Posts Tagged ‘Elizabeth’

Elizabeth was well into her 70’s and her husband had passed away several years before. She had two daughters whom would check on her on a daily basis. Elizabeth got a phone call from a gentleman stating that he had gotten her name from a local bank. He said he was interested in knowing if Elizabeth would like to invest some money in his oil removing company.

Elizabeth followed the news closely and she was aware about what was going on in the Gulf. The kind gentleman stated that his company had perfected a device that was capable of quickly removing oil from water and recycling the water so it could be used again. The gentleman stated that for only $2,000.00 invested, he would guarantee Elizabeth $10,000.00 back every month for at least one year. Elizabeth was informed that the United States Government had awarded the gentleman’s company a very large contract and it was simply a great deal, but Elizabeth would have to invest the money immediately or else she would be passed by.

Elizabeth was very impressed with the man and wrote out a check for $2,000.00.

Unfortunately it did not take long to find out that Elizabeth had been the victim of a con man. This type of deal is called the “pump-and-dump.” Elizabeth’s daughters tried to find out the identity of the individual in order to get the money back, but of course they were unsuccessful. Elizabeth forgot the lesson that she had taught her children: that if a deal seems too good to be true-it probably is.

Disclaimer: The above article is for instructive purposes only and each case is fact sensitive. Consultation with an attorney should be obtained instead of reliance upon the legal issues discussed in this column.