Should You Exchange Your Change For Dinars?
Want to buy foreign money? You’ll be sure to make millions. What’s the catch?
Earlier today a man called the BBB about an email inviting him to invest in Iraqi currency. It claimed he could profit from the now nearly-worthless dinar that is “sure” to appreciate later.
Foreign currency investment has been around for a long time, and isn’t in and of itself, a scam. What makes this email one is that it promises high earnings within a short period of time with little or no knowledge of the market or without you having any skills except the ability to open up your pocketbook.
So before you invest in one of the most illiquid currency markets in the world, consider this:
Hype: The email claims the Iraqi dinar is poised to appreciate just like the Kuwaiti dinar after the Gulf War, or the German mark post-WWII.
Fact: You’re not comparing apples to apples. Neither Kuwait nor Germany had a free-floating currency, so their money’s value was mostly a function of official policy. If the Iraqi government pursued a policy of currency appreciation, it would make government funding and debt-paying more expensive. An economy in Iraq’s situation is actually likely to experience a currency crash or intentional devaluation.
Hype: The email claims that prior to the 1990 Kuwaiti invasion the dinar was worth $3+ US dollars. Its potential is theoretically unlimited.
Fact: The pre-1990 dinar has been demonetized (made worthless). Its former high value was arbitrarily set by Saddam Hussein’s autocratic regime. Following the embargo, the Iraqi government was unable to manage its currency’s value and the dinar spent the next decade at 2,000 – 3, 500 dinars to 1$ U.S. dollar.
Hype: The email claims that everybody will want to get in on this.
Fact: There is currently no active market for dinars. You can buy them but can you sell them? Since the new dinar was introduced after the U.S. invasion it has only appreciated about 23 percent. Total.
In conclusion, beware of “opportunities” marketed by unregistered advisors to mostly unsophisticated currency investors. Legitimate opportunities should disclose risks and avoid modifying or fabricating past information to make the opportunity look better than it is.
Start with Trust by looking up companies at www.bbb.org before you do business with them. The US Securities and Exchange Commission is a great resource for investment opportunities and rules at www.sec.gov.
I was approached about this by an aquaintance today so i have been trying to research it. Is it a total scam? She has already purchased A LOT from a company called GID Assosiates.com. Are they legit? If they are and the money is really worth nothing how can they sell it. is it just a legal way to lure people into a bad investment? Please advise.
Thanks!
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Holly,
You obviously never did your homework and are only expressing your opinion here. Which is fine as we live in this great country that allows us to do that. But don’t mislead people. This is a currency speculation just link with any other currency. You can buy AND sell it all day long. So where is the scam?
Bruce
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I agree with Bruce. A great site to look at is Dinarpeople.com to gain more research about the Iraqi currency. The US holds the largest amount of reserves in Iraqi Dinar. If this currency or concept is a scam why would the US have so much money put aside, spend millions plus on the war and help them develop a centralized government? You think they are doing this all for free? Iraq is close to dropping their zeros on their currency (25,000 dinars will = 25.00) so they can begin to trade internationally. Then they are most likely to go back to their previous exchange rate of 3.42 dollars to one dinar… which is what they had before Sadam.
Iraq is has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. This makes Iraq very appealing to other countries….
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Bruce (sucker)
The Scam in FACTS lies with the lack of maturity to see that this currency comes from a EXTREMELY CORRUPT COUNTRY and is sold and traded for one thousandths of a us dollar by multi millionaires who look for suckers to buy after they make a extremely tiny amount of money per the billions that they play with on the day trader market – suckers buy it at the HIGH.
That is not really true trading at all!!!!
Iraq has already stated that they will buy back, locally, at 1000 to 1 dinar and foreigner are the victimns of the CBI admitting that it has been engaged in its own MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEME to sell junk DINAR for sound US Dollars DAILY!!!!
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Hi MH:
I was referring to this particular email as a scam. Be aware that as recently as 2006, the Utah State Department of Commerce, Division of Securities, published a report saying that until the currency’s value floats and it is freely traded by brokers, it can only be redeemed in Iraq.
The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions also put out a warning about dinar scams in April of 2011, pasted below the link:
http://dfi.wa.gov/consumers/alerts/iraqi-dinar-scams.htm
Foreign Exchange Scam
The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions is warning consumers about potential scams regarding Iraqi Dinar currency exchange services. While foreign exchange scams are not new, the sudden popularity with the Dinar and resulting consumer complaints to our banking partners is concerning. Consumers can read about the investment-related risks in our previously-released consumer alert, “Forex: Risky Business?” at http://www.dfi.wa.gov/consumers/alerts/forex.htm.
Several websites have recently begun advertising investment opportunities in Iraqi Dinars, the currency of Iraq. These websites are asking the consumers to send a check, wire, money order, or pay cash upon delivery of the Dinars. What consumers are not told is that the Dinars can be redeemed only in Iraq, as most of the established currency exchange houses and banking institutions cannot convert the Dinar to US dollars. Since no exchange exists for the Iraqi Dinar, dealers can charge whatever they want to sell and buy back the Dinars.
These dealers often register with the U.S. Treasury as a Money Services Business (MSB). An MSB registration is nothing more than a form they file; it does not reflect any experience in trading currency nor entail any qualifications on the part of the dealer, other than basic anti-money laundering requirements. The reason dealers seek this registration is to lend legitimacy to their scam and avoid more stringent regulation.
In addition, most of these websites are operating illegally in Washington State, without a currency exchange or money transmission license issued by the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions. Make sure you only deal with licensed, legitimate companies when making financial decisions.
GID Associates
I was able to find a business review on http://www.bbb.org for GID Associates…here is the link.
http://www.bbb.org/connecticut/business-reviews/foreign-currency-exchange-broker/g-i-d-associates-in-vernon-ct-84000594
The Connecticut BBB may be able to further assist your friend. Their contact information will be in the report. And if she needs to file a complaint, that office will be the one to handle it. Currently the business is resolving their complaints.
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Bruce: Can you let us know more specifically what you deem misleading? We’d like to know so we can clarify if we need to…Of course, it is not a scam to merely invest in any country’s currency. It is HOW one invests and through WHOM that is the question. We aren’t making up the Iraqi Dinar Scam that we have seen ebb and flow over the years, and neither is WA DFI, thus, their warning. We were inspired by their release to impress on people to pay heed to questionable investment offers. BBB advises investors to do their due diligence before investing, and to merely be certain you have a legitimate offer before investing.
As with all scams, the email our consumer received promises high earnings in a short time period with little or no experience in the investment field.
Consumers are warned to do your homework before investing. Be sure you have a legitimate offer before paying. It’s always important to know where the company is physically located.
Again, consumers should beware of “opportunities” marketed by unregistered advisors to mostly unsophisticated currency investors. Legitimate opportunities should disclose risks and avoid modifying or fabricating past information to make the opportunity look better than it is.
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Hi Jessica, thanks for the link.
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Rhonda, we appreciate your comments also.
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I think the reason so many people respond so strongly is that your title (and most titles of articles dealing with this topic for that matter) is a blanket statement…”Iraqi Dinar Scam”.
It is a simple fact that a person can invest in a long shot currency and it is not a scam to do so. I did some research, I called my states largest bank (they trade in the currency for a huge fee), I looked at some websites that exchange the currency for a fee and found them to be pretty reasonable (and yes they buy them back too…for a fairly reasonable fee). So, I have invested a little in Dinar in case it pays off as big as it could.
It is possible that the currency will inflate in value over time, and there is a reasonable argument to make that suggests that they may revalue their currency at or near that of their neighboring countries. If they were to do the latter it could be a huge payoff. However, if Iraq were to plunge back into civil war I could loose it all. This is a risky investment, like any investment, in a war torn country. It is NOT a scam…
All that being said, there ARE some people who are scamming people with this currency. There are some scams that PROMISE quick returns, or that charge huge fees to buy dinar (though with a little research it is easy to find out what’s a fair rate). In my opinion these scammers seem to be few and far between.
So, avoid blanket statements about Iraqi Dinar being a scam and let people know that it is:
Indeed a risky investment…(an investment with moderate to very high risk),
People should only invest what they can afford to lose,
It may pay off hugely,
It may payoff slowly over time,
It may never ever payoff,
You may lose a little or you may lose it all,
No one knows when or how it may payoff… … and
Yes there are a few scammers out there to be aware of too.
That’s the simple story on the Iraqi Dinar.
(If you check the list above you will find that it’s much the same as other investments that “sophisticated” advisers have been peddling on Wall Street the past few years.)
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Hi Michael, I appreciate your feedback. Since I am actually blogging about an Iraqi Dinar Scam I don’t think I will change the title. Perhaps though it would help to insert an explanatory paragraph near the beginning. Let’s see if that helps.
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So of all you folks that are commenting on the blog, I would be interested to know if you personally or friends/relatives/coworkers have made any money with Iraqi dinars? Michael H, you mentioned that you had bought some. Have you sold any yet? Or are you waiting to try.
The other question I have is whether there are any military folks out there with opinions? Some time ago, the BBB did receive a large number of complaints about a dinar company taking money from military personnel–I think the problem in that case was that they actually took your money but delivered nothing in return, and no refunds were issued. Unfortunately this can happen with any industry.
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I agree with you totally Michael on your statement: “I think the reason so many people respond so strongly is that your title (and most titles of articles dealing with this topic for that matter) is a blanket statement…”Iraqi Dinar Scam”.”
Holly, Why did Ali Agha close down dinartrade.com? It is a mystery, can you give us any details?
Thanks
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Well, I finally thought of a way to make the title say exactly what I wanted by adding Email Scam for accuracy. Thanks everybody for your suggestions.
Rhonda: I’m not sure that http://www.dinartrade.com actually has closed down. The report from the California BBB (on bbb.org) says:
“The BBB was informed by Ali Agha on February 9,2011 that this location was going to be closing on March 1, 2011. The BBB was contacted on March 24, 2011 by Ali Agha stating that they will not be closing.”
I would suggest contacting that BBB office for further information. Their contact info will be in the report.
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I can’t believe you’d write an article and continue to be so obtuse about Dinars, as evidenced by your ignorant questions to those posting. Example: “Have (you) made any money with Iraqi dinars?” What part of rebuilding a country and repegging their dollars to an emerging democracy is unclear to you? None of this happens over night and the fact the country is being rebuilt, infrastructure is being rebuilt and new oil fields are being tapped takes time. You don’t buy Dinars today and expect a return immediately. In fact, few investments act in this way. It’s not a lottery ticket, sweetie. It’s an investment in a country to do better in the future. As was stated, the U.S. Govt did not enter Iraq for no reason and we did not enter Iraq ’cause we’re ‘so darn nice’. War is always about power and MONEY. The fact the U.S. holds trillions of Dinar should make this fairly evident. But you didn’t know this before you wrote this article, did ya bunky? Your article didn’t cover the fact that the way Dinars are represented by some may be a scam and for this reason people need to use reputable currency dealers when buying foreign currency – period. NOT that Iraqi Dinars ARE a scam. Your FACTS are wrong and inflammatory.
You have no business whatsoever writing about this topic, or probably anything else business or financial, for that matter.
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Marge, I am sorry to inform you that the US Treasury DOES NOT hold any Iraqi currency. This is another rumor thrown out there by profiteers trying to make a buck off of peoples greed. This is a scam in the purest sense of the word. The people hyping this are well aware that NOBODY will get rich off of this. Just ask yourself why a country trying to rebuild it’s economy would increase the value of it’s currency, making everything they do cost more….it will not happen.
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I had friends, some very intelligent on most things, tell me about buying Iraqi dinar and that I could make a fortune as soon as it RV to earlier amounts.
I told them I would research it and let them know. I was told that the U.S. government had invested heavily in dinar so I researched that and found that there is not so much as a dime of U.S. government invested in dinar.
Reason is the enemy of faith.
Iraq has 25 trillion dinar out in the world and if it revalued at $3 US it would come to 75 trillion dollars. Iraq wealth in order to honor all these dinar would be greater than the total sum of all the wealth on earth (58 trillion dollars).
It’s a scam plain and simple. Go ahead and flame, but, it’s true.
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Marge,
Calling someone sweetie and bunky in a sarcastic tone and saying they have no business writing an article for the sole reason YOU don’t believe what she is saying only elludes to your defensivness and fear of someone not agreeing with you. I certainly can understand your trauma as I have a friend who bought a lot of dinar and is convinced she will be a multi millionaire any day now, this time supposedly on Tuesday. I think it has been “for sure” on Tuesday for 3 months now. She plans to buy a million dollar house,(already looking at homes with a realtor), 2 Lexus @ $130k each 100k of new furniture for the million dollar house, and on and on it goes. I can only imagine the emotional crash she and others will experience when their dreams of living like the rich and famous die and they are left to live an ordinary life like the majority of us. Can’t fault them for dreaming, but listening to her go on and on about this for months on end is getting old. I can just see it 20 years from now she’ll still be talking about what she’s going to buy with all her money, but a gold plated walker will most likely replace the 2 cars.
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There is a remarkable site called dinarguru.com where anonymous “gurus” make all kinds of amazing statements about the glorious riches that will soon shower on the dinar “investors.”
You could write this off as a joke except for the fact that the site, which is relatively new, already boasts 4,100+ members.
The gurus constantly make representations to the effect that the so-called RV “is done” and some small detail is “just waiting” to be finalized for the “cash in” to occur. You know how in the 419 scam, victims would be told that there was just this little hoop or that little hoop to jump through, and then they would have their riches?
You see a lot of the same thing on dinarguru.com – gee whillikers, it woulda happened already, “but it got held up by the US positions of power,” or “The Barry [Obama] group…again, has held up the show…in a vain attempt to get ALL the CREDIT,” or “THE ENTIRE THING IS BEING HELD UPBY THESE TWO WORDS MALIKI AND ALLAWI.” (all direct quotes from the site).
Though dinar rumors have been floating around since shortly after Operation Iraqi Freedom, a quick check of “dinar RV” on Google Trends shows that interest in the topic didn’t become widespread until September 2010, and has rocketed skyward since then.
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How the U.S. Plans to Make Trillions on Dinar – Greg McCoach
http://goo.gl/NdRX2
Law – Article 32 passed in Iraq parliament
2 – equivalent to the value of the Iraqi dinar (2.48828) grams of pure gold.
http://goo.gl/Xm9o1
Official U.S. Government Price for Gold is Only $42.22/oz.
http://goo.gl/xoHhg
31.1 grams per oz.
Q: Is the BBB Liable if the Dinar increases in value and people decide not to purchase Dinar based on this blog?
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If this was such a scam then we need to have directors at Chase Bank, BB&T, Fifth Third etc arrested for fraud and racketeering. They sold the Dinar for a long time. I have already sold some of my Dinars at a profit but yes I am waiting for the bigger payday. Posters are correct. Your heading, that you insist stays, is very inflamatory and misleading. I understand the ” I never make a mistake” theory as I used to be just like you.
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Its former high value was arbitrarily set by Saddam Hussein’s autocratic regime. …
Sorry but this is incorrect. The Dinar was lower during Suddam. It was over $4.00 before Suddam was even born.
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Holly,
My local bank also deals in buying and exchanging Dinar as well I bought mine from my local bank I know its a long shot but a couple hundred dollar investment we will see what happens.
There are websites out there selling counterfit dinar so Iv heard that would be a scam.
Thats why I chose to go to my local bank they charged me a 10.00 fee to buy 200,000 dinar.
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I ALREADY MADE MONEY OFF MY DINARS IF I WANTED TO SELL THEM TODAY .
I PAID 680 DOLLARS PER MILLION BACK IN 2005 JANUARY .
PLUS SHIPPING IT CAME OUT TO 800 DOLLARS TOTAL C.O.D. NEXT DAY DELIVERY.
I CAN SELL THEM BACK RIGHT NOW FOR 900 DOLLARS .
IM NOT INTERESTED IN SELLING NOW , IM WITH THE REST WAITING TO SEE THE NEW VALUATION , IRAQ IS WAITING FOR RELEASE FROM CHAPTER 7 THEN THEY WILL BE OPERATING INDEPENTLY FROM THE UNITED NATIONS .. VERY LITTLE LEFT FOR THEM TO COMPLETE .
THEY MUST HONOR THIS CURRENCY THEY SOLD AT AUCTIONS AT CENTRAL BANK OF IRAQ OR THEY COULD AGAIN BE SANCTIONED . AND BE RIGHT BACK WHERE THEY STARTED 7 YEARS AGO . MOST SPECULATORS THINK IT SHOULD BE IN THE NEAR FUTURE , SOME AS SOON AS WITHIN THE NEXT 2 WEEKS BEFORE RAMADAN AUGUST 1ST .. IF NOT I WILL HOLD MU DINAR TILL IT DOES . I DONT THINK I WILL LOSE ANY MONEY .. THE LEAST I FEEL I WILL GET IN RETURN IS 1000 PER MILLION AFTER THEY REDONOMINATE .. BUT IT COULD ALSO BE AS HIGH AS A DOLLAR PER DINAR . SINCE THAT HAS BEEN DISCUSSED BY IRAQI FINANCIAL EXPERTS IN IRAQ .TO MAKE THIS DINAR EQUAL TO THE DOLLAR TO MAKE TRANSACTIONS EASIER SINCE OIL IS PEGGED TO THE DOLLAR .
NO ONE CAN SAY FOR SURE BECAUSE OF ALL THE PROPAGANDA THAT IS SURROUNDING THE DINAR .. I DO BELIEVE IRAQ IS SHOOTING FOR DOLLAR PER DINAR ON REVALUATION,, THATS JUST MY PERSONAL OPINION , I READ EVERY NEWS ARTICLE EVERY DAY THAT RELATES TO THE DINAR .. USUALLY ABOUT 10 TO 15 ARTICLES A DAY .. YOU HAVE TO USE IRAQI WEB SITES FROM IRAQI NEWS ORGANIZATIONS TO GET THIS NEWS .. YOU CANNOT READ ABOUT THIS IN THE UNITED STATES .
SO UNLESS YOU TOO ARE READING THESE WEB SITES AND ARTICLES EVERY DAY OUT OF IRAQ , YOU COULD NOT POSSIBLY KNOW ANYTHING .
EVEN AFTER READING ALL THESE THINGS DAILY IM STILL SPECULATING , JUST CONNECTING THE DOTS . YOU SHOULD SPEND A GRAND AND BUY A MILLION . ITS EXCITING .
THE RATE IS 1170 DINARS FOR ONE DOLLAR ,, IT USED TO BE OVER 3000 FOR A DOLLAR . SO YES SOME PEOPLE HAVE MADE MONEY ALREADY
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It’s not a scam but it is rip off.
Those dinar web sites post false info and outright lies to keep
people buying dinar and telling them it has revalued yesterday
or will tomorrow the next day ect ect…..
People fall for these lies and spend money buying dinar that
they don’t have. The only ones getting rich are cellars and web
site owners who charge money to post, or receive VIP CRAP!!
The fact is it is legal to sell but will never be worth what they lie
and tell you. Did you ever see a cat toy on a string being pulled
in front of a cat? That is what they do to people. Fact is it won’t
happen the way they tell you it will.
The dinar now in circulation will be reprinted and have a completely
new look and what you have bought will be worthless.
If you can get $900 per million now you better take it. If you don’t
you can line your bathroom with it later.
It’s nothing more than a ponzi scheme
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Right you are, bill6. 30 years ago it was Norman Rockwell plates. And it appealed to the same audience of religious, military and family people. Some of the early buyers did see the value of their collectibles go up, but the vast majority of “Rockewellers” were too late to the party and now merely have overpriced dinnerware for which there is scant demand.
Since the dinar is hardly scarce, the best way to keep dinar prices high on eBay is to limit the number of people selling it – and as long as people believe there are untold riches just around the corner, they will hold on to their stash and help prop up prices. At some point, most investors will have heard the pumpers “cry wolf” too many times and realize that the 1,000-3,000x gains are not going to materialize. The scammers, if they’re still around, will blame Iraq, blame Obama, blame the banks. Everyone will want to sell and nobody will want to buy.
How long will this take? Again, Google Trends shows that this has only been viral for 10 months, so perhaps dinar fever has another year of life left in it.
It is really interesting to note the parallels between the RV and the Rapture – both paint a picture of a miraculous, instantaneous event that will bring untold blessings to the chosen few. But in real life, most dramatic events that happen in an instant are bad. Miracles actually take time, effort and hard work to build.
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Bill6, What a load of crap.
Sure there maybe some pumping going on, but that happens in everything – its called advertising.
If you are not mature enough what to work out for yourself what are facts and what is advertising, or pumping, – then you should not be invested in anything!!
Enjoy being poor. lmfao
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They would be first in line for the jim jones kool aid.
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Bruce is right! TD Bank and other banks in the USA are or were selling it! It is an investment , not a scam. You do need to do your homework! It’s gonna revalue and soon!
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I purchased my dinar in 04 or it may have been 03 and it was going for $300 so far I’ve made $1,500 and I’m sure I’m going to make more
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Holly Doehring, you go schooled. Next time do a little more research and a little more thinking before you write articles.
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Yeah sure it’s legal to exhcange dinar in the U.S.
The difficulty lies in finding an entity that will actually do that for you at any price. I challenge any single one of you to actually sell dinar and get more U.S. dollars (a currency you can actually spend in countries that aren’t spelled IRAQ) than you spent on said dinars. It won’t happen.
You are looking for easy money and it ain’t gonna happen. The fact that they’re able to get you to buy dinars of all so called currencies is further evidence of the incredible level of greed and stupidity that’s out there.
The U.S. Dollar/dinar trade is a straight up scam plain and simple.
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Actually the Dinars are a pretty good investement, I was able to make 30% ROI on my purchase of 2005… I don’t know if you’re an economist, but your math is definitely not adding up. There’s been reports of email scams in regards to Dinars, but those were fake Dinars which they were going to ship to you…
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Holly, my local bank told me that they can exchange my dinars for whatever the currency exchange rate is at anytime, no problems.
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It’s a scam Holly, Don’t feel bad for calling a spade a spade. The idiots who say do your research are just reading the lies of other idiots. Scam Scam Scam…I do feel bad for the people who have lost their money.
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Rick:
Have you done any research on this? Or are you just coming on here ranting about something you have no clue about? Sounds to me like it is the latter, that being said NO HOLLY whoever you are it is not a scam. Their are many banks all over the country that will gladly sell/buy your Dinar. It is an investment opportunity, it is no different than investing in the EURO or the USD many people who got into this thing early on have yielded returns on their purchase. The value of the Dinar has gone up slowly, but soon many economists think that the current Iraq economy will explode, I am not going to sit here and post links either, do the research. Make an informed decision, only invest what you can afford to lose, no different than the stock market, a casino, a lottery ticket, forex, investing in gold, investing in silver, investing in a 401k all of these things can give you a return or take your savings, yet Americans do them, some prosper some lose which will you do?
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No they will NOT. This is another rumor. Take the time to ACTUALLY call your bank in the US….then call others. NO US BANK WILL TOUCH THE STUFF!
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Terence, you’re wrong. Just bought from Texas bank today.
hi, i have brought some dinars from GID, and have purchased them in intervals of five differant occasions. first. under close examination i have noticed bleeding! also i have notice specs of misplaced ink! has any one else noticed this on there bills? second while checking them out under the black light to see the mark, i have also noticed discrepencies in the place ment and also the security strip position. please let me know if any one has also seen these errors. i like the thought of a ten year return but i at least wanna make sure i get real deal notes, and the fact that i cant even get them from legit currency houses like american express or various other ones in manhattan makes me wonder…. why is GID so special , and why when you email the central bank of iraq , they say that they have no dealer on record??? please help with these issues. thanks
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Hello Dot,
Can you please provide me the name of the bank in TX your purchsed from? I’m having difficulty finding one, so if you can provide the name of the bank you referred to and any others you know of in TX it would be a huge help!
Thank you
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You must be a pumper because you never sold a dinar at a profit. Any of you doubt this just ask whoever you bought from if you can sell back your dinar and see what they offer to pay you.
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Well it’s not a scam . depend all on the value and return. it is an investment , I found http://cheapiraqidinar.info/shoppe to sale it at reasonable rates and i got it, been buying it for a few years letting it sit back and jut waiting for teh right time when they do revalue the dinar my stack of 500 note will be worth a good penny
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I’m not even sure they are her own opinions. Take a look at the link . . . much of this article looks to be a cut and paste job from this one written a couple years earlier.
What gives?
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Iraq’s Parliament has had the 2nd of 3 readings on the new currency printing bill which includes the redenomination of currency. If passed, both old and new dinar will be used side by side until all the old is exchanged in Iraq. Parliament will resume sessions November 10, 2011. After that we will see the 3rd reading. In addition, many Iraq news articles have stated that the rate will be one to one (1 iqd to 1 usd), but we will see. There are many of us that have watched the dinar daily and sometimes by the minute for years. I just happen to be one that does not follow rumors, but only read Iraq news for the answers on what is happening. There are hundreds of Iraq Arabic websites where we read the news with Google translator. This investment is more involved then many think. I feel that once the printing bill is passed, we will see a currency revaluation come into place anytime from then to sometime in 2012, but apt to be sooner then later with inflation rising.
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2nd and 3rd readings ?, have you been to Iraq to sit in on those meetings ?, or are you listening to the pumpers and the “guru’s” ?.
Here is a fact for you, there are currently 27-30 trillion IQD in ciculation. IF the government of Iraq were to put the IQD back to pre-invasion levels, that would mean the amount of currency in circulation would equal $91.8 trillion dollars [ if pegged to the USD ] of liquid cash. Seems like something far fetched doesn’t it ?. For a realistic amount, I would suspect .05 to .10 as more manageable figure. Not only for Iraq, but for the stability of the middle east economy.
The reason we see the large bank notes such as the 25k and the 10k notes, is sheer inflation rate in that country. Adjusted i would suspect its in the 15-20% range judging the notes in circulation. Increasing the value of the iraqi dinar to pre-saddam levels by the “flick of a switch” simply won’t happen. It would destablize the entire region even more than it is now.
One of the arguements that I have seen on these forums as an observer of them, is the amount of oil in Iraq is going to directly reflect the value of their currency. If this was the case, the USD would be pegged to the Saudi Rial. The
Bakkan fields [ located in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana ] according to the USGS, has well over 400 billion barrels of light sweet, and shale crude oil. This does not include the thousands of wells that were dilled and capped in Alaska during the 80′s.
Iraqs estimated reserves are 140 billion barrels+, so there goes the “oil rich country has a high value currency” theory.
Something to think about.
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I have been in this investment for about 8 months and am very frustrated that i cant get a straight answer. I have talked to my financial advisor who has told me that this is a longshot bet at best. But my instincts tell me different. How can a country with some of the largest oil reserves in the world have a currency that trades at a rate that cannot be competitive with its neighbors. Obama has indicated that all troops will be out by the end of the year….my opinion is that the US must have confidence in te iraqi govt must be able to govern itself. And as far as this blog, none of you seem to be dealing from facts. Only personal speculation. Please any real financial folks with an opinion would be greatly appreciated.
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Here are some things to think about, just for thinking sake.
- The largest embassy in the world is The U.S. embassy in baghdad.
- A countries currency is also tied the stability of that country. This includes GDP, Imports/exports, gross unemployment, Inflation rate, etc. If you look at the core inflation rate of the Iraq, it is listed in the 7% range. I do believe that is grossly understated, I would suspect its well over 15%.
- My suggestion is to follow the money trail. In december of 2010 there was over $14 billion dollars of investment into Iraq in that month alone. $6.5 billion of which went to the port in Basara, expect that to be finished in 3-4 years. Another $400 million of investment into wireless phone services infrastructure.
- Iraq is seeking to produce 12 Mbpd by 2017. Companies like BP, Shell, China oil, Halliburton among others have been increasing oil output monthly as new wells go online. This is a slow process by a country that still experiences almost daily attacks of some kind.
My suggestion is to do your own research, a stable currency is only as stable as the nation that holds it. Don’t expect to become a millionaire overnight. Another suggestion, is look what Turkey did with their currency, and expect the same thing from Iraq.
Enjoy your research.
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Have you done any research on this? Or are you just coming on here ranting about something you have no clue about? Sounds to me like it is the latter, that being said NO HOLLY whoever you are it is not a scam. Their are many banks all over the country that will gladly sell/buy your Dinar. It is an investment opportunity, it is no different than investing in the EURO or the USD many people who got into this thing early on have yielded returns on their purchase. The value of the Dinar has gone up slowly, but soon many economists think that the current Iraq economy will explode, I am not going to sit here and post links either, do the research. Make an informed decision, only invest what you can afford to lose, no different than the stock market, a casino, a lottery ticket, forex, investing in gold, investing in silver, investing in a 401k all of these things can give you a return or take your savings, yet Americans do them, some prosper some lose which will you do?
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Money buying is another some kind of gamble. It’s just like you are engaging in a forex activity. I’ve already heard some people who are doing same stuffs are above, so far everything is working great. It’s my first time to heard about this scam.
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gtdmltrytuh
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As the famous P.T. Barnum said “There’s a sucker born every minute”
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You are absolutely right!
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As a professional in Finance I have spent many hours researching Iraqi dinars. I discovered a fatal flaw about dinars as an investment. According to the Iraqi central bank the amount of Iraqi dinars in circulation is 30 trillion. (I have seen the number given as 29 trillion.) The Iraqi central bank has also said it wants to lops off three zeros off the currency to reduce the money supply. If you own 3 million Iraqi dinar now (worth roughly $3,000 USD, about a tenth of a cent per dinar), at some point that will be replaced with 3 thousand “renominated” dinars (also worth roughly $3,000 USD – about a dollar per dinar). You will be given the opportunity at your expense to pay someone to ship your dinars to Iraq to be replaced with the denominated dinars before the dinars in your hand become worthless. The renomination leaves you, if you are lucky, with new dinar worth in USD no more than what your dinar is worth now. But because you will have to pay for the replacement of your dinar with new dinar, and because the central bank of Iraq is likely to increase the supply of new renominated dinar to far beyond the 30 billion dinar post renomination money supply, the new Iraqi dinar should lose substantial value after the renomination. This is how I see it and nobody has attempted to refute this picture. I sent an email to Greg McCoach with these points and he didnt bother to answer.
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I refer you to this information from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, which is responsible for policing sales of currency futures and options.
http://www.cftc.gov/opa/enf98/opaforexa15.htm
You are unclear by omission in your assertion that the USA has allowed the sale of Iraqi dinar. Note that the dinar is not allowed to be sold or traded as currency in the USA. However, the Iraqi dinar is allowed to be sold as a numismatic item, a way around the regulations, in a simllar fashion to the steel pennies from WWII, or any other coin or collector’s item. Note also there is no exchange rate for dinar, which is a non-traded currency. It’s sold for whatever the dealer can get. The dealers will tell you that they are registered, but this is simply a form they file with the government to inform them that they are dealing with money. Any individual can file the form.
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I’m appalled by the amount of people who are so willing to bash the author of this blog. She’s saying to beware of the dealers not the actual investment. I have an investment in IQD but I’m cautious on what I read. Maybe everyone should read before they jump to conclusions. Wow.
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I’m an Iraqi living in the UK. I work as a web designer.
I read the article then I read the comments. I helped myself up to my computer desk after a good 5min rofl (rolling on floor laughing), I just want to highlight 2 possibilities.
1. People who actually bought IQDs will say anything in a desperate attempt to convince themselves that they made the right decision. They will repeat any rumor that falls to their favor, in the hope that it actually materializes someday. They will keep holding on to whatever bright picture their minds imagine of a big money reward and they will never even consider the possibility that they actually are losing money by holding on to the IQDs.
2. Being a web designer, for more than 8 years now, taught me how easy it is to scam/troll online. All you need is a computer and an internet connection and you can be whoever you want and you can say whatever you want. I’m almost certain that some of the commenters here are actually people who are part of the IQD scam or in a way affiliated with them.
Let me tell you that it’s easy to build an entire website dedicated to these scams. All you got to do is register a domain and get a hosting plan (that’s approximately $40 per year). You then design a multi-page website with some attractive and elegant layout. You make up some statistics and present them in large fonts. You get photos or normal ordinary people and scatter them along with fabricated favorable testimonials. You add in a fake counter that starts at say 1,000 members. You fill-in a dedicated comments section with fake comments praising the advantages of such a scam and to make it sink in you actually add a couple of insulting/rude comments of how this is a scam and then have the moderator respond, with a sweet and respectable manner, refuting any scam or hoax allegations. This can all be done by 1 individual in just 1 week.
Scams will never stop as long as we live in a materialistic world. There will always be the ‘greedy’, the ‘naive’, and sometimes the ‘innocent’ who feed the scammers.
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Well said as I am also a tech consultant with a web design background, and know how easy it is to manipulate images & white space to be appealing to the moderate masses [i.e. the majority of the human race, which unfortunately retain mediocre intelligence].
However, you haven’t given your personal opinion or knowledge on the actual Dinar situation originating in your homeland… something I’d assume would have some random weight in your personal world.
Any “insider” views or ramblings? Something you and your “homies” discuss or snicker at regarding the moronic hillbillies of the West? Family members thinking they should be on the seller side of the deal, or do they put a few extra in the bank back home? Care to offer your services as a mule to anyone wish to have money transferred abroad?
Just curious since the rest of this blog has become quite stale and black & white as you had pointed out. (Yes, I read every post. Shame on those throwing daggers, and terrible use of ALL CAPS “franco”)
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