http://www.straitstimes.com/business/investors-file-police-reports-against-property-company
Let me first state that land banking is a legitimate investment and if we look from another point, any forms of legitimate investment can be a scam too.
Some clear warning signals are when
- the returns is too good to be true,
- the risk is too low to be real and
- the investment is a “Sure-win”.
However, greed can cloud the situation & the sweet talks of the scammer can make the usually common sense uncommon. And to be fair, some scams may need good investment knowledge to tell the real from the reel.
One way is check out ACRA to look for the paid-up capital of the investment firm. In the case mentioned in the above article and other scams, the companies set up with very low paid-up capital and some as low as $1. You might want to think twice why a investment company that is serious in business have that low paid-up capital cause in the worst case scenario, that is the amount you might have to share with other investors.
My IFA@Sg 