If someone offers you a plan to unlock your RRSP, tax-free, call the police.
Scam artists are conning people in economically hard-hit areas of the country with seminars and schemes to magically access their RRSP savings.
The plans goes something like this; people are advised to move their RRSP into a self-directed RRSP and then transfer the funds outside the retirement plan and into shares of a phony company, trust or fund. People are hit with a double whammy because, not only do they find that their investments have disappeared, they now owe tax on the funds for removing them from the tax-free environment.
The scammers concentrate on communities where people have paid into pensions and RRSPs for years but currently are hard-pressed for money. This makes them easier dupes for the conmen.
Needless-to-say, if someone offers you something that seems too good to be trueit isnt, protect your savings and get sound financial advice from a bank or credit union.
Blogs & Comment
Scam alert: unlocking pensions and RRSPs
By Don Sutton
If someone offers you a plan to unlock your RRSP, tax-free, call the police.
Scam artists are conning people in economically hard-hit areas of the country with seminars and schemes to magically access their RRSP savings.
The plans goes something like this; people are advised to move their RRSP into a self-directed RRSP and then transfer the funds outside the retirement plan and into shares of a phony company, trust or fund. People are hit with a double whammy because, not only do they find that their investments have disappeared, they now owe tax on the funds for removing them from the tax-free environment.
The scammers concentrate on communities where people have paid into pensions and RRSPs for years but currently are hard-pressed for money. This makes them easier dupes for the conmen.
Needless-to-say, if someone offers you something that seems too good to be trueit isnt, protect your savings and get sound financial advice from a bank or credit union.