Tilden Moschetti: So that
investor is ready. They're going

to make a deposit into your
account. You're excited to have

them, because it's going to be
huge. Your Investment Fund is

almost full. But how do we make
sure that there isn't wire fraud

or check fraud or something
going on that ultimately, at the

end of the day is going to hurt
you? You

Unknown: this day

Tilden Moschetti: and age, wire
fraud, check fraud, crypto

currency fraud, are all
commonplace. Unfortunately, it's

very challenging in today's
world to be able to just take

the money that you need to take
right when an investor wants to

invest most of the time, it
works out great, but not every

single time. And when it
doesn't, when there's fraud

going on, that can cost you,
personally, a lot of money and a

lot of heartache, or it could
cost your investors, which is

probably even worse than it
costing you. So let's go through

some of the things to think
about when we're thinking about

all these kinds of fraud. So
obviously there's all sorts of

different kinds of fraud that's
going on. So let's just take a

general overview about what's
going on in those common

schemes, basically to defraud
you out of your money. Now,

simple ones that we can think
about are those email phishing

scams where it's like, click
here and give us your account

number. It's Wells Fargo, it's
Chase Bank, and you your

account's been hacked or
something bad like that, right?

That people unintentionally
misread these they believe it's

from an authentic source, and
they put in that information.

Now that's not really the common
situation here, but what does

happen from time to time, the
one, certainly the one that I

have seen personally, not to me
or to one of my clients, but

actually to one of my peers.
What happened was somebody had

intercepted an email, had
altered the wiring instructions

on that email, and that money
never came in. That is wire

fraud, and it could certainly
happen to you if steps aren't

taken to prevent it. So in this
case, what had happened is

somebody from overseas was
sending in a large sum of money.

In this case, it was over $2
million that was being sent and

the to, you know, a friend of
mine, to appear. So he never got

it. He knew the wire had taken
place because the clients said

they had placed it, but they
never received anything. Now,

what happens in a situation like
that? Well, fortunately for my

friend, what had happened is on
the wiring instructions on the

very bottom, it said, please
call to verify the all the

information to make sure that it
is going to the right bank

account first, and we will
verify it on the phone for you

to make sure that there isn't
wire fraud. This is to prevent

fraud. Do this first that was
boldly there, and it was in

there on the same copy that the
that the person who was wiring

the money had, who's to blame at
the end of the day? Well, it's

the guy who sent the money,
because it said right there,

please call and verify. And they
never did. So they lost $2

million just based on wire
fraud. Doubtful that they will

ever invest with this guy, but
you know that certainly can

happen. So that's a very common
type of scheme. The other kind

of scheme I've seen is this sort
of fake. Well, we transferred

the money by Bitcoin to you,
here's the wallet that you need

to log into. Oh, looks like you
need to pay an upfront fee in

order to get access to that
wallet. And then there's some

sort of scheme that takes place
there. I've seen that happen too

as well. The third kind of thing
that I've actually seen as well,

Boy, I've seen a lot of these,
is check fraud, where somebody

writes a check, sends the check
for deposit, except it wasn't a

real check. Sometimes banks can
take a long time, like up to 30

days, in order to process a
check. It looked like a real

check. It had the name of a kind
of a real bank on it. It

certainly was a bank that
sounded real, except it wasn't

real. At the end of the day, the
check gets cashed. It's still

pending. And then the pressure
comes from the scammer to say,

give me the money back. Give me
the money back. Give me the

money back. I'm going to file a
lawsuit. I'm going to complain

to the SEC you're going to jail.
What you do is you can't you

give them the money only to find
out that check wasn't real. The

money never actually hits your
bank account and you've just now

made that scam, or whatever
amount of money you've just sent

him. So that's the real kind of
fraud that can take place, and

it can affect syndications and
investment funds. You. So what

can you do to prevent wire fraud
and check fraud from hurting

your investment fund or
syndication Well, first off,

like I said before, make sure
that on your wiring

instructions, it's got
verification instructions. So

make sure that it says very
clearly, hey, if you if you're

wiring money, call our office,
talk to this person and make

sure that the funds are there.
Make sure that this is the

correct account number. You have
our phone number. Verify that

the phone number is correct
between what you see on the

wiring instructions and what you
see here, just to prevent that

issue from changing those
instructions as well. But that

verification is very important.
So always, always, always do

that. If you're a client of mine
and you've wired money to me,

you've seen it there, either
call Tilden or call Christian

and verify those, those wiring
instructions. It's there for a

very good reason. The other idea
is secure communications. Make

sure that your email is locked
down if you're going to send

those by email, make sure that
that happens that way, or make

some sort of mechanism in order
to secure that transmission to

it. Make sure that it's either
takes place through, you know, a

DocuSign agreement so it's
encrypted in that there can't be

any alteration of it, or
something like that, in order to

ensure that the right
information gets sent. And then

third, just make sure you're
aware. Make sure that you are up

on different ways that check
fraud, wire fraud, takes place,

that you can be on the lookout
to do that, to protect yourself.

Now to another way to predict,
prevent wire fraud and check

fraud and crypto fraud, that is
also just good for the whole

world is educate your investors.
It's something worth talking to

them about. I mean, I'm talking
to you about it right now,

because it's useful information,
and you need it, and you should

be talking to your investors too
about it, because why you're

putting it there, it's really to
protect them. Ultimately, just

like I'm talking to you about it
now, is really to protect you

ultimately. So have an awareness
campaign make sure that they

know that this is, this is
reality, and that you, because

you're a professional, because
you've got their best interests

at heart, you're making sure
that they have this information

in order to protect themselves.
You also want to have some

verification process built in,
and that can be by verification

on the wire, as we talked about,
or if they're paying by check,

verify that it's a real check
and something like that.

Certainly if it's certified
funds from a huge new US Bank, I

probably wouldn't be too worried
if the if everything on it looks

proper, and if the routing
number is the same, it's

probably pretty good that it's a
not a fake check. If it's a

cryptocurrency, God, help you.
You've got some challenges here.

It's very difficult to prevent,
prevent fraud in the crypto

space, just by its very nature.
And third, what you want to do

is report any suspicious
activity, any suspicious

behavior, to the authorities,
and make sure that you know it

gets stopped. It may not be your
investors that are doing it. It

probably is somebody that's a
bad actor somewhere in the

middle, and you want to put a
stop to that, to protect your

investor and to protect
yourself. Now, if you, as an

investment fund manager or a
syndicator, do suspect wire

fraud, what do you need to do?
Well, you got to act fast. So

these people move these
scammers, they move super fast.

You want to protect yourself
early, as quickly as you can. If

you notice anything suspicious,
you find out, you do research

and make sure that it's on the
level. I've had conversations

with my clients, making sure
that when they're transferring

money back, or these things
happen, making sure that it's

going to be taking place in a
mechanism that's going to

ultimately protect the investor.
Paper. It make sure that the

anything bad happens, it's not
on you make sure it's on

somebody else. If it's the
investor that you're returning

money, to have them say, Yes, I
want the money back. I want the

money back by wire. These are
the wiring instructions. You

verify the wiring instructions
at the bank. Make sure that

everybody knows okay, this has
all been verified, and that's

just to protect you. So take
immediate action. Now also

report anything that's bad to
the FBI? Yes, the FBI, Internet

Crime Complaint Center, is there
to help you prevent wire fraud.

That's their role. So obviously,
wire fraud is international, is

national and international, but
as far as the US is concerned,

that is handled by the FBI,
they've got a whole. Division

that takes care of this to
prevent this from happening, and

then make sure that you've got
procedures in place, make sure

you've got instructions about
wire fraud and things like that

to make sure that you're
protecting yourself. Wire fraud,

crypto fraud, check fraud, those

are all things that actually do
face that syndicators and

investment fund managers do face
and you should be working

actively to prevent it, not only
for you, but for your investors

as well. It is good for the
world to make sure that those

people who are trying to steal
that money get punished in the

way that they deserve, which is
they don't get punished in the

way they actually deserve, but
they get punished a little bit.

Ultimately, they really should
be. You know, locked up, thrown

away the key. And those people
are the scum of the earth, the

absolute scum. They do not
belong anywhere near us. So wire

Frau, obviously, I care a lot
about that. So, check fraud,

wire fraud, crypto fraud, be on
the lookout. Be safe. Make sure

that your client's money is
safe, that your money is safe by

preventing these types of things
from happening. My name is

Tilden moschetti. I'm a
syndication attorney for the

moschetti syndication Law Group.
Now, if I can help you put a

syndication together or an
investment fund together, I'd be

happy to talk with you more if
you're interested in knowing how

to do prevent wire fraud or
check fraud or crypto fraud, or

you've got a case specifically.
I'm actually not the guy. I care

a lot about it. I want you to
have the information, but if

it's specifically related to
that that you need information

on. You definitely do need help
find an attorney who specializes

in that area. But if you need an
attorney that specializes in

forming the syndication or the
investment fund, that's me. I

specialize in reg D offers
specifically Rule 506 B and Rule

506 C, if we can help you put
together that investment fund or

syndication, give us a call,
we'd be happy to help you.