Reporter's Notebook

-Megan Patrick-Vaughn can be reached at mpatrick@vbjusa.com

RECESSION RIP-OFFS

When he was in town in March, Arun Raha said the U.S. will come out of this recession for several reasons, including that crafty people will always come up with new, irresistible methods for taking our hard-earned money.

Raha is executive director of the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council and he was, of course, referring to retailers and marketers. But his words flashed through my mind this morning as I sat in on a presentation by Doug Walsh, chief of the Attorney General’s consumer protection division, and Chuck Harwood, regional director of the Federal Trade Commission, about scams that are popping up more frequently in the recession.

These include credit fixes (“For an advanced fee, we’ll get ride of bad information on your credit report, no matter how it got there!”), debt relief (“For a fee, we have secret tricks to make your debt disappear!”), and employment schemes (“You posted a resume on Monster.com – come to work for us, we’ll just need a copy of your passport, Social Security number and bank account information for payroll purposes!”)

Of course these claims are too good to be true. But rising unemployment mean more people are desperate for income. And desperate times don’t always leave us thinking clearly. Those of us facing class reunions or weddings can probably relate – “Lose 10 pounds in three days by sitting on the couch and eating Funyuns!” Of course weight loss really comes from diet and exercise, but there is a little voice in the background that really wants the Funyun diet to be true.

And the victims aren’t always who you’d expect. A survey of investment fraud victims by the state Department of Financial Institutions, AARP and the Investor Protection Trust shows that victims are more likely to be male, married, employed and on average, 55 years old.