New research from Proxyrack has revealed the US states with the highest and lowest prevalence of investment fraud and California ranks No.1 with 234.43 reports per million people.
Investment refers to opportunities in day trading, gold and gems, art, rare coins, companies that offer advice or seminars on investment, or other investment products.
In the first three quarters of 2022, investment-related fraud featured in the top three most common forms of fraud overall, with miscellaneous investments appearing in the top 10 most common forms of fraud in all age groups between 20-80+. Fraud reports relating to miscellaneous investments were the most common in the 30-39 age group, with 11,866 reports overall, totaling a loss of $22.02 million.
In August of 2022, a California resident was sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to his connection to a nationwide investment scheme, which involved fraudulent wireless spectrum and dental franchise investments. The 70-year-old resident and his co-conspirators successfully deceived hundreds of retirement-age investors by convincing them to either invest in or send money to companies owned and controlled by the group of fraudsters. As a result of the fraudulent scheme, the victims suffered a total collective loss in excess of $20 million.
View the full report at Proxyrack.