This is a real world situation that could impact each of you as professionals, investors, and friends of persons who could fall for such schemes. So please get angry about it!

An envelope arrived yesterday from a worried investor (not a client of mine) in Appleton, Wisconsin. He had been contacted with an “investment partner” opportunity touting a “guaranteed investment program” that would absolutely “double and triple his money every sixty days” with no worries, work, or risk involved.

So why was this total stranger contacting me?

Inside the envelope were four separate documents: (1) a call for twenty-five new investors who would become partners in this special, private, guaranteed investment program, and (2) an endorsement of the program from Helen Taylor, the founder of ResponseLink Pros, Inc.

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(3) An acceptance letter from Chris Jenkins, Advertising Manager of Moyer Direct, Inc., the investment management company, and (4) a special offer coupon that allowed the new partners to make additional deposits of fewer dollars while promising an even greater rate of return.

So why was this total stranger sending this information to me?

Two of the documents were fraudulently attributed to me and had been signed by someone using my name— bet that got your attention!

In the others, a fictitious Helen Taylor claimed to be my good friend and mentoring student while a non-existent Advertising Manager (Chris Jenkins) was distributing “one-time-only” discount offers that I was making in my capacity as president of Moyer Direct, Inc.— a company I had never heard of until yesterday.

Obviously, this scam artist (the now indicted Wayne C. Scott a/k/a Chris Harper) was able to paint a believable picture by trading on the good names, reputations, and achievements of well-known people in the financial industry. I would guess that I’m not the only one who has been unknowingly abused by such con artists.

And that is probably why I wasn’t contacted by anyone until now. Was your name used on documents sent to other victims? Did you sign up for a Warren Buffet or Ben Graham program?

Court documents (US District Court, Northern District of Illinois) indicate that Wayne Scott has bilked hundreds of small investors to the tune of nearly one million dollars. Other prominent investors, advisors, experts, and financial writers have probably had their reputations compromised as well.

Please forward this warning to your friends, colleagues, clients, relatives, and employees. We need to prevent such scams from spreading any further

So why haven’t we (and the investing public) been warned about this outrage by someone official? Hmmm.

Steve Selengut

Professional Portfolio Management since 1979

Author of: “The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The Book that Wall Street Does Not Want YOU to Read”, and “A Millionaire’s Secret Investment Strategy”