Federal and state securities regulators on Monday announced a joint program designed to protect senior citizens from investment fraud.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has put together a new national strategy for protecting older investors, and has been working with securities-industry and Florida regulators in a crackdown on misleading sales seminars for seniors offering free lunches.
The new program, a partnership between the SEC and the organization representing state regulators -- the North American Securities Administrators Association -- includes special inspections of brokerages and promoters to detect abusive sales tactics aimed at seniors, aggressive enforcement of the anti-fraud laws and investor education for seniors.
People 60 and older make up 15 percent of the country's population but account for an estimated 30 percent of fraud victims. With baby boomers swelling the ranks of retirees, regulators expect an increase in financial scammers preying on them.
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A "Senior Care Package" of brochures is available on the Securities and Exchange Commission's Web site at
www.sec.gov.
The North American Securities Administrators Association has a Senior Investor Resource Center on its site at www.nasaa.org.
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