Florida Scams
I have a very close friend who lives in South Florida. While living in New Hampshire, and even today, I hear of jokes like "want to buy swamp land?" This is of course directed to the people in Florida. My friend moved to Florida in 1997 and while employed at his first company, a person mentioned that she had been contacted by a complete stranger to ask her to deposit a check into her account and to wire a portion of it to the original sender. Of course, the woman was swindled for $20,000. The funny thing is that the same people are scammed over and over again. You would think if they are approached by someone to make some type of investment, no matter how small or big, that they would ask questions. A lot of people in Florida as well as other places in the country investment in Madof, although he lived there. My friend has advised me that there is an individual that is telling consumers to invest in him because he has guaranteed returns in asset based lending and real estate in Las Vegas and Arkansas. Most of these people who claim that they are investment counselors or agents, have no license whatsoever.
Usually, you will find a society vulnerable to these scams if there is lack of community, deteriorated education in that area, and of course a high degree of greed. The funny thing is, the same people are scammed. In order to guard against this is to ask questions and get information. If the answers are cloudy, then it is probably a scam. I know that Florida has a high degree of multi level marketing businesses which is mainly based on greed. The people in the northeast are cautious and are not quicken to react to such unfound promises.
Best to All.
