By BUUMBA CHIMBULU
INCREASED fraudulent activities are making it exceedingly difficult for regulators and law enforcers to stop fraudsters before any harm is caused, the Securities and Exchange Commission has noted.
This is according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chief Executive Officer, Phillip Chitalu at the world investor week 2021 social media launch.
“While online-based products present immense benefits to consumers, it is evident that fraudsters are using these same platforms to deceive people as they use them to perform their fraudulent activities – this has made many people and their investments vulnerable,” Mr Chitalu stated.
In light of this, it becomes imperative that the best protection for an investor is empowerment by way of financial education and awareness aimed to assist investors in making informed financial decisions.
Mr Chitalu stated that SEC was aware of the alarming increase in fraud and scams which to a large extent was an indication of the lack of knowledge and capacities for investors to discern genuine investment opportunities against the fraudulent ones.
“The SEC understands that one of the biggest challenges to this, is the lack of investor education and awareness on capital markets.
“Therefore, it is through initiatives like the world investor week that we as capital markets ambassadors, can take advantage to interact with the general public to highlight the importance and benefits of investing and also how to protect oneself against being defrauded,” Mr Chitalu said.
Mr Chitalu implored investors to be smart by being vigilant in identifying crime related risks in your investment decisions.
A smart investor, he explained, seeks to mitigate the risks associated with making investments.
According to Mr Chitalu, one such mitigatory measure was to run away from those investments that were opaque, meaning that one must have the appetite to invest but also the skill to mitigate investment risks.
Meanwhile, Mr Chitalu expressed concern that the rate of participation at both institutional and individual level was low.
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