As money remains tight, the jobless rate high, and foreclosures on the rise, the schemers and con artists come out of the woodwork to take advantage of desperate people. Some of the worst scams are those that offer big returns for investments of thousands of dollars. Even savvy business people fall prey to these “advance fee” tactics.
John R. Emshwiller in his article entitled “Tough Times Breed Financial Cons” for the Wall Street Journal cited a number of instances where investors and homeowners have been deceived. Louis Michael Pihakis was recently indicted in a Phoenix federal court for falsely promising business people huge returns from a Greek Trust that did not even exist. Most investors paid several hundred thousand dollars each for nothing in return. Another man claiming to be a “foreclosure relief” expert cheated several hundred homeowners out of $800,000 by promising he would prevent foreclosure on their homes. With so many foreclosures across the country it is no wonder that these scams flourish.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, consumer complaints related to such scams more than doubled in 2009 to over 41,000 from 17,000 in 2008. When all the current court activity is tallied for 2010 it may also be a banner year. Are you a victim?
Page Perry, is an Atlanta-based law firm with over 125 years of collective experience representing investors in securities-related litigation and arbitration. While past results are not indicative of future success, Page Perry’s attorneys have assisted dozens of investors in recovering over $120 million from brokerage firms since 2005. Page Perry’s attorneys are actively involved in counseling institutional and individual investors regarding their investment problems. For further information, please contact us.