Investing In The Iraqi Dinar
Can You Trust Me?...And Other Reader Comments
Monday’s e-letter hit a nerve with reader L.S. in the United States:”Dear Mr. Simon,
“With all due respect, you have not a clue as to the IQD and its stated re-valuation. Your lack of knowledge and understanding of the IQD since 1992 to date and its current status brings into question not only your judgment but quite honestly your intelligence.
“Given your obvious ignorance of the IQD, you would be well advised to pontificate on a subject matter in which you have some knowledge and understanding. Otherwise, quite honestly, you are raising the question of you credibility on any subject.
“Please post this in your next issue and highlight it for other IQD-holders on your mailing list to read.”
Let Me Answer Your Email
Dear L.S., you’ve put me in my place. I’m the moron with egg on my face, and I owe a thousand apologies to all the people who have bought Iraqi dinars expecting a 1,000-fold revaluation (effectively meaning the dinar reaches parity with the U.S. dollar) and to become multi-millionaires from their investments in worthless paper.
Seriously, it’s impossible to respond to your note, as you don’t provide any substance or support for your position. Why is my position flawed? Nothing you’ve said in your e-mail gives me any reason to believe I need to rethink this.
What your e-mail does suggest to me is that you are either one of the con men who has been selling dinar to unsuspecting “investors”…or that you’re one of those “investors” yourself who has put all his money into this swindle and now needs to defend that “investment.”
One website I found selling dinar offers a layaway plan. They say they ship via FedEx, but FedEx prohibits shipment of currency.
The fact that this investment involves the shipment of real bills is a red flag. I’d say that the risk of the currency you are sent being counterfeit is huge. This in addition to the very real risk of the bills becoming obsolete. Countries can (and sometimes do) change their bills. When this happens, the older bills, if not exchanged in a timely manner, become worthless. This happened recently in Croatia, where they stopped using their 5 kuna note. I have some 5 kuna notes leftover from a previous trip a few years ago. Now they are useless.
The ultimate risk with this Iraqi dinar play, as I pointed out on Monday, is: Who is going to buy your notes back from you? The exchange house that sold them to you? I’d suggest you try that today, right now, L.S. and see what response you get.
If anyone reading this has successfully resold any dinar currency, please let me know.
Lots Of Mail This Week...Including:
“Dear Mr. Simon,
“Your e-mails make very interesting reads. Indeed, I agree with a lot you have to say. In any case, you yourself talk about testing the waters and building relationships slowly. How do I know that your schemes are not a way to scam me even if it is only for a few hundred dollars for a year’s subscription?”
This from A.G., also in the United States.
Good point, A.G. You don’t know. Even a long-time friend can eventually end up scamming you…and, at best, I’m a new friend.
My paid service, The Simon Letter, costs US$79 for a one-year subscription, and it comes with a money-back guarantee. In other words, you don’t have to risk much to take a small next step in getting to know me better and having a chance to size up the value of my information.
Or you could just keep reading this Offshore Living Letter for a while. The only thing it will cost you is time.
Finally, another reader, B.W., writes…
“Lief, although I have been a practicing attorney for 35 years, I have done nothing but merely sit by and watch the creeping totalitarianism in the United States over the past 11 years. J.A.’s reader comment is far off the mark and is spoken like some zealot with his/her head in the sand. Rest assured that I agree with your outlook and will be soon following some of your advice.
“Keep up the good work!”
B.W.’s comments remind me of the boiling frog story. If you haven’t read it, you can find it here.
Regards,
Lief Simon
