The red flags to avoid fraud when investing in crowdfunding

The investment model in which multiple people pool their capital through a platform to finance a project or company known as collective financing or crowdfunding, has aroused the interest of Mexicans, however the appetite to invest also generated the growth of companies in order to defraud people.

According to the Association of Collective Funding Platforms (Afico), the emergence of fraudulent companies that claim to operate under the crowdfunding model and that in the end are a deception for users has resulted in the filing of 25 complaints against this type of page. .

Given this scenario, the experts detailed a series of steps to verify the legality of a crowdfunding investment platform, as well as indicators to warn of a possible fraud attempt when investing.

To identify if a crowdfunding platform is authorized by the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV), investors can access the Financial Services Providers Registration System (SIPRES); The name of the institution is placed on the page in the search for institutions category. If the platform has authorization, it should appear in the search results.

However, to avoid investing in a false page that supplants the identity of the legal platform, you only have to click on the “Company Name” section, a second page will open with specific data such as the web address and official email. . The Afico detailed the importance of carrying out this step due to the cases of identity theft in institutions.

“Some crowdfunding platforms have suffered identity theft, we have found false portals that try to impersonate companies that are duly constituted, use their names or acronyms, when we detect them we work to unsubscribe them immediately. We have also detected platforms that offer this investment model without having the license or having carried out any procedure with the authority, in that case we make the corresponding complaint”, commented Miguel Ángel Mejía Ríos, director of Afico.

As an alternative measure, Miguel Ángel Mejía explained that future investors can access the Afico website, where there is a list of the Collective Funding Institutions (IFC) authorized by the CNBV and their status in terms of operations.

Be wary of high yields

The specialists explained that the first warning that an investor should take into account to distrust the legality of the platforms is the high yield.

“If someone promises to double your money or ensure returns above 20% annualized, it is a sign that should be taken into account to investigate more about the legality of the investments, since although in some cases this type of returns, a legitimate platform cannot guarantee it” explained Simon Dalgleish, director of M2crowd.

On the other hand, the director of M2crowd, advised future investors not to pay attention to advisers who appear through groups on social networks such as Facebook or whatsapp, since he indicated that they have received complaints and reports from their users about false advisers, who present themselves in the name of crowdfunding institutions and request deposits for the amount to be invested in personal bank accounts.

“It is very important that when investing everything is done through the platform websites or applications, that gives legality, many times we have had cases of people who invest through groups on social networks, and people do not think how easy it is. which is to create and close a Facebook account”, commented the director of M2crowd.

The specialists detailed that the strengthening of crowdfunding platforms is due to the interest of Mexicans in investing, however they said that there is still a need for greater impetus in financial education so that users recognize the indicators of possible fraud.

joselyn.ugarte@eleconomista.mx