Welcome to our Vanguard Scams Warning!
On February 28, 2023, we received the following complaint by a person who claims to have been scammed twice:
The first time, I dealt with a trading manager named Onuka Mutubatuba. I paid him 1,000 euros into an account which I saw was growing speedily. Later, they told me that I needed to upgrade my account because my trades had stopped growing.
I paid the required amount, but when I tried to withdraw my profits, they told me that I had to pay a commission fee, which amounted to 40,000. I paid half of it but refused to pay the rest.
The second time, I dealt with a company named Vanguard. I paid them 25.5k worth of Bitcoin, but they disappeared with my Bitcoin. I invested 15k, and they said that it would yield a profit within 24 hours. After that, they told me to pay about 8.6 worth of Bitcoin for some fee, which I did.
But then, they said that before they could release my money and profit, I had to take a video thanking Vanguard and advising people to invest with them. I refused because I could not confirm that they were legit or had fulfilled their promises.
They then said that they would pay into my Luno account in 20 minutes, but they never did. Instead, they sent me another message asking me to pay about 10k as a condonation fee before they could release my money. They never paid, but instead blocked me from accessing their channel and communication line.
In the second scam, the complainer invested Bitcoin in Vanguard, a company that promised profits in 24 hours, but then asked for more money and a video testimonial before releasing the profits. The company eventually disappeared, and the author lost their investment.
Vanguard Review
The domain vanguard.com was registered on September 6, 1995, for 9 years through MarkMonitor Inc. by The Vanguard Group, Inc. from PA, US. It is self-hosted by the VG.
Their Semrush Authority score is 73, which is high.
VanGuard is a Malvern, Pennsylvania, USA company that was founded in 1975 with currently more than 10,000 employees. Their annual revenue is more than 1 billion dollars. With a 255 rank in the US and #3 in the Finance > Investing category in the United States, this is definitely not a scam.
According to SimilarWeb, in January 2023 they received 23.5 million visits, almost exclusively from the United States.
The Vanguard Group, Inc. is a global investment management company that provides advisory services to equity and fixed-income groups, mutual funds, institutional clients, and investment pooled vehicles. They serve clients worldwide.
So who is the scammer? Apparently, this is a Vanguard Impostor scam.
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We even find a UK FCA warning regarding the website vg-assetmanagement.com and Vanguard Investors UK Limited / Vanguard Asset Management, which is a clone of a FCA-authorised firm.
In addition to vg-assetmanagement.com, the following domains are mentioned:
- vgassetmanagementuk.com
- vg-assetmanagementuk.com
- vg-assetmanagement.co.uk
- secure.vg-investors.com
- secure.vg-portal.co.uk
- vanguardsinvestors.com
None of these websites still work, except for the last one which on Google Chrome leads to a Deceptive site ahead page, which says that
Attackers on vanguardsinvestors.com may trick you into doing something dangerous like installing software or revealing your personal information (for example, passwords, phone numbers, or credit cards) […] Google Safe Browsing recently detected phishing on vanguardsinvestors.com. Phishing sites pretend to be other websites to trick you.
Vanguard themselves have issued warnings against this Vanguard scam, and their AU website for example mentions a recent incident, in which the Vanguard company has become aware of a phishing campaign using a fraudulent comparison website to offer a fake investment offer from Vanguard. Fraudsters then phone those who have provided personal information, offering to email a pretend Vanguard prospectus.
And The Central Bank of Ireland has issued a warning to consumers about an unauthorized firm claiming to be Vanguard Group (Ireland) Limited. The fraudulent firm cloned the legitimate Vanguard Group, claiming to be an investment business, and attempted to deceive consumers by selling fake bonds via email.
TheGuardian.com recounts the story of a retired detective and his wife who have lost their life savings in an investment scam after investing in a fixed-interest high-yield bond at 2.12% from Vanguard. The fraudsters cloned Vanguard’s website and were highly convincing with similar company logos, addresses, and numbers. The couple invested £20,000 each and invested a further £205,000 each after discussions with their asset manager.
Bottom Line
Vanguard is a legitimate investment management company with a long-standing history of providing advisory services to clients worldwide. However, there are several impersonators who are using the Vanguard name to scam individuals.
These scammers create fake websites and solicit investments, promising quick and high returns. Vanguard has issued warnings about these scams and advises individuals to be cautious and to verify any investment opportunities before providing any personal information or funds.
It is essential to do your research and to ensure that any investment opportunity is legitimate before investing. Remember, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
If you have fallen victim to online scams, please comment below. If you have suffered a substantial financial loss, do not despair. We are here to assist you in recovering your funds!
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