Investor Protection Guide: Affinity Fraud

Affinity fraud is not a particular type of fraud but refers to all frauds targeted towards members of an identifiable group of individuals such as those with a common religion, ethnic heritage, background, or interests. The perpetrators of affinity fraud may pretend or may actually be members of the targeted group and exploits the groups' inherent common trust to recruit victims for a scam. Pyramid and Ponzi schemes are two examples of scams which criminals might use to take advantage of people recruited based on some common background or interest.

For more information, see:

• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/affinity.htm