The potential risks of High yield investment plans (HYIP) and Forex ponzi schemes are of great concern to many regulatory authorities.
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), which is the provincial financial markets regulator for Ontario, Canada, upholds this ethos and often produces warnings to the public on such matters.
On Friday, OSC issued a warning regarding Nix Investment, an unregulated online trading company whose last known address, according to the OSC, was in Scarborough, Ontario, which is a suburb of Toronto.
Nix Investment is not regulated by the OSC, and therefore does not possess the relevent licenses to engage in the business of trading in securities or advising anyone with respect to investing in, buying or selling securities.
The company’s website demonstrates signs of operating on a similar basis to a HYIP, stating that “We invest in Stock, Index , Commodities, Bitcoins and Forex. We aim for a 10-15% return per month which is 300% per year. So investment of $100 with us for 5 years can yield you more than $20000-25000. Recommend investment ($100-500).”
Regulatory authorities globally have often underlined the importance of exercising extreme caution when a promise of a high return for a small initial investment with no tangible track record of performance is made, combined with promises from such companies that investors with no market knowledge can make significant gains via such schemes.
In this particular case, the OSC has warned that Nix Investment is not regulated in Ontario and therefore not authorized to conduct its business in the province, however, it is likely that the approach taken via the company’s website also should be taken into account.
For the official announcement from the OSC, click here.