This may help you to explain or even justify your actions if the investment ultimately turns sour and there may be also useful information you pick up which can help track down any fraudulent operator if the investment proves to be a total scam.
Make sure you highlight to any client any personal connection you have with the investment scheme or its individuals as well and there are rules about commission payments you must follow.
Worst case scenario
If you think that you and your clients have been the subject of a scam, then it is important to act immediately.
Contact law enforcement agencies straight away but be alive to the fact that they may not be able to move quickly and may not even investigate your case at all.
There are also options through the civil courts which might help you or your client obtain information on any fraudsters or to freeze assets and stop the stolen funds from being moved around different countries.
Money is easy to move quickly across the world and can be very hard to track and recover once it has left English bank accounts.
Foreign exchange currency is equally hard to track down as it is constantly traded and mixed in with other currency.
Once your client's money gets mixed with other people's money, it can be very hard to legally trace it and recover it.
Information in these circumstances is key.
The more you can get, and the faster you can obtain it the more likely you are to be able to track down the money.
Daniel Gore is senior associate at Withers
