But by this time, the 500 Investments website, with its helpful account managers and traders, was gone, along with investors’ money. The details of the transactions where the criminals behind 500 Investments allegedly hoodwinked the Cooks are layed out in court documents.
Unbeknownst to the Cooks, “500 Investments was not a legitimate investment business” and the trading accounts set up were not genuine, according to a statement of claim lodged with the court.
A screengrab of the 500 Investments website, which has since been taken down.
The Cooks are some of the Australians, and many people across the global in the last 12 months, who have come to believe 500 Investments was a scam.
One user, known as EM, wrote on review site Trustpilot in November 2021. “I am very disappointed, as my account manager Dave Gold and I discussed at length the issue of scams and scammers and his experiences. I grew to trust Dave. He is a wonderful mentor, very patient, explaining the theory behind his transactions on my account so I could easily understand them.”
Another review left on ProductReview.com.au a year ago wasn’t as kind.
“Keep away! I have asked to withdraw and was closed by them. Bank, ACCC, ASIC, cybercrime, you are on your own … They don’t know what honesty is,” Linda S wrote.
The 500 Investments scam is what is known as a social engineering scam, where fraudsters manipulate victims with realistic situations, impersonating officials from organisations to trick…
