| Help with brewing family money trouble |
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Publius
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| Help with brewing family money trouble |
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I have a strange dilema. My father in law has been taken in by the iraqi dinar scam. About 6 months ago he pullled me aside and handed me an envelope with 30k dinar in it and let me in on his sure thing. I honestly hadn't heard about the scam, so I googled it and realized what he had gotten into. The IQD is trading at about 1100:1USD, so 30,000 wasn't much at all, but his expectation is that it is going to be revalued at 10USD:1IQD or better any day now. A year ago he started listening to conference calls several times a week regarding a "project" that was about to take off. These calls are just propaganda marketing calls for the IQD dealers essentially. This is all he has been doing for the last year, apparently.
I didn't push back hard because the amount was so small, but it turns out that he has a large portion of his wealth tied up in this. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. (Why one would need to put that much into something that he expects to generate a 10,000X return, I don't know).
I have googled financial interventions, financial counseling etc looking for the right course of action here, but thought I would reach out to you guys to see what advice you have. My wife knows about it and is fed up. The rest of the family knows and shares my opinion, but no one has pushed back that hard because I don't think he has told anyone else how much he has sunk into this.
So, what course do I take? Fly his other kids into town and sit everyone down for an intervention? Do I just ignore it? Do I just try to talk to him directly one on one (I am worried that this tact will just make it so no one is privy to what he is doing). Before you suggest that I let my wife handle it, she is fed up with it and doesn't have the relationship with him where he would listen to her anyway. Her sister tried to get him to listen to reason and he just dismissed her concerns as not being sophisticated enough to understand the situation. You might think I don't have a dog in the fight, but it will likely be my basement that gets commandeered if they end up destitute because of this.
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Fri Nov 07, 2014 4:20 am |
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Wino
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| Re: Help with brewing family money trouble |
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quote:
Originally posted by Publius
... it will likely be my basement that gets commandeered if they end up destitute because of this.
Checking in from Kuwait.
Well, I live in this part of the world, and I have been to Iraq as recently as 10 months ago. There is no easy way to say this.
His money is gone. He'll not even see the 0.1 return, as they don't allow currency trading. Think "wheelbarrow full for loaf of bread" for their value. I think it was like 120K dinars for a night out for 6 of us, and we only had dinner with some beers (and not a bunch of beers; something like a case between all of us).
If I were in Iraq, I still couldn't get him anything for them. When I mentioned to them that I had dollars, they basically wanted to sell me their daughters. I think I still have about 20K in a drawer in my house. That's like $6 USD, I think, for spending power.
I am sorry that he got scammed. There's nothing anyone can do about it.
Course to take? Have him read my reply.
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Fri Nov 07, 2014 4:10 pm |
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blixet
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Assuming his "investment" is a bust, you'll obviously need to tread carefully. He needs a come to Jesus moment to face up with reality but how it is delivered and how he will react have both opportunity and peril for you.
Nobody wants to admit failure, especially on a large scale, nor face the fact that they have been taken advantage of or used poor judgement. Reactions can range from extreme embarrassment, denial, anger, depression... all the stages of grief that people experience when confronted with a loss. You may take a hit as the one bringing it home to him, or maybe he will understand that you are there to support him and help him get through it all as a loving family member.
It might be a good idea to talk man-to-man, have your case ready to present so that he can see the facts and start to get his head around them. He may already know or suspect that this is bad. A full blown intervention could result in him circling the defensive wagons against what could be perceived as an attack on him, his ego or his sense of self-worth. You're in the best position to judge all of that.
I'd think that if you take it slow, but are firm and assertive enough, he will come around in his own time. He is lucky to have you there for him. I am sure you will do what is best. Good luck.
Information is more valuable sold than used – Fischer Black
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Fri Nov 07, 2014 5:57 pm |
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Publius
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Location: Georgia
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Thanks for the feedback.
Wino, so you're saying that even if I could convince him this is a bad idea, he can't sell anyway? Unless he can find some other dupe? I guess this is why you can find this stuff all over ebay. This is grievous news -- I was looking forward to that theater room in the basement 
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Sat Nov 08, 2014 2:40 am |
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Wino
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Location: Dubai
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If their economy strengthens, I would expect them to exchange present currency with the "new Dinar," and you'll have to have tax and earnings records to back up any currency you want to exchange, similar to what they did in Italy in the 1980's to screw over the mob.
Of course, I'm just going on what I've seen and heard. There is absolutely no way I'd invest in any currency here in the middle east. When I get paid, my Dirhams are immediately crossed to dollars, and that's with a currency pegged to the dollar. Our exchange rate doesn't change, ever... until they decide it will, and then it will be too late for me to transfer it, maybe.
Check with a Forex trader. Maybe there are enough suc... I mean "investors"... that the IQD is being traded. If so, I'd get out of it, and as quickly as I could. I'd consider any money I got as a gain.
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Sat Nov 08, 2014 1:28 pm |
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