LAS VEGAS (KSNV MyNews3) -- This scam that comes with a warning that can't be emphasized enough. In this Rip-Off Alert, whenever an investment promises unusually high returns, run in the other direction.
Dennis Sindry was one of many victims of an elaborate investment scheme.
"They said they had this investment opportunity, and it looked really good deal," Sindry said.
U.S. Postal Inspector Matthew Boynton says the con man “was previously an attorney in Houston, owes over $30 million in back taxes. Immediately after getting out of prison, he took up with some of his old friends."
He also claimed he had ownership interest in oil and gas wells in Texas, with a promised return of 16 percent of the investor’s money.
"The salesman was an out-of-work broker at the time,” Boynton said. “Affable, genuinely friendly, ate dinner with these folks, hung out at their home, spent time in their homes, went to parties with them -- really introduced them into their lives and vouched for these investments."
"The first 10 months I started receiving the checks, then intermittent, then not at all,” Sindry said. “And that's when we realized it was a Ponzi scheme."
Total loss: just over $6 million. Number of victims: 40.
"As you get older, you're not making money for yourself so much you're making it for your children and grandchildren,” Sindry said. “I felt like I had let them down and lost their money."
Remember that in schemes like this, it is buyer beware. It's up to you to check out the people you invest with. Recouping your losses can be difficult, if not impossible.
