SALT LAKE CITY -- Federal and state officials are warning consumers that a rash of recent Utah investment fraud schemes involving more than 100 ongoing cases resulted in 4,400 victims who've lost an estimated $1.4 billion.
"The vast number of these victims are from Utah," said James McTighe, FBI special agent in charge, Salt Lake City Division.
McTighe and other members of the Utah Securities Fraud Task Force on Thursday announced a campaign to help Utahns make more informed choices about their investment dollars. Included in that effort are educational billboards in the Top of Utah.
McTighe said a majority of the 115 ongoing or open fraud cases involve members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"This is a very trusting community," added McTighe.
A fraud victim from Utah County, who identified herself only as Kaylene, said she trusted a man she barely knew with $35,000 for a high-return investment.
"He told me he had been guided by the spirit to help me financially," said Kaylene, a widow and businesswoman. She lost most of her money, as do most victims.
The task force has members from numerous agencies, including the IRS, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Utah Department of Commerce.
"The scope is enormous," said Gov. Gary Herbert.
Officials said they have seen other homogeneous communities, like the LDS population in Utah or the evangelical population in the South, targeted by scammers as the con artists use a family-and-friends network to spread the word about bogus investment offers.
"The typical offer is for much bigger returns," said Ken Israel, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Salt Lake Regional Office.
Task force members hope the publicity campaign with statewide billboards, online videos and links to information on the Web, will alert investors to do more research on investment offers.
"If it is too good to be true, it usually isn't," said Israel.
On June 30, a state-sponsored free seminar on responsible investing, titled "Fraud College," will be held at Utah Valley University in Orem.
Law enforcement members of the task force said they have 370 potential perpetrators to investigate and prosecute as part of the 115 open cases.
But for Kaylene, her case is over.
"He played on my every emotion," she said.
"I should have done my homework."
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