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How to Smell a Rat
Book

How to Smell a Rat

The Five Signs of Financial Fraud

Ken Fisher and Lara Hoffmans
Wiley, 2009
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Editorial Rating

9

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Recommendation

The unlamented year of 2008 was a terrible time for investors. The news that money wizard Bernie Madoff stole some $65 billion from his investment clients with a giant pyramid scheme added insult to injury. Though already in his 70s, Madoff received a 150-year prison sentence for his thievery. Many felt the punishment was too light. The world is full of crooks and charlatans like Madoff. Fortunately for investors, they often give themselves away if you know how to spot them. In this savvy manual, business journalist Ken Fisher (writing with investment expert Lara Hoffmans) details five warning signs that can reveal crooks posing as financial advisers. getAbstract recommends this book to investors who are suspicious and to those who ought to be.

Summary

The Penny-Stock Scam King

From the 1930s to the 1950s, Walter Tellier reigned as the consummate con man. He lived in style in wealthy Englewood, New Jersey. He belonged to the prestigious Westchester Country Club. His fancy cocktail parties were annual hits at North American Securities Administrators’ conventions. Tellier always came across as the paragon of respectability. In truth, he was a cheap swindler who bilked thousands of investors. During the 1950s bull market, Tellier made a fortune selling naïve investors worthless “penny stocks” at ridiculously low prices, from 15 cents to 50 cents a share. Tellier used “boiler rooms” – ugly lofts manned by criminals and college kids to tout his phony stocks over the telephone.

“Entry-level swindlers” known as “coxeys” phoned suckers whose names Tellier collected from direct mail lists. Claiming to be calling “from Wall Street,” the coxeys made outlandish claims about the can’t-miss value of Tellier’s penny stocks. Often, victims forked over $50 to $100 each to buy the specious stocks. Next, the “loaders” or “dynamiters,” slang terms for more experienced swindlers, would work the phones. These con men convincingly pushed...

About the Authors

Ken Fisher, author of Forbes magazine’s Portfolio Strategy column, is the founder, chairman and CEO of a money management firm. Lara Hoffmans is an investment firm executive and a contributing editor for MarketMinder.com.

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