Ultimately, the money runs out and the thieves run off. Promissory notes aren't the only bad deals out there. Another popular fraud is the sale of viatical settlements. These companies solicit investors to buy interests in the death benefits provided for in life insurance policies of terminally ill patients. The insured receives a discounted percentage of the death benefits in cash to allegedly improve the quality of their lives in their final days.
Investors get their share of the death benefit when the insured dies.
While some viatical settlements are legitimate, it is the ones that promise high double-digit returns that are rotten. For one thing, medical science is helping people once considered terminally ill to live longer, productive lives. The California Department of Corporations has a stack of files that report on people who have lost their entire investment in viaticals. Scam artists are famous for picking hot trends and turning them into fraud opportunities. Sundays and Wednesdays.