/nginx/o/2020/03/08/12995734t1h74cd.jpg "State Police calls for caution before investing in crowd funding platforms – Criminal – News")
Given the growing trend of financial services being offered for investment on misleading websites with the aim of defrauding funds, the National Police calls for caution and distrust of such offers.
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It has already been reported that at the beginning of this year, the officials of the Economic Crime Control Department of the Central Criminal Police Department of the VP have initiated two criminal proceedings for possible fraudulent activities of the crowd financing platform www.kuetzal.com and www.envestio.com in Latvia. At present, both financing platforms have disappeared and left investors unaware of the possibility of ever recovering the money invested.
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In such platforms, those who want financing for their projects (investment project implementers) and those who are ready to finance them (investment project implementers), hoping for interest, usually meet in the Internet environment.
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The annual interest rate offered by the platforms is incomparably higher than that offered by banks, which varies on average from 12 to 20%. It is this factor that encourages many investors to invest their money in such financing platforms. However, many investors who have invested their funds in fraudulent financial platforms are ultimately deceived without recovering their money.
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During the investigation, the law enforcement officers found out that some of the investment projects offered by the platforms in Latvia were fictitious, misleading to investors. Extensive work has been done in the process and a number of investigative activities are being continued both in Latvia and in cooperation with the police of the European Union member states outside Latvia in order to obtain facts and evidence about the fraudulent activities of the employees responsible for these platforms.
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At present, what has been found out shows that companies and various banks outside Latvia and the European Union were used to hide financial funds scammed through platforms.
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Analyzing the facts revealed in criminal proceedings, law enforcement officers concluded that the implementation of fraudulent activities was facilitated by the fact that the operation of platforms is not monitored by the state, as well as increased promotion of such platforms, investment returns and reckless and insufficient evaluation of investors when financing projects.
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The LP calls for a thorough assessment of the investment risks, the projects in which funds are invested, as well as the reputation of the crowd financing platform, thus protecting itself from the possibility of becoming a victim of fraud and losing large sums of money.
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The LP also calls on people who have lost money due to the disappearance of these platforms to report the details to the police by submitting an application.
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