White-collar crooks have no idea what they're in for

摘要

"Are you the type of person who's interested in making money?" You might think anyone over age 12, upon hearing that question from a stranger on the phone, would risk elbow injury hanging up as fast as possible. But apparently not. For this was the opening line that worked best when telemarketers phoned chumps around the country to bilk them out of thousands of dollars—sometimes hundreds of thousands—for an investment scam run by one Eric S. Stein. It worked great. Stein, operating out of Las Vegas, separated 1,750 investors from $50 million in the largest investment con in Nevada history, which is saying something. Eventually someone he owed money threatened to tell law enforcement if Stein didn't pay. Stein thought the guy was bluffing, but he wasn't. So now Stein is sitting in a federal prison in Massachusetts, serving much more time than he had expected in a much worse place than he had imagined, really wishing he hadn't done what he did.