No I don't want to buy Gold Options!

Every year or so some investment company based in Hong Kong rings up my phone and asks for David Arandle of The Extraordinary Tourist web site. Sometimes the first call is merely an introduction to the company asking if their manager (or some other financial investment advisor) can ring me back in a few days time.

Each time they give me the same spiel about buying gold options that will make me a lot of money quickly (well I think it's the same spiel because I only half listen to it). They always refer me to the web site futuresource.com to illustrate their point (note that the previous link will take you directly to the page they referred me to).

In order to take up their offer I need a minimum of US$10,000 to buy ten Gold options that will gain me a guaranteed quick return if I sell the options shortly after buying (because the value of gold is increasing that fast apparently).

If I say I don't have the money for that, they'll immediately assume it's probably because I have a family or just the general economic downturn of recent times, so they ask me this and then make a special offer of purchasing just three Gold options for US$3000. This is the absolute minimum.

If I can't afford this then I'm not really worth their time because this whole deal is a small one to attract my business. The intention is, if they can reliably return me a profit, then I'll go on to invest larger amounts in bigger deals in the future.

Here's the thing. This company is either run by idiots or it employs idiots. Case in point:

• If they've even looked at my web site my bio page is fair indication of how much money I probably don't have - certainly not a spare $10,000 I can just run out and buy Gold Options with.
   
• Just today, when the person (named Melissa) rang me she referred to her colleague, who had called me a week earlier, whom I cut off before he got through his first sentence with "I'm not interested in Gold Options don't call me" and hung up. Melissa seemed to be unaware that her colleague's call didn't go well. I didn't tell her that. This time I decided to let her ramble on so I could waste her time whilst she wasted mine.
   
• About a year ago when I got this same series of phone calls from a some what more pushy Gold Options trader from Hong Kong, with an English accent, he tried everything to try and sell me these options including me asking family and friends for the cash. Once he finally cottoned on that there's was no way he was making a sale he literally called me a 'Bum' simply because I don't earn enough to have a measly $3000 just sitting around doing nothing.
   
• These people never start out their calls by asking if you can afford a bare minimum of $3000 in Gold Options. Instead they ask you a series of question and run you through a series of figures (for about 20 minutes) all designed to get you saying 'Yes' as many times as possible. This is an old sales technique that says if you can get someone to say 'yes' at least three times to questions relating to your sales proposition then the person is more likely to say yes to your actual offer.
   
• About four years ago I had one of these people ring me up and I swear I was talking to them for over an hour, repeatedly saying the phrase "I'm not interested in Gold Options" and yet they still thought they'd turn me into a sale. It was like someone trying to convince me of the merits of homosexuality - it doesn't matter how good it sounds I'm just not going to turn - Okay!!. (Sorry to disappoint anyone who is homosexual and thought I just might be too - I love you guys but just not like that!)

The bottom line is, who actually spends $10,000 plus (or even $3000 plus) on gold options based on a cold call from a Hong Kong company? It just sounds to me like they're trying to set me up for a sucker punch.

Here's a quote from the futuresource site: "Futures and options trading involves significant risk of loss". Making money off Gold options is a time sensitive proposition. Perhaps not as risky as betting on a horse but still you don't get a lot of time to think it through.

Sure you might make some quick money but there are better ways to make long term, sustainable profits... and when I find out what those are I'll let you know!