Courtesy of Florence Klein, Founder, SilverPlanet.com

We work hard and invest wisely to build a nest egg for our golden retirement years so we sure do not want someone else enjoying the fruits of our labors! Unfortunately it does happen but don't let it be you. It happened more than 800 A&O Resource Management investors most of them elderly. The victims of this hoax lost over $100 million to the fraud scheme.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride put it this way,

"The impact of this massive fraud on many of A&O’s investor victims has been disastrous. Hundreds of elderly investors invested their life savings with A&O and saw it all vanish in an instant. These investors were not looking for quick cash, just a safe alternative to invest their retirement funds. The safety, security, and no-risk nature of the investment was critical to the sales pitch, and it was all a big fat lie."

The A&O Resource Management employees ran a fraud where they falsely marketed life insurance products by making misrepresentations about A&O’s success, the size and location of offices, the number of employees and the risks of the offered investments. These all sounded safe and secure. However once state regulators began checking into A&O’s products it turned out they were selling to non-existent entities.

The sentenced individuals are Russell E. Mackert, 52, general counsel for A&O, Brent Oncale, 36, former owner and founder of A&O, David White, 41, the former president of A&O, Eric M. Kurz, 47, a wholesaler of A&O investment products, and Tomme Bromseth, 69, an A&O sales agent.

President Obama established the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to act proactively in investigating and aggressively in prosecuting financial crimes. The investigation was conducted primarily by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Internal Revenue Service, and FBI with significant help from state agencies in Texas and Virginia.

So how do we avoid being one of the scammed in an investment fraud? Follow these tips:

• Learn and follow your financial institutions fraud prevention policies and recommendations. This means all of them; even the fine print. If you do not understand them all, seek help from a trusted relative, the institution, a trusted financial planner or lawyer.
• Check your accounts at least when every statement arrives or more often if you have online access. Notify your institution as soon as possible if you find a problem. An early catch is the best.
• For each institution, be sure to use a unique username, strong passwords that you change every 6 to 12 months, tough security questions and remember to NEVER share them with anyone unless you wish to grant transaction authorization to them.
• Keep your anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall protection up to date and in use. These protections are of no use if they are disabled.
• Avoid checking your accounts at work, on public computers or on public wireless networks. Use secure wireless networks at home and remember to log off your account and exit the web browser when you have finished.
• Never give out personal information (name, account number, Social Security number etc.) in response to an email, unsolicited phone call or letter. Only provide this information if you make contact with your financial institution.
• Think about diversifying your retirement investments between IRAs, 401k, and other savings options.
• Use any additional security features your financial institution makes available to you.
• Investigate any investment and the company offering it before writing a check.

If you believe you have been a victim of financial fraud or scam report it. Here are the places to start:
FBI - Contact your local field office
ICC - Internet Crime Complaint Center
GOJ - Contact the United States Department of Justice