HANNA MUSIDI:
Hi, my name is Hanna and today we have our US tax expert, Derren. We also have our US real estate and legal expert, Jay. We will be discussing Us real estate forensic.
VOICE-OVER:
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HANNA MUSIDI:
Hi, we’re live. Hi, my name is Hanna and I’m based in Indonesia and I’m working in an international tax consultant team. And today we will talk about your US real estate forensic. And this episode is about a real estate scam. So right now I’m here with two of our experts. So first of all, Derren, would you mind introducing yourself?
DERREN JOSEPH:
Hi, thanks, Hannah. Hello everybody. So we continuing this series. My name is Derren Joseph, and I’m an international tax consultant with a team called Moores Rowland and my specialty is an international tax in general, but US international in particular. Good to be here.
HANNA MUSIDI:
Jay, would you mind introducing yourself?
JAY KNIGHT:
Yeah, sure. My name is Jay Knight. Thanks very much for having me again. I am an international real estate investor and I also am a real estate broker from California, so great to be here. Thank you.
HANNA MUSIDI:
Okay, so the next thing is number seven, which is offer to invest in your deal. Derren do you have anything to say about this?
DERREN JOSEPH:
I’ve not seen that with projects because it doesn’t apply to project, but it definitely applies to courses. And right now, especially given the social distancing lockdown, a lot of people spending time online. And as I look at YouTube videos, I lose count. There are just so many courses being breached and yeah, that is one of the whole motto. And I think to some extent it could be, I don’t know what to make of it. It could be real in the sense that what they are then doing is using these viewers, these subscribers as Scouts, looking for opportunities. And if they see something that, I mean, most of it will be rubbish, but every once in a while, you get to when I’m coming by. So it could be a women’s situation. So I don’t necessarily think it’s a whole month or it’s a red flag, but when it comes to courses, I could see it being something that works in favor of the promoter, as opposed to the actual participant, because chances are, would courses, courses tend to attract people who are lower income earners because, you know, they maybe lost a job or, you know, they’re hoping for something better. They just getting by and they want more. And they may not be in a position to be entrepreneurial themselves, which is why they’re paying for this course. And what sometimes happens. I’ve seen at least a one occasion, you create this, you know, the course promotes, it creates there’s a team of Scouts who brings deals to them. And the actual course participant may not be in a position to invest. So they’ve just introduced something that could be attractive and they get nothing for the athlete is the point I’m making. So again, I summarize, it’s not necessarily my perspective. My limited experience is not exactly a whole mark of a scam, but the way it’s structured, the participant may not get anything out of it in return for their effort and money because they’re paid for course, as well.
HANNA MUSIDI:
Do you have anything to add Jay?
JAY KNIGHT:
Yeah, but I think, again, this is just a very typical way to appease people, to make them comfortable. Right? If you tell someone, hey, I’m going to end, but you do this, I’ll invest in it with you. It gives you a comfort to know that, hey, here’s an experienced real estate expert who is going to invest in my deal. Well, if he’s a real estate expert and he’s done a loss of deals, she knows good deals from bad deals. So he’s not going to allow me to invest in a deal that he’s going to invest in that if it’s a bad deal, right. So it’s kind of like this way to make you feel secure about what you are going to do next with your money. Right? So if you have like, just like anything else, if someone is an expert in a field and they’re telling you, hey, I’ll invest in this thing with you. Well, you’re going to think, well, this guy was like, that’s great for me because now I’m getting all the experience and the knowledge and the expertise of this person on this really piggybacking off of them and they’re going to help me make money. Right? So that’s really kind of the emotional game that they play with this. And so anytime you see someone say, yeah, you know, come on in, don’t worry. I’m going to invest in that same deal with you. We’re going to do it. You know, that is a red flag. In my mind, that’s a red flag because it’s a barrier that someone would, who has a lot of real estate experience is very well versed in real estate, whatever really invest in a deal of someone that you’re trying to recruit in to take their course, doesn’t really make any logical sense because the gap between them and the other one is going to be so wide and so far that they don’t really have any time to really invest in small deals like ones. They’re going to try to get these new recruits. They’re if they’re really a serious investor, they’re looking at a million dollar deals and they’re doing all kinds of different things. And to invest in a small deal for someone else is just unlikely. So not to say it’s not possible, but I would say that that is a selling point to a course or to a seminar or something. I would look that with a skeptical eye, because it’s just not very likely to tap.
HANNA MUSIDI:
I see. Okay. Really, really blowing my mind.
VOICE-OVER:
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