Remember those ads from the Central Bank, warning the public about non-licensed investment companies cold-calling Irish investors with a hard-sell pitch to put money into unknown US high-tech companies, mostly traded over the counter. Family Money also warned investors off these schemes.

But the Securities and Exchange Commission in New York, it seems, knows of victims of these scams in a host of countries (including Ireland) and in just one case, has now filed securities fraud charges against four Canadians.