According to Investopedia, affinity fraud is a type of investment fraud in which a con artist targets members of an identifiable group based on things such as race, age, religion, etc. The fraudster either is or pretends to be, a member of the group. These schemes work because the victims are more likely to trust […]
Brit Established Cayman Fund AFTER US Court Arrest Warrant
[Originally posted in October 2010, now updated through 2021.] (Editors note: One of the best investigative journalists in the business is David Marchant. This story was first reported by David.) British citizen Sencer Sevket formed a mutual fund in the Cayman Islands after a U.S. federal court issued a warrant for his arrest on charges […]
What Are Clawbacks and How Can They Help Ponzi Scheme Victims?
Until the Bernie Madoff case, the term “clawback” was virtually unknown in the asset recovery world. Now it has become a powerful tool for court appointed receivers and a nightmare for those lucky Ponzi scheme victims who cashed out early or managed to independently recover some of their investment. The Wikipedia definition is quite vague […]
Precious Metals Scams on the Rise – Gold, Silver or Rusty Scrap?
[Updated through 2020] Recently there has been a glut of advertisements promoting investment in precious metals. Internet websites, infomercials, radio ads, cold calls and TV ads – many promise quick riches through the investment of gold, silver and platinum. It’s no wonder that with COVID-19 worries roiling the market, many believe that gold and silver […]
Revictimizing the Victims – "Reloading" Common in Ponzi Schemes
[Original post October 2010, post supplemented and republished April 2020] Recently an unemployed woodsman from Washington state was convicted of nine federal offenses including blowing up his own mailbox (destruction of a mail box is a federal crime.) What was he doing? Trying to convince victims of a Ponzi scheme to give him money in […]
Bank Teller Embezzled Monies from Elderly Customers (Elder Abuse)
Theft and embezzlement is never justified. Stealing from the elderly is particularly disturbing. Thanks to a routine audit, one bank teller is behind bars for ripping off elderly customers. Police in New Iberia, Louisiana charged Brandy Rogers with bank fraud, forgery, identity theft and theft from an aged person. Cops say Rogers looked for older […]
Deed Theft – Texan Convicted of Stealing Real Estate from Dead and Disabled
[Post updated with sentencing and aftermath information] Fraudsters have few boundaries. Their crimes hurt millions of Americans each year. Texas resident Norris Fisher now enters the Hall of Shame after forging deeds from the recently departed and the mentally challenged. His story is pulled from the court records of the U.S. District Court for the […]
$34 Million Dollar Shopping Spree Lands Koss VP in Prison
[Post updated] Milwaukee is a blue-collar industrial city. It is not known as a center of financial fraud. That changed with the arrest and conviction of Sujata Sachdeva, former vice president of finance for Koss Corp.Koss is a manufacturer of stereo headphones headquartered in Milwaukee. While stories of insider fraud are nothing new, the magnitude […]
Offering Frauds – Don’t Be In a Rush to Be First
Everyone wants to be in on the ground floor of a hot new technology. “If only I had purchased Apple stock or Google when they were first offered” has been muttered around office water coolers and local athletic clubs millions of times. We think that by being in at the ground floor of something big […]
Oh Thank Heaven… for the SEC? 7-11, Fraudsters and the SEC
[Updated April 2020] Press releases from the Securities and Exchange Commission are a treasure trove of stories. Stories involving fraud and deceit. This story begins in 2004 with an ambitious Florida company called Prime Time Group (now known as Hunt Gold Corporation) and ends this month in Miami federal courtroom. Unfortunately, for investors, the end […]