Bernard Madoff was revealed to the world as having been scamming for around two decades in 2008. In fact, it was estimated that he had some 70,000 victims and that, through fraud, he had scammed them out of some $65 billion. He was indiscriminate in terms of the types of victims, targeting everyone from the old lady down the road to politicians. In fact, his victims even included Elie Wiesel, who was a Holocaust survivor and had set up the Foundation for Humanity. Madoff was a member of the Jewish community, and this is also where he found most of his victims. According to Adrian Rubin Facebook is a great place to find out more about Madoff and what he did.

Adrian Rubin Facebook and the FBI Probe in Madoff

Madoff fooled financial experts, big and small investors, and more. He promised them consistently positive and exclusive results, and they believed him. A year after he was charged under the RICO Act, it became apparent that he was not alone in what he did. Indeed, scandal upon scandal started to be uncovered.

Of course, the truly sensational ones made headline news. However, people all over the country, including in small communities, were affected by them. And while those individuals may not have lost thousands each, they lost millions when it was all put together.

The reality is that scammers will always find a way to get money and to work their way around regulations. In 1920, Charles Ponzi made the first truly famous swindle, but he certainly wasn’t the first to have devised one. And, similarly, recessions and bear markets reveal scams but they are not the cause of them.

What Madoff did, just as other scammers, was lie. All the recession did was expose this, because he was unable to keep going. Indeed, it is the greed for wanting more that will eventually expose them, because the market will always get too volatile at some point for them to keep going.

Adrian Rubin wants people to understand that anyone can be the victim of fraud. If someone wants to become a financial investor, whether it is by using millions or just a few hundreds in savings, they have to follow the five cardinal rules, thereby lessening their risk of falling victim to a scam. Those rules are:

1. To never give control over all assets to one advisor.
2. That when something looks too good to be true, it generally is.
3. To not fall for flashy investment tactics or flashy strategies.
4. To not believe promises of benefits and exclusivity.
5. To always perform research and exercise due diligence.

Although scammers are frequently charged under the RICO Act, which means that they are part of an organization or enterprise, it is equally possible for a scammer to work alone. The top and bottom of it is that you should trust nobody with all of your money and your financial future. The risk is simply too great.