WIVB in Buffalo is reporting on the admission by “career criminal” Noah Schapiro running a $400,000 check-kiting and Ponzi scheme. The WIVB story states that Schapiro “has been convicted of financial crimes in the past,” but gives no details. No doubt the details are fresh in minds of his previous victims. Schapiro’s case reminds us that a certain class of worker gets up every day and goes to work, just like you do, except that his job is convincing unwitting investors to part with their nest eggs. We all have a natural defense mechanism that leads us to discount the possibility that we will ever encounter a character like Schapiro. Unfortunately, characters like Schapiro count on that; it is the very thing that allows them to go undetected until they have taken everything you have worked and saved for.
If you need your nest egg never try to do your own due diligence on an unregistered investment. Instead, do what banks do when they move cash: hire private protection.
