FAMILY UPDATE
As you may know, my daughter got her driver's license last week. We haven't seen her since. With her newfound freedom, she is out and about all the time. She goes shopping, goes out to eat, watches movies, visits friends...I fear I won't ever see her again.
We got the cats spayed and neutered. I never realized it but spaying a female cat is a much more serious surgery. She has to wear a cone on her head for ten days. She is not happy.
I was in my car the other day when I heard a commercial on the radio that got my attention:
"Most investors took a huge hit with the Coronavirus crash and now we are seeing signs of another crash. That pain, suffering, and financial loss don't have to happen, and we’ll show you how with a free demo of VantagePoint. Text the word FREE to 411411 to learn how we’ve applied artificial intelligence to protect your capital so you can navigate and thrive in volatile markets."
You will hear my extremely emotional response in a moment, but before that I need to point out: This is a criminal act. They are selling snake oil. They are scamming unsuspecting people.
These kinds of advertisements really start popping up when the markets are volatile.
I heard this on a reputable national station reaching untold numbers of listeners. I’ve listened to it several times since.
I don’t know exactly where to begin.
1. If I were to make these kinds of claims I would be stripped of my license. If you are registered with the SEC as a registered investment advisor you can NEVER—never, ever, ever—make claims like this. These yahoos get away with it because of a loophole in the system. They are not selling "investment advice;" they are selling software.
2. When was the huge crash with the Coronavirus exactly? The market was down a month and a half.
3. "The pain and suffering of financing loss." I see this tactic used quite often. These con men feed off of fear. It doesn’t matter if their "medicine" makes it much worse. They don’t care.
4. The part that completely floors me is where they say "We’ve applied artificial intelligence." What does that even mean? It certainly sounds exciting and cutting-edge. Maybe they do have some sort of algorithm they could use to help smooth out my portfolio, right?
No, they don’t.
Let’s think about this logically. If VantagePoint has this fancy software that will help you make all this money, why are they not using it for themselves? If their "artificial intelligence" can predict the movements of the market, wouldn’t the developers of this software be unfathomably wealthy? Why would they offer it to the public? They would make so much money by "navigating and thriving in volatile markets."
Next, I went to their website. Front and center was:
"Created by world-renowned trading software pioneer Louis B. Mendelsohn, VantagePoint forecasts Stocks, Futures, Forex, and ETFs with remarkable proven accuracy of up to 87.4%. Using artificial intelligence, VantagePoint’s patented Neural Network processes predict changes in market trend direction 1-3 days in advance. With this information, traders can confidently get in and out of trades at the optimal time. With nearly four decades and more than $10 million dollars of research and development invested, VantagePoint helps traders preserve their hard-earned capital and create real wealth."
This really gets me upset.
Making the claim of 87.4% accuracy is ridiculous. Again, I would probably go to jail if I ran around touting these claims. But these guys don’t go to jail. They are only selling software.
They use a "patented Neural Network process!" What could that possibly mean? I mean, seriously. It is just a bunch of fancy-sounding words strung together.
What is especially sad about these scams are all the unsuspecting investors out there losing all kinds of money day-trading using this worthless software. Not only are they paying a bunch of money for the software, but, by using the software, they lose even more. Remember, day trading doesn’t work over the long term.
Testimonials from the site:
Jeff S.
"In 2 months I was able to recoup my investment. I have since paid off my mortgage and car."
Sam A.
"I started using VantagePoint 6 months ago and my account has tripled!"
By now you clearly understand that this is a scam. I don’t understand how it can be advertised on national radio. I don’t even understand how this is legal.
What is the total cost for the VantagePoint Software system?
A mere $4,900.
Be Blessed,
Dave
P.S.- With the current market volatility I've seen more and more scary gold and silver commercials, trying to use fear to sell their garbage products. You can learn about the the gold scam here.ter your text here...