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Australia Picks Year's Top Scams

January 14, 2006
When Britain's Princess Diana was alive, millions around the world felt as though they knew her. Maybe that's why so many people were willing to believe a scammer's promise that the late Princess had left them $3 million.

The Princess Di Lotto Scam was carried out with spam emails that were sent all over the world, asking recipients to provide all manner of sensitive financial data in order to collect their "inheritance."

The scam earned runners-up honors in the Australia Securities Commission's annual Pie in the Sky Awards, singling out the year's most outrageous "too good to be true" scams.

Coming in at number one was Pegasus Investment Options, an Australian wealth seminar scheme that promised returns of eight percent per week. Investors handed over $3.7 million before it was exposed.

As in the United States, authorities in Australia say financial schemes devastate far too many people. Delia Richard, the Director of Consumer Protection for the Australia Investment Commission, says pie in the sky schemes take in all kinds of victims, even savvy investors who should know better.

Every year, the commission uses the tongue-in-cheek competition to warn consumers that get-rich-quick schemes almost always end badly. Rickard says the Internet has made the problem worse, since scammers can reach more potential victims for less cost.

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