Beware of Emails and Phone Calls From Local Banks According to the Better Business Bureau, consumers have made complaints after being contacted via email or phone call from entities purporting to be a local bank.  The imposter uses the name of a well known bank and notifies the consumer that their account has been suspended.  The consumer is told that they need to contact the bank’s security division and is asked to press “1”, in the case of a cell…

Apparently the law degrees earned by Omar Ali Rizvi mean very little as the Irvine resident was penalized for making ridiculous claims about ludicrous returns and failed to even register the companies he claimed were raking in the dough. In addition to this latest display of stupid bad behavior, in the last ten years, Rizvi has been convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and disbarred for lack of character. A federal judge in Orange County ruled this week that…

(from the Wall Street Journal) Even as we were railing about the Libor scandal yesterday and the erosion of trust, even as that post was hitting the blogosphere, another scandal was blowing up in Iowa, as regulators swooped down on PFGBest, a mid-sized Iowa commodities and futures broker. The National Futures Association froze its operations and accounts in what appears to improprieties very similar to those at MF Global. Additionally, the company’s founder, Russell Wasendorf Sr., was hospitalized after what the company described as a suicide…

from the daily mail A settlement announced Sunday will bring $405 million to victims of Bernard Madoff’s historic investment scam, the state attorney general said. The clients of hedge fund manager J. Ezra Merkin will receive $405 million, and New York state will get $5 million to cover the cost of the settlement worked out by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.  The victims include New York Law School, Bard College, Harlem Children’s Zone, Homes for the Homeless and the Metropolitan Council…

I Just Got A $3,000 Dollar Check, Yea! So you get a letter from a financial services company that informs you that you just won $50,000 dollars in a contest in connection with Lotto, Publishers Clearing House and Reader’s Digest. There’s a $3,000 dollar cashier’s check included in the letter.  Here’s how it goes; The letter states that they are sending this check to deposit into your bank account and cash and send to them to pay for the taxes…

How to Recognize and Avoid Fake Check Scams  If someone you don’t know wants to pay you by check but wants you to wire some of the money back, beware! It’s a scam that could cost you thousands of dollars.  There are many variations of the fake check scam. It could start with someone offering to buy something you advertised, pay you to do work at home, give you an “advance” on a sweepstakes you’ve supposedly won, or pay the first…

You get a phone call from a Mr. Smith of Independent Digital, Inc. Surely you’ve heard of Independent Digital? Of course you have. Mr. Smith is a nice man. He’s concerned about your finances, and he asks if you’ve given any thought to your financial future. He would love to help you out, and he happens to have some hot, top-secret, inside information about a mobile device that Independent Digital is releasing soon, a product that will change the way…

Getty Images Is Using Fear, Ignorance and Empty Threats To Extort Millions Have you ever used a picture you found on the internet?  Web designers, graphic artists, ad copy writers, obvious. What about school projects or bowling league web sites? The internet is like the wild west.  It’s new, it’s huge and nobody really knows how to bridle its unyielding power (which is the whole point). Scams on the internet are as old as the internet (think emails from solicitors…

Investigate Thoroughly Before Hiring a Financial or Investment Advisor Doing your homework and taking great care in choosing your Financial Advisor or Investment Consultant is the best way to avoid getting scammed.  Finding an objective, competent and ethical professional will help you avoid significant problems in the future. Here are a few tips to help you in your search: Make sure the have the proper licenses and/or certificates and are in good standing with SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). Check…

Vitamins, Herbs, Cosmetics, Oh My! Have you been cornered by a friend to get in on a sure-thing moneymaker? I have. Multilevel Marketing, or Network Marketing is a form of direct sales of products by independent distributors. Amway, Isagenix, Herbalife, Arbonne and Nu Skin represent a few of the companies named in the top 25 on Nexera e-News. MLM or Networking Marketing ventures are also likened to Pyramid schemes. The origin of Pyramid schemes can be traced back to 1600…