The Manitoba Securities Commission today issued a warning to investors after reports of a suspicious investment scheme operating in the province.

The MSC is warning all the province’s residents about a scheme being offered at free, public seminars. It has reports that recently investors in the city of Brandon and surrounding rural communities have been targeted.

It says that seminar attendees are told that they can join an organization for a fee that then allows them to learn about and access a system to become “portfolio account managers” and restructure their assets through a variety of methods including opportunities in the precious metals industry, consumer debt or capital markets, environmental projects and international mutual funds.

According to reports, under this scheme a fee is paid and members are given a one-year probation period with the organization to restructure their own assets, refer other people into the organization, or introduce a new business opportunity to the group.

Reports say the seminar presenters are careful to stress that they are only selling memberships into their organization and not securities – admitting to audiences that they do not want to run afoul of regulators.

However, regulators are concerned because, according to reports, during the one-year probationary period, members are almost always required to purchase securities. People are told that they can move funds offshore with repeated references to tax avoidance. The regulators want people to be aware that they increase their risk when money is moved offshore because it usually makes efforts to reclaim their money more difficult, if not impossible, should their investments go awry.

The MSC says it is currently investigating this issue and strongly encourages investors to be cautious.

“The MSC hopes that this alert will encourage investors to thoroughly examine any investment opportunity that they are considering. We don’t want to see Manitobans making investments that could in fact be highly unsuitable” says Doug Brown, Director of Legal and Enforcement.