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Elderly
Are Targeted in Investment Scams By Marcy Gordon AP,
Yahoonews, September 4, 2003 WASHINGTON
- Often living on fixed incomes and sometimes desperate about money, older
investors are being targeted with complex investment scams promising huge
returns as the stock market churns and health care costs climb, state
securities regulators said Thursday. Kenneth
Reusser of Beaverton, Ore., an 82-year-old former Marine aviator and
decorated veteran of more than 200 combat missions in three wars, says he
lost $262,500 in a high-yield investment scheme he learned about from
friends he met through a club called "Life After 50." Reusser
and his wife, Trudy, filed a personal bankruptcy petition last week, a
step ahead of the anticipated foreclosure of their hand-built home worth
more than $1 million. "I'm
here as a very embarrassed individual," Kenneth Reusser said at a
news conference with state regulators. "We just trusted the
people." The
North American Securities Administrators Association is alerting seniors
to the dangers of investment fraud and urging them to take control of
their finances. The group, which represents state and provincial
securities regulators in the United States, Canada and Mexico, announced
new investor education programs and a senior investor resource center on
its Web site. The
regulators "are deeply concerned that a perfect storm for investment
fraud is brewing and our nation's 35 million seniors are most at
risk," said Christine Bruenn, the group's president and Maine's
securities administrator. "To a senior living on a fixed income, no
amount of money lost is too small, and could mean the difference between a
secure and dignified retirement or a life of uncertainty and
despair." Millions
of people who are retired or soon-to-be retired are concerned, some even
desperate, about their finances — making them more vulnerable than ever
to investment fraud and abuse, Bruenn said. Scams
currently targeting older investors involve sales of unregistered
securities, bogus promissory notes and charitable gift annuities, viatical
settlements in which terminally ill people sell their life insurance
policies for upfront cash, and Ponzi schemes that pay some investors
returns with money raised from later investors, according to the
regulators' group. It
cited recent cases in Arizona, Delaware, Maine and Massachusetts. Bruenn
said seniors are getting scammed in every state. The
regulators' group will monitor investment fraud issues relevant to seniors
and develop education programs. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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