‘Prime bank’ is a term usually used to describe the top three or four dozen banks in the world. Prime banks trade high quality and low risk instruments such as world paper, International Monetary Fund bonds, and Federal Reserve notes. You should be very wary when you hear this term--it is often used by fraudsters looking to lend legitimacy to their cause. Prime bank programs often claim investors' funds will be used to purchase and trade "prime bank" financial instruments for huge gains. Unfortunately these "prime bank" instruments never exist, at least not in the hands of these third parties and people lose all of their money.

Lured by the promise of astronomical profits and the chance to be part of an exclusive, international investing program, investors are once again falling prey to bogus "prime bank" scams. These fraudulent schemes involve the purported issuance, trading, or use of so-called "prime" bank, "prime" European bank or "prime" world bank financial instruments, or other "high yield investment programs" ("HYIP"s). The fraud artists who promote these schemes often use the word "prime" – or a synonymous phrase, such as "top fifty world banks" – to cloak their programs with an air of legitimacy. They seek to mislead investors by suggesting that well regarded and financially sound institutions participate in these bogus programs. But prime bank and other related schemes have no connection whatsoever to the world's leading financial institutions or to banks with the word "prime" in their names. The Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal and state agencies are continuing to warn investors about these scams.