Investment Fraud – Pre-IPO Investment Scams

Warning about investment scams that offer investors the opportunity to buy pre-IPO shares of Facebook, Twitter, Groupon, or other popular companies. There are a number of complaints and inquiries about these types of pre-IPO investment fraud, which may be promoted on social media and Internet sites, by telephone, email, in person, or by other means.

In September 2010 a fraud artist had stolen more than $3.7 million from 45 investors in 4 states by offering fraud pre-IPO shares of companies, including Centerpoint, AOL/Time Warner, Inc., Google, Inc., Facebook, Inc., and Rosetta Stone, Inc.

Investors need to be mindful of the risks involved with an offer to purchase pre-IPO shares in a company.