As investors recover from the economic meltdown of 2007 through 2009, they are anxious to find attractive investment returns. Unfortunately, most are unaware of the army of scam artists, reckless advisers and inept bunglers who will promise those returns but deliver only financial devastation. Budget crises at the regulatory agencies and sheer demographics have created a perfect storm that threatens to make us forget Bernard Madoff. But credit unions can shelter their members with an active approach to education and commitment to member protection.

Teach members about the scope of the challenge. The securities industry and professional investment criminals have been anticipating this time in history for decades. Beginning in May 2011 and continuing for 19 years thereafter, 10,000 baby boomers will turn 65 every day. Shortly thereafter they will retire and move their 401(k) balances to self-directed accounts. Financial advisers and scam artists will battle for those assets like NBA centers. Especially given the uncertainty surrounding Social Security, credit union members must start now to protect their personal savings.

Teach members how to investigate brokers and unregistered investments. The age-old axiom, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," is dangerously ineffective as protection against investment fraud. First, the word "probably" leaves room for the possibility that the investment under consideration might just be the exception. Of course, it isn't. But the bigger problem with that axiom is that it leads investors to believe that the chief identifying characteristic of a scam is the promise of outsized profits. While that continues to be true for unskilled investment scammers, the most dangerous con artists know that ridiculous promises only scare away prospective victims. At Investor's Watchdog we say, "If it sounds too good to be true, you are probably talking to an amateur scam artist."