Elite Email trace has investigators with experience in handling fraud ,and internet fraud investigations.
FRAUD
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Faith Trust And Affinity Fraud
Fraudsters prey on the trust of church members.
Affinity Fraud is ranked in the top 10 frauds in the United States.
Churches are vulnerable to a scam known as “Affinity Fraud”.
Senario of a affinity fraud,
Your your pastor introduces a new member who from their appearance is an obviously wealthy, but devout business person.
They offer there services and approach yor about weekly pledge offerings.Shortly this person has the church and many of its senior members investing in schemes which have unbelievably high returns.
The monthly returns on the investments are actually equal to or exceeding the promises – in cold hard cash.”
Investing always involves some degree of risk. You can minimize your risk of investing unwisely by asking questions and getting the facts about any investment before you buy. To avoid affinity and other scams, you should:
The member can't beleive there eyes a portion of the investments are donated to the church.
While the fraduster is lining his pockets with there money later to come back to them asking for forgiviness becuse there investments did not pan out only to start over again some where else, unless stopped by law enforcement.
What to do
Check out everything - no matter how trustworthy the person seems who brings the investment opportunity to your attention. Never make an investment based solely on the recommendation of a member of an organization or religious or ethnic group to which you belong. Investigate the investment thoroughly and check the truth of every statement you are told about the investment. Be aware that the person telling you about the investment may have been fooled into believing that the investment is legitimate when it is not.
Do not fall for investments that promise spectacular profits or "guaranteed" returns. If an investment seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Similarly, be extremely leery of any investment that is said to have no risks; very few investments are risk-free. The greater the potential return from an investment, the greater your risk of losing money. Promises of fast and high profits, with little or no risk, are classic warning signs of fraud.
Be skeptical of any investment opportunity that is not in writing. Fraudsters often avoid putting things in writing, but legitimate investments are usually in writing. Avoid an investment if you are told they do "not have the time to reduce to writing" the particulars about the investment. You should also be suspicious if you are told to keep the investment opportunity confidential.
Don't be pressured or rushed into buying an investment before you have a chance to think about - or investigate - the "opportunity." Just because someone you know made money, or claims to have made money, doesn't mean you will too. Be especially skeptical of investments that are pitched as "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunities, particularly when the promoter bases the recommendation on "inside" or confidential information.
Affinity fraud refers to investment scams that prey upon members of identifiable groups, such as religious or ethnic communities, the elderly, or professional groups. The fraudsters who promote affinity scams frequently are - or pretend to be - members of the group. They often enlist respected community or religious leaders from within the group to spread the word about the scheme, by convincing those people that a fraudulent investment is legitimate and worthwhile. Many times, those leaders become unwitting victims of the fraudster's ruse.
These scams exploit the trust and friendship that exist in groups of people who have something in common. Because of the tight-knit structure of many groups, it can be difficult for regulators or law enforcement officials to detect an affinity scam. Victims often fail to notify authorities or pursue their legal remedies, and instead try to work things out within the group. This is particularly true where the fraudsters have used respected community or religious leaders to convince others to join the investment.
Many affinity scams involve "Ponzi" or pyramid schemes, where new investor money is used to make payments to earlier investors to give the false illusion that the investment is successful. This ploy is used to trick new investors to invest in the scheme and to lull existing investors into believing their investments are safe and secure. In reality, the fraudster almost always steals investor money for personal use. Both types of schemes depend on an unending supply of new investors - when the inevitable occurs, and the supply of investors dries up, the whole scheme collapses and investors discover that most or all of their money is gone.
How To Avoid Affinity Fraud
Investing always involves some degree of risk. You can minimize your risk of investing unwisely by asking questions and getting the facts about any investment before you buy. To avoid affinity and other scams, you should:
Check out everything - no matter how trustworthy the person seems who brings the investment opportunity to your attention. Never make an investment based solely on the recommendation of a member of an organization or religious or ethnic group to which you belong. Investigate the investment thoroughly and check the truth of every statement you are told about the investment. Be aware that the person telling you about the investment may have been fooled into believing that the investment is legitimate when it is not.
Do not fall for investments that promise spectacular profits or "guaranteed" returns. If an investment seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Similarly, be extremely leery of any investment that is said to have no risks; very few investments are risk-free. The greater the potential return from an investment, the greater your risk of losing money. Promises of fast and high profits, with little or no risk, are classic warning signs of fraud.
Be skeptical of any investment opportunity that is not in writing. Fraudsters often avoid putting things in writing, but legitimate investments are usually in writing. Avoid an investment if you are told they do "not have the time to reduce to writing" the particulars about the investment. You should also be suspicious if you are told to keep the investment opportunity confidential.
Don't be pressured or rushed into buying an investment before you have a chance to think about - or investigate - the "opportunity." Just because someone you know made money, or claims to have made money, doesn't mean you will too. Be especially skeptical of investments that are pitched as "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunities, particularly when the promoter bases the recommendation on "inside" or confidential information.
On LINE SCAMS
On line Schemes
Cyberspace was once a place inhabited largely by government agencies and academics linked together through a decentralized collection of computer networks that came to be known as the "Internet." The late 1980s and early 1990s gave birth to a torrent of commercial entrants into cyberspace, with the way led by Compuserve and then Prodigy and America Online. By the end of this year, an estimated four million American households will be online with these commercial services, which are the three largest such enterprises in the U.S. Additionally, hundreds of smaller companies have emerged to provide bulletin board services and local access to the world of Internet.1
The number of Americans who are online has jumped 90 percent since 1992 alone, their ranks are expected to double or triple over the next two to three years.2 According to Whole Earth Review, America Online more than doubled in size in a nine-month period, going from 300,000 users to over 700,000.3 The New York Times, has described the Internet as the world's "new mass information market."4
Today investors are in danger of being taken for a ride on the cyberspace. State securities regulators around the U.S. are concerned about the explosion of illicit investment schemes now flourishing on commercial bulletin board services and the informal web of computer networks that make up the Internet. An estimated four million U.S. households that already have access to the major online services are being exposed to hundreds of fraudulent and abusive investment schemes, including stock manipulations, pyramid scams and Ponzi schemes.5
The online frontiers are aware of some of the major rip-off techniques now in use. According to Fighting Computer Crime, the investment fraud problem could reach epidemic levels over the next few years as several million unsophisticated newcomers crowd onto the once lightly traveled information superhighway.6 On the other hand, cyberspace can also educate investors, helping them to become much better investors.
For those who have been online, know that most sites has been commercialized by bulletin boards and discussion groups devoted to investment tips, advice and solicitations. According to one regulatory agency's count, more than 5,600 new messages on investment topics were posted in 969 different topic areas featured on the Prodigy service during a recent two-week period.7 Many of the investment specific messages now appearing on commercial services and the Internet openly hawk brokers, investment advisers, financial newsletters, and specific investment deals. Though many of the messages simply offer general stock-picking advice, investment possibilities, tips on specific stocks, moneymaking enterprises and service providers.
The Missouri Securities Division and the New Jersey Bureau of Securities announced on June 30, 1994 the first regulatory actions taken in the U.S. against online investment schemes. At least three other states currently have investigations underway into lying suspected investment fraud and abuse in cyberspace.
Investors were told "how to make big money from your home computer" as part of the "Electronic Message" scheme promoted by a San Antonio man and at least nine other individuals scattered around the U.S. According to a cease-and-desist action filed on June 30, 1994 by the New Jersey Bureau of Securities. In what might be referred to as an "e-mail chain letter," the promoter claimed that, in exchange for $5, investors could earn a return of $60,000 in just three to six weeks. Participants were told to send $1 to each of five people on an online list. Then, those who sent money were to add their own name to the list and post a message explaining the scheme on at least 10 different computer bulletin board sites. The scheme amounted to a high-tech variation on the old pyramid scam, which is barred under federal and state laws.8
Just as investment con artists wasted no time in taking advantage of the mails and the telephone as means by which to fleece large numbers of unsuspecting investors, so too have swindlers started in with a vengeance to exploit cyberspace. While many of those on bulletin boards dedicated to investment topics are interested in little more than swapping ideas about specific stocks and exchanging general financial advice, there is increasing evidence that a shady group of individuals are milking the online world in order to enrich themselves in what is often a blatantly fraudulent and abusive fashion.
State securities regulators have identified the following as being among the major investment scheme problems in the online world today: 9
Manipulation of obscure thinly traded stocks. Most commercial bulletin board services allow individuals to post messages not only under an alias but multiple aliases. It is impossible for subscriber to assert' the true identity of the individual behind the message.
Through a combination of puffery, speculation, and breathless claims of supposedly inside information about pending announcements, product innovations, and new contracts, the schemers seek to run up the price of the stock, which starts rising as unwary investors read of the "great opportunity" and buy shares.
Misconduct by phony and unlicensed brokers/investment advisors; Undisclosed interests of promoters; The anonymity of cyberspace is exploited to the hilt by schemers who promote fraudulent and abusive investment schemes.
Some of the investment fraud and abuse problems now have been in circulation for many years. But accesses to the online world represent an enormous advance in the ability of con artists to victimize the unwary.
The most important thing is that there will never be enough enforcement to keep the online world free from fraud and abuse. Even though state securities agencies and other investment regulators have rise serious efforts in recent months to stop cyber-fraud, the truth is that there are too many places in the online world for swindlers to set up shop
Cyberspace was once a place inhabited largely by government agencies and academics linked together through a decentralized collection of computer networks that came to be known as the "Internet." The late 1980s and early 1990s gave birth to a torrent of commercial entrants into cyberspace, with the way led by Compuserve and then Prodigy and America Online. By the end of this year, an estimated four million American households will be online with these commercial services, which are the three largest such enterprises in the U.S. Additionally, hundreds of smaller companies have emerged to provide bulletin board services and local access to the world of Internet.1
The number of Americans who are online has jumped 90 percent since 1992 alone, their ranks are expected to double or triple over the next two to three years.2 According to Whole Earth Review, America Online more than doubled in size in a nine-month period, going from 300,000 users to over 700,000.3 The New York Times, has described the Internet as the world's "new mass information market."4
Today investors are in danger of being taken for a ride on the cyberspace. State securities regulators around the U.S. are concerned about the explosion of illicit investment schemes now flourishing on commercial bulletin board services and the informal web of computer networks that make up the Internet. An estimated four million U.S. households that already have access to the major online services are being exposed to hundreds of fraudulent and abusive investment schemes, including stock manipulations, pyramid scams and Ponzi schemes.5
The online frontiers are aware of some of the major rip-off techniques now in use. According to Fighting Computer Crime, the investment fraud problem could reach epidemic levels over the next few years as several million unsophisticated newcomers crowd onto the once lightly traveled information superhighway.6 On the other hand, cyberspace can also educate investors, helping them to become much better investors.
For those who have been online, know that most sites has been commercialized by bulletin boards and discussion groups devoted to investment tips, advice and solicitations. According to one regulatory agency's count, more than 5,600 new messages on investment topics were posted in 969 different topic areas featured on the Prodigy service during a recent two-week period.7 Many of the investment specific messages now appearing on commercial services and the Internet openly hawk brokers, investment advisers, financial newsletters, and specific investment deals. Though many of the messages simply offer general stock-picking advice, investment possibilities, tips on specific stocks, moneymaking enterprises and service providers.
The Missouri Securities Division and the New Jersey Bureau of Securities announced on June 30, 1994 the first regulatory actions taken in the U.S. against online investment schemes. At least three other states currently have investigations underway into lying suspected investment fraud and abuse in cyberspace.
Investors were told "how to make big money from your home computer" as part of the "Electronic Message" scheme promoted by a San Antonio man and at least nine other individuals scattered around the U.S. According to a cease-and-desist action filed on June 30, 1994 by the New Jersey Bureau of Securities. In what might be referred to as an "e-mail chain letter," the promoter claimed that, in exchange for $5, investors could earn a return of $60,000 in just three to six weeks. Participants were told to send $1 to each of five people on an online list. Then, those who sent money were to add their own name to the list and post a message explaining the scheme on at least 10 different computer bulletin board sites. The scheme amounted to a high-tech variation on the old pyramid scam, which is barred under federal and state laws.8
Just as investment con artists wasted no time in taking advantage of the mails and the telephone as means by which to fleece large numbers of unsuspecting investors, so too have swindlers started in with a vengeance to exploit cyberspace. While many of those on bulletin boards dedicated to investment topics are interested in little more than swapping ideas about specific stocks and exchanging general financial advice, there is increasing evidence that a shady group of individuals are milking the online world in order to enrich themselves in what is often a blatantly fraudulent and abusive fashion.
State securities regulators have identified the following as being among the major investment scheme problems in the online world today: 9
Manipulation of obscure thinly traded stocks. Most commercial bulletin board services allow individuals to post messages not only under an alias but multiple aliases. It is impossible for subscriber to assert' the true identity of the individual behind the message.
Through a combination of puffery, speculation, and breathless claims of supposedly inside information about pending announcements, product innovations, and new contracts, the schemers seek to run up the price of the stock, which starts rising as unwary investors read of the "great opportunity" and buy shares.
Misconduct by phony and unlicensed brokers/investment advisors; Undisclosed interests of promoters; The anonymity of cyberspace is exploited to the hilt by schemers who promote fraudulent and abusive investment schemes.
Some of the investment fraud and abuse problems now have been in circulation for many years. But accesses to the online world represent an enormous advance in the ability of con artists to victimize the unwary.
The most important thing is that there will never be enough enforcement to keep the online world free from fraud and abuse. Even though state securities agencies and other investment regulators have rise serious efforts in recent months to stop cyber-fraud, the truth is that there are too many places in the online world for swindlers to set up shop
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