Real estate. They aren’t making any more of it, they say. And now is the time to buy. That has been the central pitch of numerous investment scams over the past four years. Illinois authorities have found another such scam. According to Northwest Herald: (more…)
On May 17, 2012,
in Illinois, Illinois, Ponzi schemes, Real Estate, Scams, The Vigilant Investor,
by IW Dog
We often look right past the people pitching us the investment and focus instead on their description of it.
On May 16, 2012,
in Affinity Fraud, Against Christians, Georgia, Georgia, Ponzi schemes, Promissory Notes, SEC, Scams, The Vigilant Investor,
by IW Dog
The preachers who urge you to expect it are, at best, misinformed about what God promises or, at worst, con men of the most despicable sort.
The sermon is familiar. If you will but entrust yourself to God Almighty, he will bring you prosperity and material wealth here on earth. By that sermon, preachers have for hundreds of years convinced congregants to part with the rent money, the milk money, and whatever is hiding in the couch cushions, fully expectant that they will soon be millionaires whether by lottery numbers or bequest from a long lost relative. Such a windfall is never forthcoming. The preachers who urge you to expect it are, at best, misinformed about what God promises or, at worst, con men of the most despicable sort. A recent case out of Georgia is familiar. According to AJC.com: (more…)
On May 15, 2012,
in SEC, The Vigilant Investor,
by IW Dog
Don’t believe the rumor of a shortcut
“I can teach you how to be a millionaire by following my five simple rules of stock market investing.” Pitchmen galore make a version of that promise hundreds of times every day, in television and radio ads, in print advertising, and on signs placed on street corners. Ask yourself this question: if they are good enough at whatever it is they promise to teach you how to do, and that something makes money, why don’t they just get on with it and make their millions instead of taking a couple hundred dollars from you? There is no satisfactory answer to that question. Yet, such investment seminars continue to make millions, a few hundred dollars at a time. The SEC recently concluded enforcement actions against two such characters. According to the SEC’s press release: (more…)
On May 11, 2012,
in SEC, The Vigilant Investor,
by IW Dog
When mothers and daughters are getting together across the kitchen table to engineer a successful securities fraud, there are no barriers to entry.
As a parent about to send his youngest off to college, I have a soft spot in my heart for any adult child willing to spend time with his or her Mom or Dad. But, as today’s post makes clear, such relations are not always good for the rest of society. According to the SEC’s press release: (more…)
On May 10, 2012,
in Uncategorized,
by IW Dog
How hard do you think a pump and dump scamster has to look to find someone willing to accept an envelope stuffed with cash?
A couple of weeks ago our posts covered scams perpetrated by con artists older than 70. We made the point then that, while old age brings wisdom, it doesn’t alter larcenous inclinations. Today’s post shows us that that inclination can reveal itself quite early and that investment fraud welcomes every age group. According to the SEC’s press release: (more…)
On May 9, 2012,
in Australia, Australia, Australia, Ponzi schemes, Scams, The Vigilant Investor,
by IW Dog
Cautionary thoughts don’t stand a chance in the presence of all of that positive feedback.
On May 8, 2012,
in Investment Advisers, SEC, Scams, Securities Industry (general), The Vigilant Investor, Wisconsin,
by IW Dog
Vigilance in the price of enjoying the retirement for which you have worked and saved.
To set up a recent development in an SEC enforcement case, we begin with an excerpt from The Vigilant Investor: (more…)
They are afraid that you won’t be impressed with the truth.
Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson has put resume inflation in the news again. Whether he will survive the scandal is anyone’s guess. But I’m grateful that he has given me a chance to address a subject that all vigilant investors must understand. (more…)
We cannot and should not look to them to prevent investment fraud before it starts.
I keep track of the states in which the investment scams I write about are based. (After four years of writing every weekday, Vermont finally joined the list last week). Today’s post takes us to one of the states we rarely get to write about — Idaho. According to KPVI News 6: (more…)
On May 3, 2012,
in Affinity Fraud, Against Christians, Ponzi schemes, Prime Bank Scams, SEC, Scams, Securities Industry (general), Texas, Texas, The Vigilant Investor,
by IW Dog
We haven’t yet learned to recognize those cognitive biases in our own thinking and account for them in our financial decision-making.
When you read about the promises made in this scam, which the SEC shut down this week, pay attention to your initial reaction. After you’ve read about the case, we’ll talk about those reactions. According to the SEC’s press release: (more…)
On May 2, 2012,
in The Vigilant Investor,
by IW Dog
Those kicked out of the securities business aren’t rule followers.
Before October 2005, the stock of CMKM Diamonds, Inc. was publicly traded. If you liked the company, you could buy it through a broker. After October 2005, the shares were harder to come by because, on October 28, 2005, the SEC revoked the company’s registration and the shares were delisted from stock exchanges. No doubt, the SEC thought it had closed the book on the CMKM Diamonds and protected investors from any damage from buying the stock. But, according to the SEC, that did not stop retired auto worker Marco Glisson from continuing to sell the stock to people he met through Internet chat rooms. According to the SEC’s press release: (more…)
On May 1, 2012,
in Firms, New York, New York, Ponzi schemes, Scams, Securities Industry (general), The Vigilant Investor,
by IW Dog
Scores of brokerage firms and hundreds of stockbrokers will be kicked out of the industry this year for unethical or illegal conduct.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a registered broker-dealer and several of its employees ran a five-year Ponzi scheme from the firm’s headquarters on Long Island, ultimately taking in more than $400 million and costing the 4,000 victims of the scheme more than $170 million in losses. According to a story by Jessica Dye of Reuters: (more…)
On April 30, 2012,
in Georgia, Investment Advisers, SEC, Scams, Securities Industry (general), The Vigilant Investor,
by IW Dog
When an RIA gets paid for selling certain funds there is a conflict between the RIA’s personal financial interest and the client’s interest in having the most suitable fund.
There’s what ought to be, and there’s what is. Too many investors find out the hard way that their investment advisers never introduce one to the other. A recent enforcement case from the SEC’s Atlanta office is a reminder. According to a story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution: (more…)
On April 27, 2012,
in Canada, Canada, Oil and Gas, Ponzi schemes, Scams, The Vigilant Investor,
by IW Dog
A very powerful cognitive bias leads us to believe that we somehow pop out of the womb fully able to recognize a competent scam, when we have to learn how to do everything else.
Through more than two decades of swimming in an ocean of sociopaths, career criminals, bunglers, and reckless stockbrokers, I’ve learned a few things about investment fraud. For purposes of today’s post, I’ll share three of those observations (as Jimmy Durante used to say, “I’ve got a million of ‘em”). First, fraud is global. It happens as much in Japan, Russia, and South Africa, per capita, as it does in the United States. Second, fraud never slumps, but adapts to the current economic environment. Third, fraud is ever evolving and always becoming harder to spot. A recent case out of Canada validates all three of those observations. According to thespec.com: (more…)
Friendship is a lousy reason, by itself, to entrust your money to anyone.
“Believe me; I’m as upset as you are.” I pray that you never hear those words. Because, if you do, they’ll likely be spoken by someone to whom you have entrusted your life savings. They’ll be describing how all the money is gone; lost, if you believe them, to an unscrupulous character to whom they entrusted it. A recent case out of Vermont is familiar to those of us in the investor protection business. According to WCAX.com: (more…)
On April 25, 2012,
in Affinity Fraud, California, California, Ponzi schemes, Scams, The Vigilant Investor,
by IW Dog
While age often brings wisdom to the discerning, it isn’t a cure for a larcenous inclinations.
We owe a debt to our men and women in uniform. But, even in that group, there are bad apples. A recent case from California tells the story of one of them. According to the Los Alamitos-Seal Beach Patch: (more…)
On April 24, 2012,
in Oil and Gas, Ponzi schemes, Scams, Texas, Texas, The Vigilant Investor,
by IW Dog
When it comes to unregistered investments, there is no safety in numbers.
If you stay on top of the news, you’ve heard the controversy surrounding the President’s decision not to support the Keystone Pipeline project that would have run a pipeline from southern Canada all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. You might even feel strongly about it one way or the other. But what you may not have focused on is how news about the pipeline has made you accept the proposition that oil and gas projects generate a profit. Of course, some do and some don’t. But you can be certain that there are thousands of investment fraudsters taking advantage of the public’s attention to oil and gas ventures. Last week, the Department of Justice announced a criminal conviction in a case that is recurring with different players in many places right now. According to the DOJ’s press release: (more…)
On April 23, 2012,
in Ponzi schemes, Rhode Island, Rhode Island, Scams, The Vigilant Investor,
by IW Dog
To spot a competent scamster you need to know more.
Videos
Louisiana Authorities Ring Up Allegedly Crooked Baseball Coach
Selling investments is what they know, and they keep right on doing it, without a license.
I coached baseball for ten years. It was the best decade of my life up to that point. The memory of teaching life lessons through the best game in the world is among my most cherished. Baseball helped turn my sons and their teammates into productive young men, and it introduced my family to the people we still consider our closest friends years after our kids moved on to college. That’s why the story that I write about today caught my eye. According to NOLA.com: (more…)