Investment seminars can be too convincing
WASHINGTON -- I'm not quite ready for membership in AARP but increasingly I've been getting invitations in the mail for me and my husband to attend investment seminars that promise to help us ensure we have enough money to retire.
The notices use all the right buzzwords. But I have a special place for those invitations -- the trash can.
You may be promised a free lunch or dinner but the meal may cost you much more. The meetings are much alike. Herd in people. Scare them to death with tales of how they won't have enough money when they retire. Or promise amazing returns or access to investment products only available to a select group.
The hairs on my arm stand up when I hear such promotions. They just sound too good to be true. The people involved are too slick, too hyper and too eager to show you a special way to wealth.
Yet for every one of us who can sense a scam a mile away, there are others whose radars aren't tuned in as well. It's not that these people are stupid. They are just too trusting. In fact, one survey showed that investment-fraud victims demonstrated a better understanding of basic financial literacy than non-victims.
On Monday, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and other agencies released a joint report examining 110 firms offering "free lunch" investment seminars aimed at seniors.
Among the common tactics used to bamboozle seniors:
• "Phantom Riches." Promoters dangle the prospect of great wealth or unbelievable returns. They get people excited about an investment that is guaranteed to produce money.
• "Source Credibility." They try to build credibility with you by claiming to be with a reputable firm or to have special credentials or experience. Often even the most basic check will turn up that the promoter isn't licensed.
• "Social Consensus." They will tell people that other savvy or rich investors have invested in the product. The dialogue might go something like this: "I know it's a lot of money, but I'm in it and so is my mom and half her church and it's worth every dime."
• "Scarcity." The promoter creates a false sense of urgency by claiming there is a limited supply or that only certain investors are allowed to invest in the product. They try to get you to sign up at the seminar. Don't do it. Always take the time to think about and investigate any offer.
WISE Senior Services in Los Angeles, using a grant from the NASD Investor Education Foundation, analyzed hundreds of transcripts of undercover tapes from these investment seminars. The nonprofit group found more than 1,100 separate instances where influence tactics were used on victims. The study found that investment fraud, more than any other type of fraud examined, had the greatest variety of pitches. Researchers found the tactics changed depending on the individual.
"Customization of pitches underscores the importance of consumers becoming aware of how their particular psychological characteristics and tendencies are exploited in order to defend against it," the study concluded.
In other words, you've got to know your weaknesses. If you're not the type of person who likes to ask questions, don't go to one of these seminars alone.
Here's something else to think about from the investor fraud study found: You make yourself more vulnerable by your willingness to attend a "free" seminar on investing.
The fact is it's not enough to trust that you will spot a fraud just because you know the old adage: "If it's too good to be true, it probably is." That warning is useless really because the con men and women are so good at making something that sounds too good seem so true.
© 2007, The Washington Post Co.