The International Chamber of Commerce has warned investors against being sucked into an investment scam based on a spurious "bank debenture trading programme" peddled on the Internet.
Investors in Canada, the US and other countries have lost more than $30 million (£20.1 million) in the scam, which joins a panoply of other fake financial instruments such as "prime bank guarantees" and Bank of England certificates of deposit.
The ICC's commercial crime bureau, based in London, said the scam offered investors the chance to take part in the purchase and resale of negotiable bank instruments purportedly issued by the world's top 100 banks.
The sales pitch is backed up by copious documents allegedly conforming to the ICC's guidelines on documentary credits.
One typical offering required investors to put up $3 million in order to "lease" $100 million in US Treasury bills, which will then, it is claimed, be used to trade in bank debentures.
The offer claimed that an investor could trade up to 40 times a year, generating a 4 per cent profit on each trade.
It said: "The internal trading of these banking instruments is a privileged and highly lucrative profit source for participating banks, and as a result, these opportunities are not generally shared with even their very wealthiest clients."
Mr Eric Ellen, executive director of ICC Commercial Crime Services, said: "The `Bank Debenture Trading Program' described in the documentation does not exist and has claimed tens of millions of dollars from victims worldwide."
Another scheme advertised on a British Internet site claimed that pension funds were prohibited by law from buying bank debentures as a new issue. "An opportunity therefore exists for wealthy investors to purchase newly-issued bank debentures, obtain the bank debenture certificate and security registration number, and then turn around and resell the bank debenture to a major financial institution at a profit."
Typically, these investment schemes warn potential investors that bank debenture trading opportunities are so secret that banks or regulators will deny their existence.
The Bank of England warns on its Web site: "Beware of unbelievably good deals. As a general rule they are unbelievable."
