Iraqi Dinar Investment a scam?

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cvrx4

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I have an uncle who has been notorious in our family for get rich quick schemes. Anyway he recently told my father that he needs to invest in the iraqi dinar that the current exchange rate is very low and soon it will go way up making him a millionaire. My father thinks that my uncle has invested a lot of money in this. I have googled it and there are a lot of websites saying it is a scam. I am not too investment savvy so what say ye. I know we have some shrewd investors on this board. Is it a scam or not.
 

shotty

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I'm like you, not to investment savy. I rely on what my grandpa used'to say, "if it sounds to good to be true, it usually is"
 

Glocktogo

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I don't think it will make him a millionaire, but it could be a good investment. Iraqi Dinar is available through your local bank. I got 950,000 from BOK. They Fed-Ex it to your branch and you go pick it up. It's super cheap right now.

If they ever settle down over there and get that country going again, their currency value will rise. I look at it as a long term investment. I don't think it's going to rise as quickly or as much as the people touting it say it will.
 

Dale00

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It is a scam - stay away.

The Iraqi dinar is not freely traded on the open market.

1. Liquidity
There is currently no active market for dinars. You can buy them but can you sell them? We surveyed several dealers and found that the difference between what you can buy dinars for and what you can sell them for is approximately 20%. This means that the dinar will have to appreciate by at least 20% before you could sell the currency back at break-even. It is worth noting that since the new dinar was introduced after the U.S. invasion it has only appreciated about 23% total.

2. Currencies with extremely low values are often demonetized
It is quite common for countries with currencies that have very low values compared to other currencies to demonetize their existing hard currency and issue new currency with new values. For example, the Venezuelans (another oil economy) demonetized the bolivar (trading at 2,150 to the USD) in 2008 and allowed currency owners to exchange 1,000 of them for 1 new bolivar. The new bolivar now trades at 2.15 to the USD.

3. Inflation
Currently the Iraqi Central Bank is reporting monthly inflation rates that range between -4% (negative) to 8%. If the government and economy become more unstable than they are at present, those inflation rates could skyrocket. Hyperinflation destroys the value of hard currency. By the time the Turkish government revalued, in 2008 the lira had inflated to 1.5million lira to the USD.

The bottom line

This is an investment opportunity marketed by unregistered advisors to mostly unsophisticated currency investors. No risks are disclosed and past information is fabricated or modified to make the opportunity look better than it really is. This investment is a gamble at best.
http://www.mint.com/blog/investing/iraqi-dinar-scam/
 

Kingmarine

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I brought some Iraqi money (dinar) and coins back from Iraq with me. I keep it for novelty, not the thought of ever getting rich off any of it. If it isn't traded openly, I guess you could find other ways of trading it, but why risk it?
 

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