Impossible Foods IPO? Possible Scam?

b-t on 15/07/2021 - 15:13

Hi guys,

I just got a phone call from a telemarketer (most likely offshore) that apparently got my details from IB (Interactive Brokers) which I do have an account there, but dormant.

In the call, he mentioned that "I've been one of the select few that have the opportunity to invest in the IPO of Impossible Foods", which from my understanding, have had some interest to IPO but not publicly announced.

To be honest, this downright sounded like a scam to me. This is the first time that I've been approached (through direct methods such as telephone call) to ask for my interest to participate in an IPO rather than indirect like via snail mail or email. Unfortunately, I was kind of bemused with the reason I was getting the call, and I was rushing to my next meeting, so I just hung up on him.

I'm not actually interested in participating in an IPO right now, but I do wanted to see if this is "scam calls targeting financially savvy people in 2021" or did I just miss "the perfect opportunity to become the next gajillionaire"? If it is a scam, it is somewhat of a refreshment to get a call like this rather than the usual Chinese "your visa has expired, call the government on xxxx" calls I usually get…

Financial

Related Stores

impossiblefoods.com
impossiblefoods.com

Comments

  • AdosHouse on 15/07/2021 - 15:22

    I used to get telemarketer calls all the time about investing in shares and the like. Apparently I had registered my interest in it, which is a complete load of crap.

    I just tell them I have no money and they can't hang up fast enough.

    • netjock on 15/07/2021 - 15:27
      +1

      No money no worries, they can put you onto a loan shark.

      • AdosHouse on 15/07/2021 - 15:29

        HAHA good one. Weirdly I haven't gotten that phone call yet.

        • netjock on 15/07/2021 - 15:29

          Crown casino has bigger problems but you're on the list.

    • b-t on 15/07/2021 - 17:13

      Damn I should have did that to troll them HAHA :)

  • netjock on 15/07/2021 - 15:28
    +2

    People that call you up with good deals. It is like software that predicts results of horse races. If you think about it, works so well wouldn't I just win at every race rather than selling it cheap to some random stranger that will share it like a Netflix account.

    • b-t on 15/07/2021 - 17:14

      Lol, that's why I was more interested to see if anyone else got the same call.

  • orangetrain on 15/07/2021 - 15:49

    Are you a sophisticated investor? If not, what the company is doing could be illegal.

    • b-t on 15/07/2021 - 17:15

      Nope, I haven't traded since 2017/2018 and even then, I was only trading on ETrade/ANZ Share Investing. I only got an IB account because of this deal and the rates on IB are pretty competitive, but it was for a future date.

      • happydude on 16/07/2021 - 11:38
        +1

        sophisticated investor is a person who:

        *has earned an income of $250,000 or more per annum for the last two years or
        *holds net assets of at least $2.5 million.

        There is a lot of red tape to do an IPO to ensure the little guy is reasonably protected from bullshit. If you have more money the government lets you take on more risk.

        • coffeeinmyveins on 25/11/2021 - 15:24

          There is a lot of red tape to do an IPO to ensure the little guy is reasonably protected from bullshit.

          Lol. pretty sure it's so that the little guy is protected from actually making money while rich people get richer. You can easily invest on shares, cryptocurrency and other things that don't have that level of "protection"

          • jv on 25/11/2021 - 15:26

            @coffeeinmyveins: That comment is over 4 months old.

            • coffeeinmyveins on 25/11/2021 - 21:52

              @jv: Didn't see how old it was because people have recently commented on this so it showed up on OZB.

              Aside from that, didn't know that there was a time limit to commenting? is it a day? a week? can you let me know for future reference, thanks.

              • jv on 25/11/2021 - 23:49

                @coffeeinmyveins:

                didn't know that there was a time limit to commenting?

                usually it's 45 days.

          • happydude on 25/11/2021 - 17:26

            @coffeeinmyveins: Shares are regulated by ASIC and the ASX.
            Initial Coin Offerings also regulated by ASIC.

            You just proved my point.

            Sophisticated investor = less regulation
            Retail investor = more regulation.

            Looking forward to the reply in 4 months. Lol

    • jv on 05/10/2021 - 19:09

      Are you a sophisticated investor?

      I'm wearing a bow tie. Does that count?

  • SF3 on 15/07/2021 - 16:02

    Scam

    if IPO is "that" lucrative, they don't need to cold call you.

    But, a lucrative narrative acts as a nice bait :).

    The 2nd order effect of that call has, led to the OP posting it in OzB.

    • b-t on 15/07/2021 - 17:16

      Yeah exactly! If I was IPO'ing a potential unicorn company, I'd expect people to be flocking to me for shares rather than having to downright call all your potential leads to see if they wanna buy in…

  • CyberMurning on 15/07/2021 - 16:46

    possible or not possible that is the question

    • b-t on 15/07/2021 - 17:17

      Haha, yeah actually I knew Impossible Foods as a brand already because I've recently started a meat-free diet.

      Pricey stuff I must say, but it's (hopefully) healthier.

      • serpserpserp on 15/07/2021 - 18:17
        +1

        Don't buy this stuff. Make it ground up from common vegan ingredients. It tastes so much better.

        • afoveht on 15/07/2021 - 21:53

          Care to share a recipe?

  • happydude on 15/07/2021 - 17:06

    IPO but not publicly announced

    So a Private Initial Public Offering. That makes sense.

    • b-t on 15/07/2021 - 17:18

      LOL yep!

      However, something like this has happened before. When Aussie Broadband went IPO, as a current customer, they mailed me to propose a pre-sale for their IPO, before the public was able to buy in.

      • happydude on 16/07/2021 - 11:35

        That's not the same.

        It was still part of the same offering and the shares were issued and tradable at the same time as the general public.

        This sounds like seed or pre-IPO funding which as above you should not be offered unless you are a sophisticated investor (which has a special meaning, not just someone good at trading).

        So likely illegal or scam. One of the two.

    • afoveht on 15/07/2021 - 21:53

      PIPO.

  • pharkurnell on 15/07/2021 - 19:20

    "I've been one of the select few that have the opportunity

    Did anyone else not bother going past that ???

  • JIMB0 on 15/07/2021 - 20:03
    +1

    Have you ever the seen the move 'The Wolf of Wall Street'?

  • coduge on 25/08/2021 - 17:40
    +1

    I just got the same phone call today, but this time I questioned and they said they got my information from a survey from Commsec I did last year, in which I expressed my interest. I don't actually have an account with Commsec.

    They asked me for my email address to send me some information on this. I asked don't you already have my email address and they said due to data protection they don't have it.

    Btw it seems to me that you understand Chinese, as you can understand the scam call in Chinese about visa expiry. One of my guess is that they got our names from those Chinese scammer.

    • coduge on 25/08/2021 - 17:41
      +1

      Btw just created my account on Ozbargain for this :-)

      • b-t on 25/08/2021 - 18:37
        +1

        Hahahaha hi there!

        Thanks for replying my thread!

        It was kind of obviously a scam to me since I'm not really a "sophisticated investor", so such a random phone call. I just don't understand what they're trying to get out of it. Like, do I just wire them my $$ and have them sell me some IPO stock?

        I got another phone call a while after that but this time I was pretty p'eed off about the whole situation so I interrogated the person on the other end who told me they were working for a company called Vantage Investments. Obviously choosing a name that common, Google doesn't help me yield any useful results. Also the number they called on seems to be "new" so there's no information about the number neither.

        Maybe you're right — we are in the category of "sophisticated Chinese investors" with a "crap load of overseas money" ready to dump into an IPO :)

  • cashless on 26/08/2021 - 09:40

    I might ask for their personal name, company name, street address, landline number, ABN number and the BSB and account number where they want me to send money to.
    I promise to send them loads of money very quickly.
    If they get to this point without realising that I have trolled them, I then register a complaint with the Do Not Call register and will consider reporting them to Scamwatch.
    Sometimes I tell them that is what I am going to do.

    Don't usually hear back.

  • OJPhoenix on 31/08/2021 - 17:56
    +1

    Made an account to reply to this. Had essentially the same call as you described just earlier this afternoon.

    Claimed to be from Vantage Investments, which I can't find, nor the used phone number, which unsurprisingly is disconnected on call back.
    They gave me the run down on Impossible Foods and IPO and how I'd been chosen to get the call blah blah blah.
    I was pretty suspicious from the get go because he took ages giving me the low down before giving me any indication of what he wanted from me; I was like c'mon at some point you need something from me, right? That's how it works.

    Eventually wanted me to give an email to send me some information on this. After hesitating, I did because I knew that it alone wouldn't do them any good - and wow the audacity, the next thing they ask is to like put something in the email so I know its definitely from him, and he asks me some sample security questions, like my favorite color, or the name of my pet, and I laughed and said "no". He insisted that we put something in the email, even if it was a random word, so I asked him his name, he replied Edward, and I said sure that will do, use Edward. He then promptly wrapped up the conversation and here I am four hours later with no email from them, what a surprise.

    This was a new one for me. Usually I get scam calls from the robot pretending to be the tax office.

  • sund00bie on 07/09/2021 - 17:50

    Got the call today

  • Bafranz on 07/09/2021 - 17:51

    One IPO.. here we go!

  • Timboj on 10/09/2021 - 12:23

    I just got the call too…

  • bgpbargaining on 05/10/2021 - 19:02

    I also got the same call today asking about the opportunity to get hold of Impossible Food IPO

    The caller sounded Asian, but call came from NZ number.
    Asked for my email to send information.
    Did give out an unused email but I checked how they got my name and number.
    Got the same response that it was from a Commsec survey. I don't have a Commsec account.

  • MawGuy247 on 08/10/2021 - 15:40

    I just that call today about impossible foods, he called me by my nickname. Some they probs found out by my facebook. I did tell them I wasn't interest and gave them my spam old email that I don't look at or use. Like I'm not interested in non meat products, its annoying that he wouldn't take no for an answer. I was surprised that it wasn't a scary robot saying I committed tax fraud.

  • Randxyz123 on 13/10/2021 - 18:49

    Just got this as well. I do use commsec and may well have ticked to call me about investment opportunities but this guy wouldn't get off the phone. I said yes I'm interested, gave him a burner email and said I want to read some more before I take this further. He then started asking do I make my own investment decisions etc etc

    Same NZ number clearly spammy calls.

  • S3verance on 26/10/2021 - 17:50

    Hi, got this call today
    A chinese woman started telling me about this company and how good it is and that they will be having an IPO, and i was selected for some reason, even though i have not traded in years now.

    I gave her my email, cause i wanted to see what she sends to me, and then she asked me for my favourite colour… i just dipped.

    Yeah, knew it was a scam from the start, maybe someone can troll them properly for me ;)

  • raj uk on 04/11/2021 - 13:29
    +1

    Got the call last week from a lady saying she got my info from Commsec, asked for my favourite colour.

    Got a follow-up call from someone in Japan - sent through the email and surprising the link in his email did not work, now I am running a malware check ….

    • diagonalfrog on 10/11/2021 - 15:03

      Same same - I also got the first call from NZ and asked for favourite colour (black! :) ) and then got the follow-up call from Japan today. Still awaiting this magical email though…

      • al macca on 15/11/2021 - 18:35

        Me too. To be fair they did pique my interest on the first call, and then once I hung up I realised how much of a scam it was. An english lad called me today from a Japanese number - I asked for more context about who they were and how they got my details - he got a bit cagey and said he'd call me back when I wasn't driving. I will take the call again to get more information and then report it.

  • Tendrils on 09/11/2021 - 16:35

    Got this call today, NZ number, Asian accented lady, called me by my first name (which I didn't use when answering, just said "hello?").
    Impossible Foods IPO, got my details from CommSec (apparently).
    I sincerely doubted anyone was cold calling me for anything that was a good idea (and definitely not anything that's going to be profitable for me), so basically just hung up.

  • dacmo on 17/11/2021 - 17:13

    I just got this call and basically it's same script. I'm now waiting for that email to see. However, they say they are called Blackbird Advisors. Doesn't seem to have much information online about them.

    • SmiTTy on 24/11/2021 - 17:10

      Just received the same - from "Blackbird Advisers" advising they received my details from Commsec (same as what some others suggested above).

      Call was from NZ …

      I googled Impossible Foods IPO and it led me back to ozbargain. Love it how all roads lead to ozbargain.

    • tyarnold on 25/11/2021 - 16:18

      Got the same call from Blackbird Advisors, which upon a Google do not exist. Guess I'm changing all my passwords

  • prashanr on 25/11/2021 - 16:53

    Thank you Google and OzB for a thread on this topic! Just got the same call from a NZ number, electronically altered male voice. Fobbed it off quickly as I'm busy - I don't use Commsec and cold calling about an IPO… please!

    Does make me wonder how these scams are evolving. If I had more time in my life I might have explored the dodginess further.

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