TORONTO, CANADA - Ponzi scams have deprived investors of billions of dollars, but investigators note that tracking assets and wrongdoers is so difficult that many victims may not recover lost funds. In Ponzi schemes, investors get money because other investors pay in. No profits are ever made, so an economic downturn or a slowing of new investors mean people lose money. Forensic investigation specialists note that with the economy now doing poorly, many such schemes are falling apart. Forensic investigators say that class-action lawsuits and PIs are often the only ways to track down victim’s money, but in many cases this is very challenging since there is little actual profit in these schemes. In many cases, leaders of Ponzi schemes spend money on a lavish lifestyle, so there is no money for victims to track and recover. Ponzi fraudsters also often hide money in tax shelters and through families, making money hard to trace.

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NEWPORT BEACH, CA - It’s not the typical PI assignment: Guess and Maxim model Bree Condon hired a PI to track down someone who was posing as “Bree Condon” – complete with photos of the real Bree Condon – on the dating website SeekingMillionaire.com. What PIs discovered was a man named Justin Brown, posing as Condon on the dating site to lure and scam men of money. Brown posted pictures of Condon and used his feminine voice to convince men that he was Condon during long romantic phone conversations. His scheme allowed him to scam wealthy men out of tens of thousands of dollars. All the men believed they were dating Condon, although Brown was careful to never permit a face-to-face meeting. Now, Brown in being investigated by authorities and has been indicted on a felony theft charge.

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SACRAMENTO, CA – June Ann Lucena was a prison guard at Folso, but has since been found guilty of insurance fraud. Now, she is being required to repay $244,000 in restitution for her fraud. Lucena sustained a workplace injury in 1999. She continued collecting payments after a disability retirement, alleging that her injuries left her severely injured and unable to perform many physical tasks. A PI who discovered the fraud, however, filmed her going down water slides at a water park in 2002 and then jet skiing.

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LONDON, ENGLAND – François Eales has made many online purchases with no problem, but when he recently tried to buy a Sony Vaio laptop he found that the seller disappeared after collecting money for the purchase. While police are investigating, Eales hired a PI to track the seller. The PI found that the seller’s account is filled with money and is located in Nambia. The PI Eales hired also noted that while many online transactions are legitimate, Eales seller appears to be part of a larger syndicate of fraudsters, possibly involved in money laundering.

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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – For PIs, social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are playing an increasing role in investigations. One of the largest PI companies in Australia now hires staff specifically to search for missing persons and other fraudsters online using social networking sites. The company reports finding 30-40 debtors and felons a week through social networking sites. While the sites are useful for PIs, however, investigators have found that they need to track and find social networking criminals, many who use sites such as MySpace and FaceBook to find and lure underage children.

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ROTORUA, NEW ZEALAND – Leo Gao and Kara Hurring are the couple famous for fleeing New Zealand six months ago, when their bank accidentally credited their account with millions of dollars. Private investigators have been trying to find the couple – and the money they took – ever since. The duo are believed to be in Hong Kong and investigators are awaiting Chinese cooperation in the case. About $3.8m of the $10 million inadvertently credited to the couple remains missing.

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LONDON, ENGLAND – Security specialists have found that cyber criminals targeting banks are using “money mules” and other measures to hide their actions. Money mules are people who launder money for criminals for a commission and wire money to cons. In addition, the web servers used by criminals are now set to return fake data when it appears that the servers are being investigated.

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RACINE, WI – Racine County has been using PIs to investigate welfare fraud in the area for three years. Investigators have found that most cases of fraud involved not large sums of money, but rather recipients omitting to report new information or falsifying applications. So far, investigators have gathered evidence to pursue felony fraud cases against five residents in the area. The county is reportedly looking at other investigative methods to crack down on the fraud.

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