By Laura Hipshire

THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

According to the AARP, more than half of American consumers who lose over $40 billion a year to telemarketing fraud are age 50 or older.

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), an  international organization devoted to investor protection, alerts older investors to the dangers of investment fraud and urges them to take control of their financial health.

“Our nation’s 35 million seniors are most at risk,” says Christine A. Bruenn, NASAA president. “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.”

Bruenn says the collapse of the bubble economy; interest rates at 40-year lows; and rising costs for medical insurance, prescription drugs, and basic living expenses have caused con artists to target older investors.

“These are dangerous times for seniors. They need education, they need protection,” Bruenn says.

Scams hit close to home

State securities regulators say older investors are being targeted with increasingly complex investment scams involving unregistered securities, promissory notes, and charitable gift annuities, all promising inflated returns.

The Detroit News has reported on a Michigan reverse mortgage scam incident that prosecutors say may be just the “tip of the iceberg.” The scam may have reached dozens of older Americans and totaled more than $1 million stolen.

Anthony Darryl James, a Romulus loan officer, has been charged with bilking Shirley Schultz, 84, of Belleville, out of $42,000. He allegedly used a mortgage fraud scheme to dupe dozens of other senior homeowners at a loss of more  than $1 million, authorities say.

“This is a far-reaching scam,” says Kym Worthy, Wayne County prosecutor. James is suspected of defrauding people in Wayne and Oakland counties.