It’s the “Get Rich Quick” sales pitch that makes the Iraqi Dinar a scam! You’ll hear false statements like these:
- The US Government has purchased millions in iraqi dinar so they can pay off the nation’s debt.
- Famous person purchased large quantities of dinar
- High ranking person knows that the dinar will reval next week
- Comparing the Iraqi Dinar to the Kuwaiti Dinar expecting same results
- Large oil reserves that guarantee an increase in value
- Chance to make it big, don’t miss this opportunity
- You don’t have to buy, only pay for option to buy later
It’s statements like these that turns this into nothing but a scam says government agencies, and here are just a few of the many warnings out there to would be investors!
Washington State:
The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions is warning consumers about potential scams regarding Iraqi Dinar currency exchange services, see Consumer Alert: Iraqi Dinar Scams.
State of Utah’s Top 10 Investment Scams: Iraqi Dinar
The Utah Division of Securities estimates that Utahns lose over $50 million a year in investment scams, such as the Iraqi Currency Scam where advertisements in local newspapers promise great wealth by purchasing the new Iraqi dinar. Promoters explain that as democracy comes to Iraq, the expected peace will stimulate the Iraqi economy and the value of the dinar. What investors are not told is that…
State of Maine Scam Alert: Iraq Money Transfer
A new scam has been reported to the Office of the Attorney General. It involves someone looking to move money from Iraq to a US bank.
FinCen – The Kuwaiti Iraq Comparison Scam:
Circumstances of the war in Iraq have created the phenomenon of businesses trading in new Iraqi dinars. Many of these businesses advertise or conduct business over the Internet, and suggest that the Iraqi dinar, much like the Kuwaiti dinar will increase in value exponentially… More on this false Kuwaiti Iraq Dinar comparison
Big Money for Dealers!
And what’s in it for the online dealers? Millions per month with documented proof to back it up, just look at these court cases and do the math!
DinarTrade.com
ARKANSAS SECURITIES COMMISSIONER CASE NO. G·ll-0205
Dinar Trade has engaged in the business of currency exchange in Arkansas without a license or approval under the Act from on or about January 1,2008, through the April 14, 2011. From on or about January 1,2008, through the date of this Order, Dinar Trade has exchanged approximately $4,400,000.00 into Iraqi dinars in approximately 5,000 transactions for residents of the State of Arkansas. Dinar Trade shall be responsible for the payment of a civil penalty in the amount of $20,000.00 to the Arkansas Securities Department
The court document above states they converted $4,400,000 in 5000 transactions or $880 per transaction on average; based on this, we calculate the average amount of dinar purchased by an online visitor to be 750,000, that’s a gross profit of $168 per transaction. $168 or $840,000 from January 2008 to April 2011 (39 months or $21,538 per month).
Keep in mind that the $21,538 per month is only for one state! Wikipedia lists US territories by population with the average state population as 6,219,478 and Arkansas having about half that at 2,937,979. If we double the amount DinarTrade made in Arkansas to bring it to the national average, that’s $43,076 per month and then multiple that by 50 states, we have a total average of $2,153,800 per month in gross profit!
11/2010 DinarTrade was selling 750,000 dinars for $810 US
11/2010 Dinar to US exchange rate was 1168
11/2010 Cost for someone in Jordan to purchase same amount was $642 US, savings of $168!
Please note that we only have court documents to work from and any numbers other than those provided by the court are pure speculation, that you should do your own math and come to your own conclusions.
As you can see, $2,153,800 per month is worth paying the civil penalty of $20,000 to continue business!
DinarTrade is not the only dealer to get hit by the Arkansas Securities Department, others include:
STERLING CURRENCY GROUP, LLC DBA DinarBanker.com Case No. C-11-0208-11-or01 was also fined a civil penalty in the amount of $4,000.00 for exchanging approximately $160,000.00 into Iraqi dinars in approximately 66 transactions for residents of the State of Arkansas from a time period from July 14, 2008, to November 15, 2010.
Dartmouth Capital, LLC dba as SafeDinar.com Case No. C-08-070
DTIF, Inc DBA as eDinarFinancial.net case No. C-11-0243
OdioWorks LLC DBA as DinarProfits.com Case No. C-11-0215
Dinar Xchange DBA BetOnIraqi.com Case No. C-11-0242-11-OR01
GID Associated Inc DBA GIDAssociates.com, GetIraqiDinar.com and USACurrencyExchange.com Case No. C-11-0263
Lifesoung Development Group LLC DBA as DealOrBuyDinar.com Case No. C-11-0216
Treasury Vault LLC Case No. C-11-0349
These court cases are just the first few that I found. Should you care to investigate further, simply search google for the government documents.
Dinar Website Scams
There is so much money at stake that in May of 2011, I was contacted by an employee (former employee now?) of DinarBanker.com who claimed to be working with a prince from Dubia that wanted to buy my site. Stefano had made an offer to buy my site years ago, which I refused.
Fereidoun “Fred” Khalilian who claimed to be Prince Farid from Dubai (also using an alias of Prince Khalie), who initially contacted me from 424-239-9573 with this message:
Mr. Jim, this is Al Valid Farid Khalifa of Dubia. I’m currently in Beverly Hills and in middle of a merger with the a company that you might be very familiar with in the Dinar our business (he’s referring to DinarTrade.com). My staff has looked you up and it’s my understanding that you pop up as number 1 in the search engine of Google and before I do this, merger, by the end of the week. I’ve been desperately trying to get a hold of you. Please call me at (424) 239-9573 as early as convenience.
Farid Stefano Grossi Message
farid from Dubia Merger Dinar Trade
Stefano Grossi, owner of Grossiweb.com also called from 404-512-4909 claiming to be recently fired by Sterling Currency Group (DinarBanker.com) with this message after Farid’s call:
Hi Jim, this is Stefano Grossi (grossiweb.com) the developer of DinarBanker.com. We spoke a few times on the phone a couple of years ago. There is a very important gentleman from dubai that is attempting to contact you because of me. Will you please call me so I can connect the two of you? Thanks and hope this note finds you well!
Stefano and Fred met me in person (they told me they flew in on his (the prince’s) private jet at Chicago and left the bodyguards behind) and presented me with traffic stats from DinarBanker.com as proof that I could a million dollars or more per month (after expenses). They claimed to be in business with DinarTrade.com and were going to form a company using my site (I would turn it over to the new “company”). Turns out Ali Agha owner of the other website was given a similar story but with a twist, they showed up at his place unannounced claiming to own my website!
Above are images of Fereidoun “Fred” Khalilian claiming to be Prince Al Valid Farid Khalifa of Dubai and of Fred’s associate Stefano Grossi.
Fred is not a prince and resides in Florida; in fact, he was recently found guilty of the famous Robo-Call car warranty scam and fined 4.2 million which he has yet to pay! See ftc.gov/os/caselist/1023173/index.shtm for details.
Note Fred uses a Google voice number that is registered in Beverly Hills, CA even though he is in Florida.
+14045124909 [Stefano Grossi] (404) 512-4909
+14242399573 [Fred Khalilian] (424) 239-9573
+16175289589 [Also used] (617) 528-9589
These two guys spent a lot of time on this and concocted an elaborate story that fortunately didn’t fly! Hopefully, what I have shared may help those in similar situations understand the truth.
WARNING:
If you have been approached by Stefano Grossi of Grossiweb,com presenting Fereidoun Khalilian as Prince Al Valid Farid Khalifa of Dubai, Prince Khalie or other aliases, please contact Carmen Christopher of the Federal Trade Commission at (202) 326-3643 and / or your local division of the FBI and mention Grossi Khalilian Iraqi Dinar Scam.
Don’t be Scammed!
If you search this website’s comments, you’ll see promise after promise that the dinar is going to increase in value. In fact, many of these scammers go as far as setting dates and you know what, every single one of them has come and gone! I’m starting to see more and more comments from frustrated investors who have given up on their dream.
If you were a dealer or bought a million dinar from a bank in Iraq in 2004, it would have cost you $746. If you were to sell it back to the bank, it would now be worth $858, an increase of $112 over 7+ years. But, you’re not a dealer and you had to buy it online paying mark up and fees of $150 per million, so you lost money. Not exactly a way to get rich!
If you are going to invest in this currency, don’t be scammed, understand that your investment may never pan out, that the odds are stacked against you, and to spend only what you can afford. The Iraqi Dinar is real, but it’s the false promise of getting rich that makes it a scam.
I have invested just a little and bought 50,000 dinar, since, I have only seen false promises and dates, all which never come to pass. I believe I did get scammed, but the two 25,000 notes I have, will go good in my daughter’s foreign money collection.
Here is the question I have with the Dinar. Why would anyone who sells dinar (especially brokers who have purchased them at various rates/dinar over time) sell them? They would have to be idiots to sell something at 40% over book value when they stand to make (in their words) millions in USD per million dinar. They would horde what they have in inventory. It makes no sense!
The brokers churn (which is illegal per the SEC) worthless paper on poor schmucks who get caught up in the get rich quick scheme. Every sale/trade puts USD in the brokers’ pockets. What will they say to their “investors” when it is time to cash out and the paper is worth maybe nothing or maybe $1,160 USD per million dinar. I bet they leave the country in a hurry.
they are talking about dropping the zeros in the dinar what would that do towards the vaule if you have already purhsed them??
I used to work in legitimate foreign exchange, working with businesses sending and receiving foreign funds rather than trading for speculation, and was notified of some people going through a website to buy IQD and then having to fly out to California to pick it up. I know, totally ridiculous, but it sounds like quite a few people were biting…and spending crazy money.
The problem is that people “investing” aren’t 1) being rational and 2) getting the full story from the seller. A guy I spoke with said his sister bought $600 of IQD. She was under the impression that the several hundred thousand IQD she owned was already worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The explanation made it sound like she was getting it from the seller.
Dolores, glad you’re sticking to your guns. Although, the Microsoft comparision is wide of the mark. I don’t recall Micosoft spending decades under dictatorial rule and then having a decade of chaos. Also, the oil reserves don’t matter if they’re not going anywhere, and there’s no guarantee it will help the country if they can move it. Oh, and they’re 5th, not 3rd.
Billy, not all IQD trading is a scam, and I don’t see anything here stating that it is…the writer is saying that there are some scams costing people. Scams aside, it’s a stupid investment. The risk/reward tradeoff is absurd. The only accurate statement you made is that it should be better than USD/IQD 1160. It could be 1150 in a year.
Thanks for the comprehensive article. I feel bad for anyone who invested large amounts of money thinking they would get rich overnight. I myself bought 3mil dinar just to see what happens. If it attains 25 cents to the dinar before I die I’d be tickled!
Suffice to say there are two get rich overnight players. Dinar sellers and Iraq CBI. If it did rv, Iraq couldn’t pay the debt unless they sold a lot of oil. It’s kinda like investing in moon rocks. Just buy a spot on a shuttle to cash in and hope to have a safe trip!
Interesting information. I found this site after being told about a “GREAT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY” by the shoe shine boy, in this case, my garbage man. He expects to retire very soon, thanks to his having purchased nearly two million Dinar. After reading the information on this and other sites, I’m thinking he may not be leaving his day job any time soon.
I knew it was probably b.s. when I bought it but I didn’t spend what I couldn’t afford. But I think many of us reacted as if the dinar was a lottery ticket with better odds. What the bell, a life without dreams isn’t much.
I read all your comments. I disagree that the DINAR (IQD) is a scam. The CBI has stated that they will RV and would like a stronger. exchangeable currency in the future. I dont expect a $3 to 1 IQD rate but I expect the rate of 1160-1 to be stronger to the USD in the future.
I read your comments. I am a Dinar holder. I appreciate your perspective. I would rather invest whatever I am willing to lose on a currency represented by a country ranked 3rd in Oil reserves that once had a currency stronger than the dollar. If it doesn’t pan out, that’s ok. If it does, it will be money well spent. Nothing ventured…..nothing gained. Look at those who invested in Microsoft when it was a penny stock? Those who took the risk are laughing all the way to the bank.