(Update: They are now blocking visits with my referral domain. You can view the site directly by typing in www.loyalfinancial.com.)
I received an e-mail today asking me to look into Loyal Financial Private Investments at LoyalFinancial.com and give my opinion whether it was legit or a possible scam or ponzi scheme. I found that Loyal Financial Private Group claims some of the most consistently positive returns I’ve ever seen on their website. Here are screenshots for posterity:
Source: LoyalFinancial.com, retrieved 9/4/12
Their website is rather bare with no listing of their top executives, and a quick search reveals that their mailing address – 919 Centre St. NW “Suite 153” in Calgary – is the address of a UPS Store mailbox that costs about $20 a month to rent out. The Canadian affiliation makes it confusing as there is also a Canada Loyal Financial, and suggests that they are outside the jurisdiction of the SEC (although I’m sure there is a Canadian equivalent). I can’t speak as to any illegal activity because I know nothing else about this company. However, based on the above factors, I would be very, very, very careful before sending any money to this firm.
The Best Credit Card Bonus Offers – November 2024
Big List of Free Stocks from Brokerage Apps
Best Interest Rates on Cash - November 2024
Free Credit Scores x 3 + Free Credit Monitoring
Best No Fee 0% APR Balance Transfer Offers
Little-Known Cellular Data Plans That Can Save Big Money
How To Haggle Your Cable or Direct TV Bill
Big List of Free Consumer Data Reports (Credit, Rent, Work)
I can tell by the distribution of the returns that these are fictitious. I have no doubt in my mind. The PO box is the cherry on top.
Scam. I got burned several years ago by another suspicious “Canadian” firm. Lucky for me, they partnered with a guy in the US who did fall under American laws and ended up getting convicted and forced to return nearly all of my (and others’) money.
If something sounds too good to be true, it is a scam. No doubt about it. Nice professional looking website though.
LOL at the “past returns” … basically constant every month going back to 1995, all three “funds”…
Nice work Jonathan on sniffing out the UPS Store address.
A whois lookup shows the domain was created in 2010:
Registrant:
Loyal Financial Group
919 Centre St. NW, Suite 153
Calgary, AB T2E 2P6
CA
Domain Name: LOYALFINANCIAL.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Loyal Financial Group
919 Centre St. NW, Suite 153
Calgary, AB T2E 2P6
CA
(888)419-5873
Domain created on 01-Aug-2010
Domain expires on 31-Jul-2014
Last updated on 09-Apr-2012
Wow, I’m in. Those are the best and most consistent fund returns over a three and a half year period I’ve personally ever seen. That’s like money in the bank…the next best thing to a guaranteed return.
Imagine that-no bad months ever, not even when other fund families were getting hammered with double digit losses. I think I’ll take out a Home Equity Loan and invest it all (damn, I forgot…I no longer have any equity in my home).
Thanks Jonathan for pointing this one out. I needed a good laugh this morning.
Here is the general contact info for the Canadian Securities Administrators, which I understand to be the Canadian equivalent of the SEC. I expect that the Montreal office could provide further information for the regional office:
CSA SECRETARIAT
Tour de la Bourse
800, Square Victoria
Suite 2510
Montreal, QC H4Z 1J2
Tel:
(514) 864-9510
Fax:
(514) 864-9512
E-mail:
csa-acvm-secretariat@acvm-csa.ca
http://www.securities-administrators.ca/aboutcsa.aspx?id=99
Ha. And those are *monthly* returns. And they go back to 1995.
The website just went down, though.
the website is down….what did u guys do!! 🙂
Let me get this straight. They invest in precious metals and they achieve returns of about 12% every single month. And they invest in Asian stocks and they achieve about 7% returns every single month. Something doesn’t pass the smell test here…
Good thing I took those screenshots. I guess they didn’t like the free publicity? 🙂
Yep i found the site, it was down or they’ve probably shut it down temporarily because they found out you got their tail. LOL! Thanks man for another helpful look insight. I sure would be more careful with any too goo to be true investment agencies.
Darn,…please correct my previous comment i had a mistake there “for another helpful look insight” . And please delete this one too after. Thanks again and i apologize for this.
Ha! I love how you singlehandedly shut them down. Good job Jonathan 🙂
FYI, Canadian securities are regulated on a provincial (state) level, rather than federally.
Look what Yahoo Finance has to says about Loyal Financial Group
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/loyal-financial-group-announces-gold-160000553.html
@Jim – That’s not Yahoo, that’s a reprint of a paid PRNewswire press release. Anyone with $500 can get a similar press release saying they’re the reincarnation of Elvis Presley.
Too much power in Jonathan’s hands! Can’t believe they shut down that quickly LOL
Owner in the USA is a registered company in California, los Angeles. Blackstone trading Inc 141 s. Berendo st unit 310 Los Angeles 90004. Name Jong yoon bang state of California registration c3473610 on may 7 2012.
Let’s see who can get this guy, I will put updates as they become available
Good Job Jonathan, I think you should do more exposes! there’s definitely a dozen of Fraud out there.
the website is up again…
http://www.loyalfinancial.com/
Haha, they are now pretending to be down if you click on a link to them from my domain, but you can still access it by typing in www dot loyalfinancial dot com directly into a web browser. Tsk, tsk.
If enough people ask enough questions to the proper Canadian officials about this shady firm, I think we can take down the site permanently.
http://www.securities-administrators.ca/aboutcsa.aspx?id=99
I notice the whole website has gone away. Did a bit of checking and I was told to contact the Alberta Securities Commission and this is the toll free number from their website 877-355-4488 but I doubt they can do anything because I bet the company is not in Calgary like they claim to be and all of the phone numbers seem to re-connect overseas somewhere if they are answered at all. Looks like a scam and all the talk on here seems to have put them out of action.
The website still works for me if you type it in directly. If anyone has sent these guys any money, please contact the ASC as noted above.
The website was down. Now it’s up again. could you dig a little further for us…call them, drill em…what ever legal way possible to get the scoop
It is still down as of today. I have not been able to get on since last night, none of the links work.
Contacted my sister who lives in California and she can see the site so it looks like they have stopped Canadians from seeing it. My brother in Ontario cannot see it either.
In US the website is still up, also there is a live chat option available.
except the live chat is never available. I contacted LivePerson yesterday telling them this company is a fraud and they should withdraw their service.
The legitimate owner of the UPS mail box is Sergij Lyazkowskij, you can google his name and Loyal Financial, open the PDF documents from the http://www.ilsos.gov to see all of the details…
This is definitely a scam. The internet is full of people trying to get our financial details.
Nice post Johnathon