Millions of Americans rely on insurance and financial advisors to help them invest their assets, protect their families, and plan for their futures. In most cases, advisors have earned that trust. In rare cases, they have abused it by misrepresenting their products or selling phony products. Don’t let this happen to you. Do your due diligence before you make a financial purchase. Learn about the common insurance and investment scams. And run, not walk, away from too-good-to-be-true offers.
Want to stay abreast of the latest financial scams in the marketplace? Read our Scam Report news items.
| 2008 |
5-22-08 |
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Beware of Online Job Classifieds Used to Steal Your Identity
In another variation of the identity theft tale, stock traders posing as employees of a made-up Latvian brokerage firm appear to have stolen personal information from individuals who thought they were applying for a job through the popular classifieds Web site, Craigslist.
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5-12-08 |
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NJ couple indicted for $1M investment scam.
A husband and wife are facing charges for allegedly scamming several investors out of more than $1 million.
On May 12, a Monmouth County grand jury returned a 26-count indictment on Larry Kushner, 56, and his wife, Jacqueline Kushner, 43, both of Long Branch.
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1-17-08 |
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Missouri Mortgage Banker Sentenced for Fraud.
Rose A. Shaw, St. Charles, Missouri, was sentenced to 33 months in prison. She pled guilty in September of 2007 to one felony count of social security fraud and one felony count of mortgage fraud. Shaw was ordered to pay mandatory restitution of $153,857.10 on the social security fraud and $70,718.94 on the mortgage fraud.
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| 2007 |
12-18-07 |
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Florida Title Company Manager Sentenced.
Robert W. Hulbert, Jr., 46, Jacksonville, Florida, was sentenced to three years imprisonment for his participation in a mortgage fraud scheme. After his release from prison, Hulbert will be on supervised probation for four years. Hulbert entered a plea of guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud on September 24, 2007. At his sentencing, Hulbert was also ordered to pay restitution of $1.2 million and to forfeit more than $4 million, jointly and severally with other conspirators. |
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6-19-07 |
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The Savings Game: Again: Investigate before you invest.
Say somebody at your church or place of work tells you about these "can't lose" investment opportunities:
One is a new fuel-cell technology to allow cars to run on tap water. Another is an options-trading system guaranteed to at least double your money. The third is a company with a new laser that kills lung-cancer cells in smokers. |
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| 2006 |
5-27-06 |
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California man gets 30 years for Ponzi scheme.
The federal judge imposed the maximum sentence on James Lewis Jr. for running a $311 million scheme that defrauded about 1,600 people over nearly two decades. U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney also ordered him to pay $156 million in restitution, though he conceded that Lewis would not be able to. |
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3-26-06 |
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SEC targets investment scams aimed at seniors.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, which has had its share of dust-ups with state regulators in recent years, has launched a nationwide program to work with local regulators to combat what it sees as a rising wave of fraudulent investment scams being pitched to older Americans. |
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3-21-06 |
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Stockbroker sentenced in $3.2 million investment scam.
Louisville stockbroker John Sheldon Cotton has been sentenced to two years, nine months in jail for his orchestration of a "ponzi scheme," an investment scam in which early investors are paid with money from later ones in order to create the illusion of profitability. |
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| 2005 |
6-13-05 |
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Investment fraud is never acceptable. But, when the scam is faith-based, it becomes particularly vile.
"I've been a securities regulator for 20 years, and I've seen more money stolen in the name of God than in any other way," said Deborah Bortner, former president of the North American Securities Administrators Association. |
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4-19-05 |
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Md. businessmen accused of running investment scam.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil charges against two Frederick businessmen, accusing them of bilking investors of more than $8 million and using the money to speculate in the gold and silver markets. |
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3-29-05 |
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South Florida financiers charged in alleged investment scam that defrauded Latin Americans.
Two South Florida financiers, who enticed thousands of Latin Americans to invest $127 million in funds with patriotic names like ''Liberty Trust,'' were charged Tuesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission with running a ''sham'' program to enrich themselves. |
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1-14-05 |
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New charges in investor fraud case.
Authorities filed more counts against a Swarthmore man charged in November with bilking people of more than $1 million in two investment schemes, the Delaware County District Attorney's Office said yesterday. |
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| 2004 |
12-16-04 |
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Seniors citizens are popular fraud targets.
Fraud against older Americans is a serious problem affecting seniors in the Holland area and all over the country. Unsuspecting older Americans have lost their life savings or suffered serious financial strain. The BBB, along with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, reminds seniors and their families to be alert to common scams that can target the elderly. |
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12-5-04 |
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Four found guilty in investment scams.
Four people with South Florida connections were convicted by a federal jury for their roles in a nationwide investment scam that defrauded some 400 investors out of $48 million. |
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11-23-04 |
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Hickman gets 8 years, son 5 years.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Several investors of The Hickman Agency watched Monday as a U.S. district judge sentenced a Meeker father and son to serve federal prison time for swindling Shawnee and area investors of $8.5 million. |
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11-11-04 |
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Colorado woman convicted in religion-based
investment scam.
NEW YORK (AP) – A federal jury has convicted to women, one of them from Colorado, of cheating more than 1,000 investors across the nation out of nearly $2 million with a religion-laced scam promising them a cut of the late Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos' fortune. |
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3-18-04 |
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7 indicted in alleged $56 million investment scam.
DENVER – Seven people, including three in Colorado , have been indicted in a suspected $56 million international investment scam in which the historic Redstone Castle and other assets were seized. |
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2-21-04 |
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Man who pleaded guilty to scamming investors sentenced.
A former insurance broker who pleaded guilty to an investment scam gets 12 years and seven months in prison for fraud after a judge increased his penalty. Richard Drakulich admitted to 12 counts of mail, wire and securities fraud. |
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2-19-04 |
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Scam artist verdict: 4 years in jail, pay victims.
A scam artist who preyed on African-American investors in Ohio and five other states was sentenced to four years in prison Friday and ordered to pay restitution to his victims. |
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2-6-04 |
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Arrest made in scam targeting elderly.
A former Torrington man is in the lock-up tonight after being arraigned for ripping off nearly one-million dollars from 18-elderly Connecticut residents. 38-year-old John Eseppi was extradited back to Connecticut from Texas on Thursday. |
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| 2003 |
10-8-03 |
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Regulators warn of possible investment scam.
The California Department of Corporations is warning consumers to beware of a suspicious investment opportunity called Beijing Development Corporation being offered in phone solicitations by a purported California company named International Business Advisors. |
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10-5-03 |
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Seniors targeted in investment scams.
Securities regulators are reminding older investors of a problem that has continued over the years: investment fraud and scams. Senior citizens are especially vulnerable because many have seen their portfolios and income mauled by a bear market and low interest rates. |
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10-2-03 |
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Police seeking couple in investment scam.
NORFOLK -- Lee-Hope Thrasher spent more than 10 years helping crime victims, both as director of the Virginia Beach victim witness program and as president of the Tidewater Victims Assistance Coalition. A crime victim herself, Thrasher once said after her home was burglarized that the crime takes away that feeling of invincibility. |
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10-1-03 |
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Man accused of bilking elderly couple out of $30,000.
A bogus newspaper ad in the Oregonian tricked a Tigard couple out of more than $30,000. Washington County detectives say 38-year old Anthony Mattsen conned the elderly couple in 2001 by claiming he was a writer and needed a loan for living expenses until his book was published. |
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9-26-03 |
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Elder abuse occurs everywhere, even here.
The stories surrounding elder abuse can make your skin crawl -- especially when they involve people in our own community.
That's why the El Dorado County Commission on Aging brought a heavyweight group of panelists together Thursday at the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Center to address this underreported but growing problem. |
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9-22-03 |
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If older, be wiser about these scams.
This is the ideal time to scam seniors. As a result, securities regulators are launching a major preemptive mission, hoping to educate and empower investors to avoid becoming victims. |
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9-6-03 |
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Con man who stole $2 million gets 7-year term.
In the end, Lawrence Barsi stole about $2 million from nearly 80 victims, prosecutors said. He bilked money from an elderly uncle and a blind aunt. He scammed from a childhood pal and even bilked the woman who sent him Christmas cookies every year. |
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9-4-03 |
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Seniors victimized by scams.
State securities regulators say older investors are falling victim to investment scams.
North Dakota Securities Commissioner, Karen Tyler, was among the officials who held a news conference in Washington today to alert seniors to the dangers of investment fraud. |
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9-5-03 |
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Man who scammed church members sentenced.
A Utah man who bilked fellow church members out of a half-million dollars could spend up to thirty years in prison.Thirty-year old Bryan Hawker was sentenced this morning after pleading guilty to six counts of securities fraud. |
