COMMON TYPES OF
SECURITIES FRAUD

INVESTMENT THEFT 
Investment brokers who steal directly from their clients’ accounts for personal gain are guilty of investment theft. Investors may not immediately notice the missing money, and if they do, the broker may try to dodge the subject or blame the loss on a drop in the market.

PONZI SCHEMES
Investment fraud that involves the payment of returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors. Ponzi scheme organizers often solicit new investors by promising to invest funds in opportunities claimed to generate high returns with little or no risk. In many Ponzi schemes, the fraudsters focus on attracting new money to make promised payments to earlier-stage investors to create the false appearance that investors are profiting from a legitimate business.

PYRAMID SCHEMES
Pyramid schemes are fraudulent because compensation is primarily derived from the fees paid by new recruits to the scheme. Participants have to recruit others to the plan to make money. As participants join, additional people must be recruited so that current participants can be paid. The pyramid eventually collapses because participants exhaust the pool of people available and willing to join. Often goods or services are offered in an attempt to appear legal.