Scam alert: Investment fraud on the rise in Florida -- OrlandoSentinel.com: "Some friends turned John and Betty Manke on to Wealth Pools — a 'can't miss' investment, or so the couple was told. Multiple sales pitches and revival-style testimonies eventually wore through their resistance. The Lake County retirees jumped in, to the tune of nearly $10,000.
Two years later, the money is gone and the founder of Wealth Pools International Inc. — Orlando businessman Robert E. Lane — is accused of securities fraud in what federal regulators call a multimillion-dollar international Ponzi scheme.
'We should have known it was a problem,' said John Manke, a 77-year-old retired insurance salesman from Oregon. 'They always wanted us to bring in more people, and send more money. And they made out like they were all so religious. It was a real hypocritical situation.'
Investment fraud has been growing in Florida and across the nation during the recession, regulators say. Complaints about suspicious investment activity more than doubled last year in Florida to 425, according to the state Office of Financial Regulation, which has received another 112 complaints so far in 2009."
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