'All of Active-Invest’s characteristics indicate that this company is an obvious swindle that is likely to use its investors’ money on the foreign exchange market,’ Finam Management Management Company’s Chief Economist Alexander Osin said to UrBC.

Active-Invest has launched a massive advertising campaign devoted to an investment project that anyone can take part in to make more money. The profits are allegedly to come from the trading operations on Forex foreign exchange market. To join in, one has to sign an agreement backed up by one or two guarantors who are already in the project.

'According to this agreement, the company gives each project participant at least a 30% annual interest rate on the sum of money he or she invests,’ their ad says. In addition, every investor’s money is protected by a 100% guarantee and insurance.

'The most likely thing is that a customer joins the project without signing any trust management contract to protect him on the legal side. The company in question probably does not have any license that could entitle it to asset management, nor does it have a banking license. This means the money people invest is not even protected by the state deposit insurance system. Moreover, Active Invest openly admits that it is going to compensate its customers using the other customers’ money; to make matters worse, the investor won’t be able to use this money in any way - as, say, the loan collateral, for instance. Besides, it will be extremely complicated to get the money from the company in case it goes bust,’ Mr. Osin said.

'This enterprise is apparently trying to use people’s distrust of the ruble by promising to convert their money in foreign currency. However, other countries’ currencies are just as easily subject to inflation, falling rate, and so on,’ he observed.