This is a story about “Joseph” as reported by the BBC. And, as it will be important later, the exact title of the article is:
“We Lost Our Life savings In A Cryptocurrency Scam”
Joseph is in his 70’s and lost over £250,000 his life savings in a scam. Joseph said,
"I wanted to do this online trading as everyone was saying how good it was, to give us a better lifestyle,"
He assumed he was making money and kept investing more and more. During this time of investing, he says he became ill and ended up losing a quarter of a million in savings. Now, I will link to the article below if you want to read all of it.
A couple of thoughts on this report that I have. The first is if you think this seems a little vague about what happened, so do I. If you read the whole article, there is not much more in details about what happened other than people on the phone kept asking him for money and he gave it to them. If this article was really out to inform us about the risk, why not more details about the scam such as the platform he was using, the types of names the fake companies used, how they were able to trick this person, anything that would help. Without this info, this is just another clickbait/scare tactic article from the media on crypto.
I am not saying this report is fake, just not very helpful in its current state, unless their point is to discredit crypto to uniformed investors.
Next, it seems a little convenient for Joseph (not his real name) that he got sick and then lost his money. Sounds like someone trying to justify or blame someone else for his actions. Once again, not that he is lying, just no details that can give us insight to what really happened.
Third, there is some wordplay in this article that I do not like. The main one being this line,
“He eventually lost more than £250,000 in life savings.”
Why does it say ‘in” life savings and not “all” of his life savings, or even most of his life savings? If this guy was actually sitting on 500,000 then he obviously is hurting, but he should be fine.
Finally, the report never mentions Joseph buying crypto, Joseph only says he invested in online trading. Not sure why the title of the article says crypto if it never mentions crypto as Joseph’s problem. (I hope this is poor writing and not just an outright lie of omission from the BBC.)
Now, I am not all cynical and hateful on Joseph or the BBC. In fact, I think he probably did lose some money and is really upset. So, I will end with some financial advice. That’s right, no disclaimer, actual financial advice.
If a technology came out fifty years after you were born, seek professional advice before you invest.
If you are risking your life savings, seek professional advice before investing.
If you think you will get rich quick, seek professional advice before investing.
If you can’t afford to lose what you are investing, seek professional advice before investing. If that person tells you to invest more than you can afford to lose, fire them.
If you are hearing about how to get rich quick on social media or the mainstream news, you are too late.
If you assume you are making money but can’t prove it, seek the advice of a professional.
Thanks for reading and remember, my advice is worth what you paid for it.
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