Do you receive "Free Lunch Seminar" invitations? Are you are looking for an exciting volunteer opportunity? If so, you can become an AARP Volunteer Free Lunch Monitor.

Four out of five investors age 60 and over received at least one invitation to a free investment seminar in the past three years—and three out of five received six or more. The invitations often promise to educate you about investing strategies or managing money in retirement—usually with an expensive meal provided at no cost.

Chances are good that you, too, have received similar invitations and wondered whether you should attend.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and state securities regulators, who are members of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), sent investigators to some of these events. Their findings were deeply disturbing. "Every rock that we turned over seemed to have a bug or a worm crawling out underneath," says SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. "In each of the sweeps we conducted, we found significant fraud."

The free meal does not always mean free information. The ultimate goals are to recruit new clients and sell products. While some pitches can be easy to swallow, the consequences can be expensive. Consumers may go to the seminar with the expectation of learning how to grow and protect their investments and retirement savings. During the seminar, however, and in follow-up phone calls or in-home visits individuals may be pressured to make unsuitable investment decisions without having done their homework.

State regulators sit in on presentations as they are able, but with small staffs and a large number of seminars offered daily, their reach is limited. AARP is seeking volunteers to help monitor seminars and report problems.

For more information on how you can become a “Free Lunch Monitor” go to http://www.aarp.org/nofreelunch .

Adapted from the Wall Street Journal May 19, 2009

Arkansas legislators passed a law, effective July 1,that doubles the civil penalties for financial securities violations when the victim is 65 or older. Arkansas is one of a number of states that are passing or amending securities and criminal laws to impose "enhanced penalties" on people who commit financial crimes against seniors. Similar legislation is expected to be proposed in Congress next month by Democratic Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

Besides Arkansas and Michigan, Idaho also passed a senior-victim law in recent months that will go into effect this year. Six other states, including Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Rhode Island and West Virginia, have similar bills pending in their current legislative session. Michigan's new law allows for an additional $500,000 penalty tacked onto securities violations involving seniors or people deemed unable to understand the transaction. The law was partly inspired by a 2008 investigation in which at least 12 people were charged with misappropriating funds from nursing-home residents in the state. Another 85 cases remain under investigation as part of that sweep.

Such laws, however, have drawn criticism from some legal experts who oppose singling out seniors for protection. These critics say the laws amount to reverse discrimination by implying that older people aren't sophisticated enough to keep from being taken in by sales pitches. Jonathan Macey, deputy dean of Yale Law School, says an enhanced penalty law regarding seniors isn't illegal or unconstitutional, but "I think it's just stupid. There are all kinds of vulnerable groups in society, like poorly educated recent immigrants, et cetera. The bad guys will just target them."

Regulators say that no investors are more vulnerable to scams than older people, who depend on their savings for a secure retirement. Since 2007, government regulators and securities industry officials have been cracking down on senior scams, including sending sleuths to monitor free-lunch seminars. "Older Americans remain a primary target for unscrupulous individuals," says Heath Abshure, the Arkansas securities commissioner. "There has to be a deterrent to the effect that this is a class of people who rely on their investments day to day to pay their utilities, their doctors, and to buy their groceries," he says. The frequency of scams is increasing in the recession, many financial experts say. Seizing on fear of stock-market turmoil, sales people and fraudsters are hawking investments that claim to be "low-risk," or a supposedly safe way to invest in the stock market and earn back losses. In fact, the products may be complex and have significant downsides.