ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information for potential investors to educate themselves to recognize red flags and possible frauds, and how to research business entities themselves. It also provides an overview of due diligence as it pertains to Ponzi schemes. The information provided are the suggestions developed from reading thousands of financial market cases, not just Ponzi schemes, including but not limited to: affinity-fraud, elder-fraud, faith-based fraud, pyramid schemes, cherry picking, boiler-rooms, pump-and-dumps, binary options frauds, mortgage frauds, real estate frauds, bank frauds, cryptocurrency frauds, microcap cases, prime banking, pension frauds, spoofing, and theft by deception cases. A business that offers products or services must meet operating costs with a financial gain in order for there to be profits to pay investors. Financial markets are digitized, meaning transactions are all computerized and move from computer to computer, nation to nation, in a fraction of a second.
