CNN Money is running a story about the most popular investment scams. Similar stories are being run on MSN Money and Bankrate as well. In fact, the story is everywhere.
Here are the top ten scams, as measured by the North American Securities Administrators Association. The links below provide more information on each of these scams.
1. Ponzi (pyramid) schemes
2. Unlicensed securities dealers
3. Unregistered investment products
4. Promissory notes
5. Investment scams that target senior citizens
6. Sky high-yield investments
7. Internet fraud
8. Schemes that target a race, religion or ethnic group
9. Variable annuity sales
10. Oil & gas scams
Take some time to look through the information. Education is the best defense against these scams. If you need to report a scam, contact your NASAA representative.
Updated February 6, 2012 and originally published March 24, 2005. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
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Luke Landes founded Consumerism Commentary in 2003 and has been building online communities since 1990. Luke, also known as Flexo, has contributed to PC World Magazine, US News, Forbes, and other publications. 
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Here’s another one…I think.
Got a call from the Department of Unclaimed Funds saying they had a $12k insurance claim/payment for a person that shared my last name.
Went to the Bureau of Unclaimed Property’s website and sure enough, that person had a policy but they died and someone was hunting people down with the same last name.
So far so good.
But the name was misleading…the only “Department of Unclaimed Funds” was a listing for a company. The official state agency is the Bureau of Unclaimed Property.
But, they used official information with respect to the decedant. So, was this a scam? Couldn’t say, but it’s something to keep an eye out for.