Get smart: How to spot an investment scam, and how to avoid falling for one

€25.4m was stolen through investment fraud last year

Leonardo Di Caprio in 'The Wolf of Wall Street'

Gabrielle Monaghan

Financial fraudsters have been been around for thousands of years, they’re nothing new.

The first case dates back to around 300BC, when a Greek sea merchant called Hegestratos took out an insurance policy on his boat full of corn with the intention of sinking it and collecting the insurance money.