Elderly Worst Hit By Securities Fraud, Says NASAA

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

25 July 2006

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) warned recently that investment fraud among seniors, which already accounts for nearly half of all investor complaints received by state securities regulators, could grow significantly in coming years.

Speaking during the Seniors Summit, hosted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission to coordinate efforts to protect older investors from financial fraud, Patricia D. Struck, Wisconsin Securities Administrator and President of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) announced preliminary results of a new NASAA survey designed to determine the scope of senior investment fraud.

“The current landscape facing senior investors is littered with slick schemes and broken dreams,” Struck explained, continuing:

“While our cases of senior investment fraud may not make national headlines, they are devastating in their impact to the victims and their families.”

The survey of state securities regulators showed that an estimated 44% of all investor complaints received by state securities regulators are made by seniors. In addition, the survey found that about one-third, or 31%, of all enforcement actions taken by state securities regulators involve senior investment fraud.

The NASAA survey also found that unregistered securities, variable annuities, and equity-indexed annuities are the most pervasive financial product involved in senior investment fraud.

Struck announced that the survey’s preliminary findings are based on responses from 34 of NASAA’s 67 member jurisdictions in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

NASAA is the oldest international organization devoted to investor protection. Its membership consists of the securities administrators in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the provinces and territories of Canada, and Mexico.

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