InvestDefense

• Fraud is everywhere 

Fraud is a disease, its contagion has spread to affect every part of our lives, and being able to tell the difference between a legitimate action and a fraudulent one has become increasingly difficult if not impossible for everyone.  It is no longer a question of ‘if’ we will ever become victims of fraud, but ‘when’ and how severe it will affect us or our loved ones.  It’s time to take a stand and take action to protecting ourselves and the lifetime of work we have done from disappearing.

• Lack of common standards

Not all advisors have to register with the federal authorities, the SEC; misconduct in one state may vanish when the business moves to another; not all financial professionals are regulated by the industry’s self-regulator, FINRA; some firms have higher, lower, or no standards at all compared to others; some financial firms are complete frauds seeming to operate legitimately; some financial professionals are legitimate today, but circumstances lead them astray and become frauds tomorrow…  Somebody’s definition of compliance can be very different from another’s. We expect a very high standard, and our investigations seek out the red flags you need to be aware of.

• Not all financial professionals are included under one system

It’s an alphabet soup of credentials in the industry: Financial Advisor, Registered Investment Advisor, Certified Financial Planner, Financial Consultant, Life Insurance Agent, Fund Manager, Commodities Broker, Business Manager, Strategist, Accountant… The list of titles and certifications in the financial industry is seemingly endless and befuddling, and all fall under very different regulatory and verification systems (if any).  InvestDefense investigates them all.

• Cracks in the system

The SEC is perpetually understaffed and overwhelmed, FINRA allows for records to be expunged, financial professionals with tainted records continue to operate, illegitimate fraudsters continue to pose as trustworthy advisors, new scams and fraud schemes are bombarding the general public daily, there is no end to how many risks the average person faces when investing their money.

• We set a higher standard

Our caliber of investigations was developed by FBI Special Agents, our proprietary methods expanded on the investigative tactics used by Federal Agents in their investigations and supported by the science and research conducted by our own InvestDefense Research Laboratory located at the University of South Florida.

• Simplicity of results

The average person does not have the time, skills or depth of knowledge to conduct a deep wide-ranging fraud investigation on their own, dig up court records, verify compliance, validate claims, decipher & understand complicated forms, etc.  Our investigations go beyond what every investor’s due-diligence should include, we probe deeper to uncover the red flags you need to know about that place your trust in jeopardy.