ponzi scheme targeted korean americans

News of another Ponzi scheme out of the Bay Area, this time targeting Korean American investors. Peter C. Son is facing civil and criminal charges in federal court for allegedly defrauding 500 investors of $80 million and using the money to pay the mortage on his multimillion-dollar home: Ponzi scheme targeted Korean Americans.

Son, along with Jin K. Chung, enticed Korean American victims with dollar signs in their eyes, promising them extraodinarily high annual returns -- up to 36 percent -- from foreign currency trading. But in true Ponzi-like schemery, instead of trading investors' money, the two used the funds to pay cash "returns" to certain investors, from 2003-2008.

With Bernie Madoff all over the news in the last year, I'm sure most people are aware of this now, but here's the lesson: the next time someone promises really awesome, "extraordinarily high" returns on your cash investment, just steer clear. It's probably too good to be true, and way too many people have already learned this the hard way.