asked him about a company (affiliated with his company) Ufundme. He indicated that he had no connections but it turns out that they are registered under the same registration as in America. (With that legal entity you cannot be held liable, so very cleverly thought out).
Ufunded goes one step further. For 2000 euros you can invest with a larger amount (maximum 45,000 dollars). The catch is that you have to make at least 10% profit on your trades within 2 weeks. If you do not make that, your account will be blocked. If you do make a profit, 30% will be skimmed off for uFundme. So always a win-win situation and as a user you invest with borrowed (fake) money.
I personally think this is a direct form of scam. People fall for it because they have a feeling of FOMO. The fast guys are on pictures and videos in countries and places like Dubai, Monaco, often with expensive cars. Exactly the things that young people are very sensitive to.
What I find funny is that these people put a lot of work into it. They are rated on trustpilot and there you can see that the reviews (dozens on the same day with about the same content) they are very busy to place reviews themselves. (all positive of course) they respond to the negative reviews with messages like "We see that you have not been a student with us so your message is incorrect"... Strange huh :)
Hobie Timmer is also such a gnome (I'm not sure if he is related to Kevin, but they do look alike). He pretends in Facebook video ads that you can copy his trades for 'free' and thus make profits. To reinforce that, he has a 'so-called' real-time app with his profits and messages from 'participants' with how much profit they have made that day thanks to him. And that varies from 600 to 2500 euros PER DAY.
Needless to say that these are also lies to make yourself better off. Here too I have put it to the test, on his pages it says "free access" you then end up in a Telegram group and can do nothing there. There are messages in it like "Join Premium, type start". Well then you already know, for premium you just have to pay... So nothing for free and again nonsense.
And what I find most annoying is that on the various social media, due to the algorithms used, you are shown more and more of that nonsense... :)
I'm currious if this is something global or that holland is doomed :)
Cheers,
Peter
ps. I do live by: If something looks to good to be true, I probably is...
