There are as many financial frauds as there are names for the people who perpetrate them.

有多少種金融欺詐，就有多少種欺詐者的名字。

But here are five of the most popular methods of parting a victim from their money and how you can protect yourself.

但以下是五種最常用的分錢方法，以及如何保護自己。

In 1920 Charles Ponzi had an amazing investment opportunity for new Englanders guaranteeing a 50% return in just 45 days on something having to do with mail order coupons.

1920 年，查爾斯-龐茲為新英格蘭人提供了一個驚人的投資機會，保證在短短 45 天內，通過郵購優惠券獲得 50% 的回報。

Incredible try.

令人難以置信的嘗試

Unbelievable.

難以置信

There actually were no returns.

實際上，沒有退貨。

Ponzi was just using new investment dollars to pay back the previous investors.

龐氏只是用新的投資資金來償還之前的投資者。

Eventually the scheme fell apart.

最終，這個計劃失敗了。

Ponzi ended up owing $7 million and spent 14 years in jail ever since.

龐茲最終欠下了 700 萬美元，此後在監獄中度過了 14 年。

And any time a money manager uses new investments to pay returns on previous investments.

而任何時候，資金管理者都要用新的投資來支付以前投資的回報。

It's known as a Ponzi scheme.

這就是所謂的龐氏騙局。

The most famous example was perpetrated by Bernie Madoff who ran a high level Ponzi scheme for 20 years that built investors out of somewhere between 10 and $20 billion with a B.

最有名的例子是伯尼-麥道夫（Bernie Madoff），他在長達 20 年的時間裡實施了一個高水平的龐氏騙局，讓投資者損失了大約 100 億至 200 億美元（含 B）。

Before accepting an investment opportunity.

在接受投資機會之前。

You should look up a broker's background and complaint history on Finra's broker check.org and you can request written evidence that.

您應在 Finra 的 broker check.org 上查詢經紀人的背景和投訴記錄，並可要求提供書面證據。

The investment professional is a sworn fiduciary, a close cousin to the Ponzi scheme is the pyramid scheme.

投資專業人士是宣過誓的受託人，龐氏騙局的近親是金字塔騙局。

Say someone offers you a no fail way to make money just by joining their organization for $100 fee.

假如有人向你提供了一種賺錢的不二法門，只需加入他們的組織，交納 100 美元即可。

Your job is then to find new recruits who each pay you their $100 sign up fee.

然後，你的工作就是尋找新成員，他們每人向你支付 100 美元的註冊費。

10% of which you give to the person who signed you up.

其中的 10%交給為你報名的人。

If you manage to sign up 10 people, you just made $900 from your $100 investment.

如果你成功註冊了 10 個人，那麼你的 100 美元投資就賺了 900 美元。

And if each of those 10 people finds 10 people, you get another $900 for doing absolutely nothing and so on and so on.

如果這 10 個人中的每一個都找到了 10 個人，那麼你就可以在什麼都不做的情況下再得到 900 美元，以此類推。

Like a Ponzi scheme, there is no actual investment.

就像龐氏騙局一樣，沒有實際投資。

All returns come from finding new investors.

所有回報都來自於尋找新的投資者。

And when those run out, the whole thing collapses leaving the people at the bottom of the pyramid with nothing.

當這些財富耗盡時，整個金字塔就會坍塌，金字塔底層的人們將一無所有。

This may sound a bit like a multilevel marketing company.

這聽起來有點像多層次傳銷公司。

But in a landmark 1979 ruling, the Federal trade Commission decided that Amway was not a pyramid scheme because distributors did actually have to sell products to make money.

但在 1979 年的一項具有里程碑意義的裁決中，聯邦貿易委員會裁定安利不是傳銷，因為分銷商確實需要通過銷售產品來賺錢。

If a business seems to stress recruitment over sales, that may be a red flag.

如果一家企業似乎強調招聘而不是銷售，這可能是一個信號。

So before getting involved in an MLM, ask your contact for information on the success ratios of new members and how the company makes its profits made infamous in movies like boiler room and Wolf of Wall Street, The Pump and dump.

是以，在加入傳銷之前，請向聯繫人瞭解新會員的成功率，以及該公司是如何盈利的，這些在電影《鍋爐房》、《華爾街之狼》、《抽水馬桶》中都是臭名昭著的。

Scam is when an organization artificially inflates the value of a stock that they already own.

騙局是指一個組織人為抬高他們已經擁有的股票的價值。

A lot of usually by aggressive cold calling spam emails and sometimes even fake news reports.

很多通常是通過咄咄逼人的冷電話、垃圾郵件，有時甚至是假新聞報道。

When enough suckers have bought in, the scammer sells all their shares of the inflated price, sending the price tumbling back down and wiping out most people's investments getting rich quick on the stock market is incredibly rare.

當有足夠多的傻瓜買進後，金光黨就會以虛高的價格賣出他們所有的股票，使價格回落，從而使大多數人的投資化為烏有。在股市上快速致富是非常罕見的。

If someone tells you they have a hot stock tip or they know what the next big thing is going to be.

如果有人告訴你他們有熱門股票的消息，或者他們知道下一件大事是什麼。

Ask yourself why they would share this valuable information with you.

問問自己，他們為什麼要與你分享這些寶貴的資訊。

Imagine getting a phone call from the IRS informing you that you owe additional taxes that must be paid immediately or a warrant will go out for your arrest.

試想一下，接到國稅局的電話通知，說你欠了額外的稅款，必須立即繳納，否則將對你發出逮捕令。

Maybe they even tell you that police are already en route to your house but it can be all cleared up with a quick wire transfer of $1000.

也許他們還會告訴你，警察已經在趕往你家的路上了，但只要快速電匯 1000 美元，一切就都可以迎刃而解了。

Many people are so rattled by a phone call like this and so confused by tax laws that they'd rather go along with it than risk making the IRS angry.

很多人被這樣的電話嚇得不輕，也對稅法感到困惑，他們寧願順從，也不願冒惹怒國稅局的風險。

But there are certain things the IRS will never do.

但有些事情國稅局是絕對不會做的。

They will never contact you by phone or email first.

他們絕不會先通過電話或電子郵件與您聯繫。

You'll always get a letter, they will never demand payment in a specific form and they will never threaten to have local law enforcement arrest you for not complying if you get this phone call and are feeling uncertain.

你總是會收到一封信，他們永遠不會要求你以特定的形式付款，他們也永遠不會威脅說，如果你接到這個電話並感到不確定，當地執法部門就會逮捕你。

You should just call the IRS directly to check if the request is real.

您應該直接致電國稅局，以核實請求是否屬實。

Hello, Mr Olson.

你好，奧爾森先生

This is Joyce from your State Bank.

這是國家銀行的喬伊斯。

I'm calling because we suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account.

我們懷疑您的賬戶有一筆未經授權的交易。

Oh, no.

哦，不

Before we continue, I just need some information to verify that I'm speaking to the real Philip Olson.

在我們繼續之前 我需要一些資訊 來確認我說的是真的菲利普-奧爾森

Sure.

當然。

My birthday is and my social security number is I and my mother's maiden name is.

我的生日是，我的社會保險號是，我母親的孃家姓是。

How's that?

怎麼樣？

I mean?

我的意思是？

Yeah, that'll do.

嗯，可以

Hello.

你好

Hello.

你好

Sometimes the easiest way for a scammer to get your personal info is to just call you up and ask for it.

有時，金光黨獲取您個人信息的最簡單方法就是打電話給您索要。

They might already know some things about you like your address or your bank and just need you to fill in the blanks under the guise of confirming your identity.

他們可能已經知道了你的一些資訊，比如你的地址或銀行，只需要你打著確認身份的幌子填補空白。

The digital version of this is known as phishing where the scammer sends out emails disguised to look like they're from trusted sources.

這種情況的數字版本被稱為網絡釣魚，即金光黨發送偽裝成可信來源的電子郵件。

Emails typically contain a link that brings the victim to an impostor website where they're asked to enter account details like passwords or credit card numbers, whether it's a phone call or an email or a text message.

無論是電話、電子郵件還是簡訊，電子郵件通常都包含一個鏈接，將受害者帶到一個冒充網站，要求他們輸入密碼或信用卡號等賬戶資訊。

You should never give your information to someone who contacts you.

您絕不能將您的資訊提供給與您聯繫的人。

It's always safer to contact the company yourself by calling their official phone number or navigating to their site directly.

安全起見，最好還是自己撥打公司的官方電話或直接訪問其網站。

Typically, if an individual or organization is on the level, they won't have any problem with you, verifying their identity or looking into their track record.

通常情況下，如果個人或組織符合要求，他們在核實身份或調查記錄方面不會有任何問題。

They should welcome it.

他們應該對此表示歡迎。

And of course, we'd all love to get rich overnight and scammers know it.

當然，我們都希望一夜暴富，金光黨也知道這一點。

The best defense is remembering the old adage.

最好的防禦就是牢記這句老話。

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

如果一件事聽起來好得不像真的，那它很可能就是真的。

And that's our two cents.

這就是我們的看法。

Do you have firsthand experience with financial frauds?

您有金融欺詐的親身經歷嗎？

Are there any others?

還有其他人嗎？

We didn't talk about that?

我們沒談過嗎？

You think people should be aware of?

你認為人們應該注意到什麼？

Sound off in the comments?

在評論中發表意見？