Professor Shmuel Hauser, Chairman of Stocks and Bonds, together with the top echelon of the Authority, presented a special briefing for chareidi communications representatives regarding the steep rise in the number of investment requests from the chareidi public due to the many instances in which chareidi families invested the bulk of their money in uncertain moneymaking schemes and lost their investments totally.
In the meeting, Hauser said that "The posuk `And you shall be cautious with your lives,' equally refers to uncertain and non-supervised speculatory investments. This constitutes a genuine pikuach nefesh threat for entire families. A family which loses all of its savings cannot continue to function. People eat themselves up and become ill, both physically and emotionally."
Hauser, considered one of the top economists in Israel and a noted expert in the world financial market, said that he personally is "very disturbed by the existing state of affairs when bodies turn to the chareidi public offering high return investments of various types while offering all kinds of promises and guarantees which have no coverage."
In the meeting, the top officials of the Investment Authority said that they intend to intensify their supervision over advertisements in the chareidi communication channels to examine every investment offer. Part of the examination will deal with the question if the said investment falls under the legal jurisdiction of the Authority. If the answer is positive, the Authority promises to investigate these bids and require their strict supervision of the Authority in keeping with its severe standards and prerequisites.
The Authority notes that the most effective prevention is to heighten awareness of scams on the part of the chareidi public to beware of risky investments without backing and to report those incidents of possible swindling. "The scoundrels take advantage of the lack of awareness in this area by the chareidi public and con many families. Therefore, it is imperative that this public be forewarned."
Professor Hauser notes that "as of today, the chareidi public is easy prey for all kinds of swindlers for various reasons: it has a much lower financial savvy, a fact which is exploited by those con men; this public is less knowledgeable to differentiate whether a given stock investment is risky or not which is more dangerous and can lead to the investment being entirely wiped out, and other factors as well."
