Swiss Invest

Ask yourself why would an international financial investment company send out unsolicited emails to recruit a financial manager?

Swiss Invest Ltd claims to be a leading company dealing in the European equity market. But we say they are just leaders in scams.

Swiss Invest is using the name of a legitimate company, Swiss Invest Centre, to hook you into the scam.

The email claims to come from the human resources manager of Swiss Invest, who is looking for a financial manager to deal with individual clients.

All you need to have is a bank account, a PC and two hours free a day.

Don’t have any formal qualifications or professional education? It doesn’t matter, according to Laura.

All you have to do is accept payments from Swiss Invest clients to your bank account and transfer them to Swiss Invest brokers by Western Union.

Your salary is 8% commission on each deposit.

This is a typical money mule or money transfer scheme. The key phrases to look for are: work part-time or from home; accept and transfer funds from your bank account; have access to a PC; and no qualifications are needed.

Anti-fraud experts say the money transferred is often stolen from other people’s bank accounts via the Internet. Scammers use Trojan and key logging viruses to capture customer online banking details. They need Australian bank accounts to launder the money through. Once you receive the money, you take your cut and pass the rest to a pre-arranged overseas destination.

There are laws against money laundering. There is a real possibility that you will be prosecuted. It is not worth the risk of prosecution and a criminal record.

The United Kingdom’s banking industry website www.banksafeonline.org.uk/spotting_scams.html has an up-to-date list of other money mule scams.