One of my most popular articles on this blog is one I wrote about a year and a half ago regarding Uinvest, what I perceived at the time to be a scam. It was being hailed amongst HYIP blogs (high yield investment products) as the one that actually paid (most take the money and run) consistently. The idea was revolutionary at the time and showed evidence of legitimacy. However, there were many holes in their business. You can read about the potential scam of Uinvest here.
Today, almost two years after discovering Uivnest, my opinion has changed slightly but, still leads towards a scam. Nevertheless I wanted to address some important points readers have made, those I’ve discovered and changes Uinvest has made. Sadly, these are all still negative. I hope to record a video soon for my Youtube channel explaining some possible negatives.
Registered Companies are Different than Licensed Investment Companies
Uinvest continues to pride itself and offer all over its homepage, support page, forums and blog posts, “just check the registration.” It provides links to the Governement of California website and the Ukrainian version of a better business bureau website as legitimacy. This does not give them any right though to sell investments.
In order to sell investments or what Uinvest calls “shares,” a company must have the correct licensing in the United States, according to the SEC. Does anyone at Uinvest have FINRA licensing? There is no evidence of that or even any evidence that they are aware of such requirements.
It doesn’t matter if this is a “new” investment or something “different.” Selling shares to others, providing predictable dividends and withholding crucial financial information of those “companies” is a crime without a license. At the very least it is an illegal lottery – which would still need some form of licensing and transparency.
Withdrawing Money is Still an Incredible Pain in the Butt!
Maybe it is just a problem with those of us in North America but, withdrawing money to an account other than Paypal or a bank account is really a problem. Liberty Reserve or Skrill maybe legitimate and useful but, they are used by so many HYIP’s and pyramid schemes (as opposed to legitimate businesses) it is hard to ignore. Do you remember any of your favorite retailers online offering payment through either of those accounts?
Now that Paypal is an available withdrawal method it gave many of us a green light to finally pull out our earnings. Just make sure you have your pin number written down. Mine was changed for me by Uinvest (without my permission), and now requires a copy of my drivers license scanned to retrieve it. Identity theft anyone? Not even banks or financial institutions ask for this personal information. No one online should. It is incredibly dangerous to give out a drivers license number online. Here’s a very unhelpful link on their website regarding this topic.
Uinvest Needs an English Translator or to Learn about Investing Really Bad!
In response to a FAQ on the legitimacy of their company Uinvest responds: “You can be sure that UInvest is a reliable company with a good reputation. Over that time UInvest has proceeded over $60 millions assets among more than 5,000 investors. Our business grows every year and this is a good index. Bankruptcy is impossible scenario for a successful business.”
Really? You are a good index? Do you even know what an index is? And bankruptcy is impossible for successful businesses? What an objective statement. Why is bankruptcy even a question?
I could find handfuls of more examples on their support site and member forums. Translators are not as expensive as one would think. And if they have proceeded over $60 million in assets (taking your money) they should be able to hire one. Even one on Fiverr would do the trick.
Why Do we Still Not Have Information on the “Companies” being Bought?
Owning shares of an investment requires some knowledge of what you are investing in. If you asked any other investor in the stock market, real estate or precious metals if they would make a purchase without any information about earnings, couldn’t find the previous owner, or had no reference to what they were buying – why in the world would they invest?
Again, I firmly stand by my conviction that Uinvest is too good to be true, based on this very important point. So what if they have a hotel you can invest in. Even if they start providing a physical address for that hotel. A responsible financial institution would provide a phone number (not of Uinvest but the hotel), names of management, reviews of the establishment from patrons, history of the building, expenses, upkeep, plans, etc.
Theoretically you could be investing in a completely digital entity that does not even exist!
I’d love to hear more thoughts and comments from you guys. Maybe you could help me put together an article on all of the legitimate reasons to consider investing in Uinvest.com.ua. I have money there but, only enough for research. I don’t ever expect to get it back.