email · Investment scam

Is the “guaranteed return” term deposit email a scam?

Q: Is the “guaranteed return” term deposit email a scam?

A scam. Compare that rate with what a real bank offers. “Guaranteed”, and far above the market: When ordinary term deposits pay far less, a much higher guaranteed rate is not a better product — it is bait. Genuine investments state that returns are not guaranteed, because they cannot be. The address is not a bank: australian-termdeposit.com is a domain someone bought. Real Australian banks and licensed funds correspond from their own established domain, and their name is searchable on ASIC’s register. A closing date: Scarcity is manufactured to stop you comparing rates or asking your accountant. A real term deposit is available on Monday on the same terms. Bank details by return email: You are being asked to transfer savings to an account supplied in an email, with no product disclosure statement and no licence number. There is no bank behind it to reverse the payment. Don’t reply. Search the company on ASIC Connect and the Moneysmart investor alert list — and compare the rate against your own bank’s published term deposits. Anything genuine will match up; this will not appear at all.

A scam. Compare that rate with what a real bank offers.

Below is the email itself, with every phrase that gives it away marked and numbered. There are 4 signs to find. It is invented for practice — the pattern comes from the public alert linked at the bottom.

Subject: 7.5% fixed return — limited places1
From: Australian Term Deposits <offers@australian-termdeposit.com2>

Dear investor,

Secure a guaranteed 7.5% return1 on your savings with a 12-month fixed term. Places close Friday3.

Reply to this email for our account details and transfer instructions4.

Australian Term Deposits — Registered Investment Partner

Why it is a scam

“Guaranteed”, and far above the marketWhen ordinary term deposits pay far less, a much higher guaranteed rate is not a better product — it is bait. Genuine investments state that returns are not guaranteed, because they cannot be.
The address is not a bankaustralian-termdeposit.com is a domain someone bought. Real Australian banks and licensed funds correspond from their own established domain, and their name is searchable on ASIC’s register.
A closing dateScarcity is manufactured to stop you comparing rates or asking your accountant. A real term deposit is available on Monday on the same terms.
Bank details by return emailYou are being asked to transfer savings to an account supplied in an email, with no product disclosure statement and no licence number. There is no bank behind it to reverse the payment.

What to do

Don’t reply. Search the company on ASIC Connect and the Moneysmart investor alert list — and compare the rate against your own bank’s published term deposits. Anything genuine will match up; this will not appear at all.

Pattern drawn from Moneysmart: investment scam guidance

Practise

Reading it is not the same as catching it

You have just been told the answer. The drill shows this message without it, one at a time, and asks you to call it.

Start the investment set

If it has already happened

Not your fault, and not too late

Ring your bank, report it, and tell one person you trust. The first hour matters most.

What to do now