You've heard it before and it's worth repeating; 'When It Sounds Too Good To Be True... It probably is."

Costa Rica is a truly beautiful country and for many, it is the ideal place for Canadian foreign investment but, please do not leave your brain on the plane!

You must remember that in Costa Rica, any 'Tom', 'Ricardo' or 'Harry' can call themselves an investment advisor with zero education, no training, no qualifications and no regulatory oversight whatsoever... Just like "Realtors."

Where Can Gringos Invest?

The easy answer is - "Practically anywhere and in anything!"

A more appropriate question should be: "What legitimate, secure and verifiable investment products are available? Products that may be similar to the ones that you are accustomed to 'back home' and, "Is there someone with comparable, professional investment qualifications that could help me?"

When living in Costa Rica and evaluating foreign investments that might be appropriate, please get the answers to the following 'basic' questions:

   1. Who exactly is handling your money?

   2. Where was the company formed & registered?

   3. Who exactly owns the company?

   4. Where is the company's physical headquarters?

   5. Who exactly is the President?

   6. Who exactly are the other Executive Officers of the company?

   7. What part of the world are they from exactly?

   8. Are they qualified to do what they say they do?

   9. Are they licensed? If so by whom?

  10. Who and where are their traders?

  11. Who and how exactly will they invest your money in?

  12. How exactly do they manage 'risk'?

  13. Who exactly audits their company's track record?

  14. Where exactly do you wire your money? Which banks? To which account?

  15. With which professional bodies are the traders and the principals of the firm registered?

  16. How can you verify this information?

  17. Are you really comparing apples to apples?

  18. Does the person 'selling' you the idea have any qualifications, training or experience in personal financial matters?

Do not leave your brain on the plane when evaluating an offshore investment or a Costa Rica real estate "OPPORTUNITY."

It appears that one specific type of 'offshore investment' known as the 'High Yield Bank Trading Programs' are up to their marketing tricks again... The following advertisement appeared in my 'Inbox' included in an email newsletter that supposedly has over 200,000 readers!

Offshore Investment "High Yield Bank Trading Programs - 72%+ Per Annum - by Brian XXXX - High Yield Investing is not a new thing, It has been around for many years, but has previously been reserved for the ultra wealthy....In some cases, anything between 6-50% per month."

Yeah right! Whether it's 'onshore' or 'offshore investment', when it sounds too good to be true... It probably is!

Do yourself a big favour and hit that 'Delete' button as fast as you can... When you see those kinds of headlines, you may want to question the credibility of the other information that they are feeding you if they are happy to include articles from people who plan to rob you!

There's another 'international' newsletter that emails me at least once a week with some 'secret' offshore investment idea and there's always some compelling headline in big, bold letters like; "How To Make a Million Dollars While Picking Your Nose."

Actually that's not fair, their actual headline on their 20th September email to me was "Discover the Amazing Secret That Can Turn $500 Into $68,571.43!

Yeah! Right! Like they do that all day long ....

Don't forget that in many places 'offshore' (including Costa Rica) anybody can call themselves an investment advisor. They may not need to study for securities exams, they may not need any qualifications, experience or licenses and nobody is really watching over them so you have to do your own homework!

Many offshore investment 'programs' may claim to be investing in foreign currencies, in S&P futures, in real estate, undervalued stocks, in prime bank notes but the promise is invariably the same: They all offer what appear to be extraordinarily high returns with virtually no risk.

You may be asked to sign a 'Confidentiality Agreement' so as not to divulge any proprietary information, which is quite ironic because they rarely give you information that explains exactly where or how your money is to be invested.

You may be told that the investment is open to 'members only' which is their way of asking you to keep your mouth shut because what they're doing is fraudulent.

At one time, there were many 'programs' available in Costa Rica but thankfully most of them no longer exist. Sure interest rates are close to record lows and your money market fund is paying you a big fat 3% per annum but that does not mean you should throw your common sense out of the window!

Whether it's in New York, London, Hong Kong or San Jose - any legitimate investment company will expect to be asked lots of questions, and a legitimate investment firm will also be happy to give you the answers to every single one.

Written by Scott Oliver, author of Costa Rica's Guide To Making Money Offshore. If you would like to read a client's letter please see Costa Rica Investing in Offshore Funds and founder of www.WeLoveCostaRica.com