When Ohioans pick up a newspaper or turn on the television news virtually any day, there is a story about a con artist who exploited the public\u2019s trust for their personal financial gain.\u00a0 In connection with this week\u2019s observance of National Consumer Protection Week (March 6-12), the Ohio Department of Commerce is encouraging Ohioans to be on guard for potential con artists in their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cCon artists do not have a conscience.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter who you are \u2013 a lifelong friend, a family member or a trusted associate \u2013 a con artist will do anything to separate you from your money,\u201d said Ohio Department of Commerce Director David Goodman.\u00a0 \u201cBefore you invest, make a confidential call to the Division of Securities to check on the promoter and the investment product.\u201d<\/p>\n
While there are thousands of legitimate, licensed securities professionals operating in Ohio who help their clients make wise investment decisions, \u00a0most securities fraud cases prosecuted by the Division do not involve those firms or individuals. Rather, most scams involve unregistered investment products sold by unlicensed individuals.\u00a0 To avoid being a victim of those types of scams, Ohioans can simply call the Division of Securities\u2019 Investor Protection Hotline at 877.NVEST411 (877.683.7841) to confirm that the promoter is properly licensed and that the investment product is registered or exempt from registration.\u00a0 Ohioans can also visit\u00a0www.conartist.ohio.gov<\/a> for additional information.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile investor research should start with a call to the Division, it should not end there,\u201d Securities Commissioner Andrea Seidt said.\u00a0 \u201cInvestors should ask for and actually check with a promoter\u2019s references and trust their instincts when an investment opportunity sounds too good to be true.\u00a0 With every investment, investors need to take the time to understand the risks and benefits by reading the prospectus or offering circular in full before they invest.\u00a0 \u2018High return\u2019 investments often carry high risk, including the risk that the investment may yield no return or, worse, a substantial loss to the investor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Ohioans pick up a newspaper or turn on the television news virtually any day, there is a story about a con artist who exploited the public\u2019s trust for their personal financial gain.\u00a0 In connection with this week\u2019s observance of National Consumer Protection Week (March 6-12), the Ohio Department of Commerce is encouraging Ohioans to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 17:03:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4578\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}