Today I ran into an ad on a political webpage for a company selling Iraqi dinars ( IQD ). The copy touted betting on Iraq that the country was turning around and those holding the currency would benfit greatly. An article on one of my favorite currency sites, XE.com explains why this falls just short of being a scam:

The Central Bank of Iraq’s stated objective is not to promote the free trade of IQD, as is the case in a true free market economy, but rather to keep the value of the IQD stable. The only way the Bank can ensure the semblance of stability is by tightly controlling the exchange of IQD on the market, and by ensuring that the currency cannot freely trade on the open market. They evidently fear that open trading of the IQD would lead to a rout in which the value of the IQD would sink to practically nothing.