Rich people, who many may think have better financial wisdom than most, displayed some of the worst financial decision-making during the Great Recession. And it’s not only Bernie Madoff’s investors who got scammed. Other people got the same sucker punch from a slew of other opportunists.

Gallery owner Lawrence Salander was caught by feds after running a $120 million fraud scam that victimized the likes of Robert De Niro and John McEnroe. Money manager Ken Starr duped $30 million from Barbara Walters, Al Pacino, and Uma Thurman.

The interesting question is why do even rich people get scammed liked the average Joe.

Well, there are many possibilities to this. It’s easy to think that everyone’s just as smart as the next guy. Movie stars and athletes just so happened to make a lot of money because of their industry but financially, they might not be as savvy.

For some, it’s about the amount of money that they have. A thousand dollars would simply be a drop in a huge bucket that they can really gamble on a few drops without having to lose sleep over it.

My take? It’s just the human nature of wanting more. The irritating thing about it, though, is that if Al Pacino loses a few hundred thousand dollars, he won’t be starving. If Joe loses his house, that’s it for him.

Source: CNN

These companies are supposed to send you free trial packages of products in exchange for your credit card info. However, if you don’t opt out or cancel the product, you might get billed for it. In some cases, you might not even get the actual product.

A warning has been issued by the FTC, Visa and Better Business Bureau. VISA says that 30% of online consumers have been victimized by such promotions.

As a word of caution, don’t give just any website your financial information. Check with the Better Business Bureau first if the company is legit. And be wary of any too-good-to-be-true deals.

Source: CNN

US District Judge Denny Chin considered Madoff’s actions as “extraordinarily evil.” Madoff’s sentence of 150 years is only commonly slapped on the most violent criminals and terrorists. Madoff will not have the luxury of parole and will most likely spend the rest of his days inside a federal prison.

As for Madoff’s victims, $231 million has been committed to pay them back. This is according to the Securities Investor Protection Corporation – the group tasked to facilitate the pay back of Madoff’s investors. The group has already accepted 543 claims for payout so far. Under the law, each customer can receive up to a maximum of $500,000.

In a statement, the SIPC said that another $2.741 billion had been “authorized for potential future recovery.” However, this will depend on how much they can actually recover from the assets linked to the fraud.

Scammers have now resorted to “robo-calling” – unsolicited calls to home phones notifying people about final notices on vehicle warranties – to prey on victims. This scam has prompted NY Senator Chuck Schumer (Dem) to call for a federal investigation on the matter.

Many people have been picking up phones only to hear a computerized voice say, “This is the final notice. The factory warranty on your vehicle is about to expire,” or a similar message.

“Not only are these calls a nuisance, but they tie up land lines and can eat up a user’s cell phone minutes, possibly leading to a higher cell phone bill due to overage charges,” said Schumer.

Source: MSNBC