Saturday, June 16, 2012

I Trading Systems: Dodgy Or Not?

I Trading System (ITS)-Sports Betting Software For Horse Races

Got a super glossy brochure in the mail today from 'I Trading Systems' that is spruiking all the magical buzz words of the typical sport betting software. More and more red flags are raised when I skim through the brochure.

ITS claims that you can turn $1,000 of initial investment into profits of $78,934.24 in 18 months.

Sounds nice though doesn't it? I'd like to take my $100k and turn that into $7.8 million in 1.5 years but if that were possible with their extra-ordinary software claims, then why hasn't Gina Rinehart, Andrew Forrest, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet or Mark Zuckerberg invested into this amazing opportunity?! Why be only a billionaire when they could be gazillionaires in only 1.5 years? Why haven't the AFR or the WSJ or the Murdoch publications caught onto this fantastical investment deal?! Maybe I shouldn't write using sarcasm just incase I mislead someone out there. But everyone needs to ask themselves these questions when faced with these 'deals'.

As per the old adage...if it's too good to be true, it usually is.

Read into the fine print and you'll see that their pretty graph and their extra-ordinary claims have a little minor clause: "Each and every result was carefully simulated and recorded...Figures are extrapolations only and represent faithful statistical modeling of simulated results for applicable period." The software is so fantastical that they can't even give you the actual results and can only provide 'simulated' results based on 'extrapolations'.

If those figures are only simulated and extrapolated then why would they even bother throwing in the paragraph, "These figures are accurate and are guaranteed to be certified correct as released by official government endorsed agencies".

Such fancy talk but which 'official government endorsed agencies' bothered to check simulations? Anyone could sit there and churn out piles of simulated materials and pretty little graphs and who the heck from the government would care to check and verify if they've already clearly stated that the results are simulated? The ACCC and ASIC would hopefully pounce on anyone who tries to publish actual results which are false and misleading, but if the publisher or advertiser have clearly stated that the results are simulated, they couldn't care less.

Are they an authentic company? If you're an investor or wannabe investor, here's a checklist that you can follow if you get a tempting brochure or investment offer and wonder if the investment is authentic or a scam.

Scams sicken me. People work so hard to save up for their future. Trying to invest so that they can afford to send their children to school, support themselves in retirement and also support their ageing parents. Let's bankrupt these dodgy sellers and scamsters by stripping them of potential victims.

Investigating I Trading System

* "...passive, tax free income in the vicinity of $50,000-$60,000"
Buzzwords are used. "...passive, tax free" is always enticing and get investors salivating

* Glossy brochures saturated with good looking models on almost every single page indulging in leisure activities. You name it, they've pictured it: models posing on luxury yachts, couples golfing, island getaways, men in business suits, glossy column graphs (full of simulated numbers not indicative of actual trading), pretty women in convertibles, pretty women in bikinis, women holding multiple shopping bags...

* Letter has "Brisbane/New York/London/Paris/Tokyo" printed on the bottom but if they're based in five capital cities then why don't they have a huge internet presence? One simple looking shallow website without much depth. No press releases. No mention in the news. No history. If you're a business with offices in those five capital cities and serious about business then you'd at least have webpages for all offices. In multiple languages such French and Japanese

* While every single registered company operating in Australia has an ABN or ACN number which you can check out business.gov.au, I Trading System has a "BN" number. It was so slick I almost missed that. Never heard of a BN number. Dodgy dodgy dodgy. Ditching the 'ABN' acronym means "BN 221 382 86" is a useless and worthless number

* They mentioned 'The Australian Financial Review', Australia's most prestigious financial publication, out of context. I'd be impressed if the AFR gave them a glowing review and credited 'I Trading System' directly but if the AFR DID give them a positive review or endorsement, then they'd have published that on their website...but surprise surprise...that was nowhere to be found

* Using professional words and graphs without any substance. Graphs and figures were all 'simulated' and no actual performance figures were given. So value of the supplied graphs and figures=meaningless.

* Trying to target the vulnerable and those seeking high returns without any effort: "Self employment...no experience necessary... work from home or anywhere...no bookwork...be your own boss..."

* And the clincher type of urgent, hurry or you'll miss out type of compelling directive: "Please note that I Trading Systems cannot guarantee that you will be able to acquire the program at the time you receive this literature"

Searching the net for information out there, I stumbled across a few interesting sites.

A poor person who has been scammed by ITS which you can read about here to the tune of $4,400.

So to answer my original question that was posed, dodgy or not? Resoundingly YES for DODGY.

Further Reading:

1. Scamwatch.gov.au here
2. SMG related post: United Kingdom Beware of Shipping Container Scams
3. SMG related post: Meet James Lovell: 31 Year Old Ponzi Scamster
4. SMG related post: How To Lose Your Life Savings (on Bernie Madoff and Roger Munro)
5. SMG related post. Original post on shipping container scams and how to identify scams in general

19 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting. I got the brochure today. Promptly pushed it aside after reading your article.

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  2. Hi Dave, thanks for your feedback and happy to have helped!
    Cheers, L@smg

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  3. Thanks for posting, i have been trying to find information on the internet all morning. They keep calling me and trying to get me to secure the last or 2nd last one in QLD with an outlay of $4400 for the initial start up, i thought it sounded dodgy.

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  4. I received the brochure a couple of weeks ago and put it aside as it sounded too good to be true.
    Received a phone call today from them asking what I thought of the investment.
    They said the program would cost $ 8,800 and a $1000 for the iniatial investment. I would have to hurry as there were only limited licences (200) that were available. Told them I need to research into it. Once again I was advised that the longer I left it go, the less chance I would have to obtain this licence.

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  5. Whoa, $9,800 for a software that can predict the future? Sounds great if it wasn't so implausible...

    Sorry it took so long to publish your comment. I'm being inundated with spam comments from self interested folks and it's getting longer to find the authentic comments.

    $9,800 is a crazy amount of money on a gambling and betting software which is supposedly able to predict winners!! Thanks for your feedback on how much money is on the line and at risk of being scammed plus mentioning their sales tactic which I'm sure will benefit other reserachers who land on this post.

    The 'hurry or you'll miss out' tactic seems to activate some sort of primal instinct urge within humans which must be why the strategy is commonly used...

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  6. got it today in the mail. Looking up their phone numbers on reverse Australia i got Crocodile Tyre Sales and PeterPan Travel Adventures for the 1800 number. Thanks for re-affirming my thoughts on this being mega dodgy

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    Replies
    1. No probs. I'm glad you also took the time to check and investigate as opposed to just jumping in with your money and having regrets. Never thought about looking up numbers on reverse Australia so that's a great idea, thanks.

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  7. I have recently been getting calls form a Mark White. Sounded too good to be true!!! He is going to call me back tomorrow, im considering asking him why he is scamming people.

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    Replies
    1. If it's too good to be true, it usually is! If you developed a trading system that made millions or billions why would you even bother trying to sell the system to others. You'd be already sitting on some beach somewhere sipping cocktails.

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  8. I gave it a go for $4,400 and it works as well as a luckydip

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    Replies
    1. Sorry that you lost money. There's never going to be any automated software that can compute which stock will outperform and which horse will win a race.

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  9. Well unfortunately I didn't do my research property before I got myself into this!
    At the time they rang me I wanted that extra $ as we were expecting our new born!..
    And I paid $9800 AUD for the software...:(
    He goes as I work in the Ambulance service and we helped he's mother in keeping her alive until she got to hospital he want to pay the favor back by selling me the software.
    Wasn't he fkn sweet!...
    Don't do my mistake its a big scam...
    James

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    Replies
    1. I'm so sorry I missed seeing your comment. Congratulations on your child and never mind, sometimes there are lessons that we learn(not by choice) but at least it reduces future vulnerability to scammers like that. Scammers are like fortune tellers and even sales people. They listen really well to what we say and then use what we say to 'predict' the future or tell our past, or to find some sort of common ground so that we warm up to them and spend our money.

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  10. If you have fallen victim to this scam please file a report with the Fraud and Cyber Crime Group of the Queensland Police Service.

    FRAUD AND CYBER CRIME GROUP
    Queensland Police Service
    200 Roma Street
    Brisbane, Qld 4000

    Phone: 07 3364 6622
    Fax: 07 3364 6549

    Website: https://www.police.qld.gov.au/programs/cscp/fraud/complaints.htm

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  11. Bought the software, very poor results after following their instructions. Asked for a refund as guaranteed within the terms of purchase...
    We never heard back from the company or any of it's representatives and approx. 9 days after we had called the company Maruk Pty Ltd, which appeared to be directed by the guy selling "I Trading System", was voluntarily deregistered. Then 3-4 months later the Business Name "I Trading System" was also voluntarily deregistered.

    By deregistering the above entity and business name the shareholders and directors of these registered businesses have committed fraud. They in fact did owe individuals and companies money and therefore did not have the legal right to deregsiter their businesses. Before deregistering the above, the directors and shareholders must state their financial position which includes any money they owe. Of course in their deregsitration they have stated they do not owe any entity or individual any money. This in at least our case is a lie, they owe us (my company) $8,800.

    Now ultimately this software like anything in life and business was a risk, you win some and you lose some. I've found some folks are just "hoping" they have a good product to sell, some folks are just selling rubbish and some products on the market are actually ok. In the end you've got to have a go at things but I should've done more homework on these guys.

    Anyhow for the sake of others I thought I'd share my experience in the hope that people looking at these type of programs do their homework before parting with any funds. I'd also caution how much faith people put into government bodies being able to assist recovering money from fraudulent people like the above or chasing dodgy companies period because as I've found, they too, like the fraudulent companies ripping people off, are more likely to take your money and act dumb...

    I can add my name here as the above is completely factual and true in my experience. All the best and if you you're looking for better odds stick your next $8,800 into something sensible like Berkshire Hathaway shares then take your mum on a holiday and forget about buying rubbish from those companies that don't honour their agreements.

    Best of luck, Arron Hinks.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Bought the software, very poor results after following their instructions. Asked for a refund as guaranteed within the terms of purchase...
    We never heard back from the company or any of it's representatives and approx. 9 days after we had called the company Maruk Pty Ltd, which appeared to be directed by the guy selling "I Trading System", was voluntarily deregistered. Then 3-4 months later the Business Name "I Trading System" was also voluntarily deregistered.

    By deregistering the above entity and business name the shareholders and directors of these registered businesses have committed fraud. They in fact did owe individuals and companies money and therefore did not have the legal right to deregsiter their businesses. Before deregistering the above, the directors and shareholders must state their financial position which includes any money they owe. Of course in their deregsitration they have stated they do not owe any entity or individual any money. This in at least our case is a lie, they owe us (my company) $8,800.

    Now ultimately this software like anything in life and business was a risk, you win some and you lose some. I've found some folks are just "hoping" they have a good product to sell, some folks are just selling rubbish and some products on the market are actually ok. In the end you've got to have a go at things but I should've done more homework on these guys.

    Anyhow for the sake of others I thought I'd share my experience in the hope that people looking at these type of programs do their homework before parting with any funds. I'd also caution how much faith people put into government bodies being able to assist recovering money from fraudulent people like the above or chasing dodgy companies period because as I've found, they too, like the fraudulent companies ripping people off, are more likely to take your money and act dumb...

    I can add my name here as the above is completely factual and true in my experience. All the best and if you want my advice stick your $8,800 into some Berkshire Hathway shares (take your mum on a holiday ;) ) and forget about buying rubbish from those companies that don't honour their agreements.

    Best of luck, Arron Hinks.

    ReplyDelete
  13. i also paid 8800 + 1000 in a tab account , i lost from day one and have also spent another 2000 in tab bets ( optimistic )
    i have noticed that they have also disappeared off the planet , can't contact , pretty sure there was a clause in the contract that if it didn't work get a refund ...... please help maybe getting a list of people ripped of by these scammers ....so we can start an action , that money
    would off been better invested elsewhere ......sure im not the only one so angry

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  14. i was also scammed 8800 + 1000 in a tab account + another 2000 over 2 yrs , i am pretty sure that in the contract it says if it doesn't work you get a full refund , so i try to contact and they have disapeard of the face of the earth , great , so i am asking if we can get a list of people together that have been scammed and start an action , i am one angry Aussie and i am sure others out there would like to stand together and find these scammers and try and get our investments back ......pls help

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    Replies
    1. The QLD Fraud and Cyber Crime Group has posted up their contact details above. Again, it is:
      https://www.police.qld.gov.au/programs/cscp/fraud/

      Sorry to hear about your losses and I truly hope that something is recoverable for all who have lost.

      L@SMG

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