The Bermuda Monetary Authority is set to try and educate the public so that crooks will be less able to swindle them out of their hard-earned money.

According to Munro Sutherland, the BMA?s superintendent of banking, trusts and investment, there is a need to educate the general public to make sure that con-artists do not sweet talk them out of their savings.

?Police will tell you ? it is not a huge number, but a steady number ? who part with large amounts of money,? said Mr. Sutherland. ?A good rule of thumb is if it sounds too good to be true then it usually is.?

The BMA normally got about 12 complaints a year about being ripped off ? a fraction of the number of complaints the police get ? from people who had been parted from their money by unscrupulous so-called investment brokers. Mr. Sutherland said that it was not always pyramid schemes that were used to get money from ordinary people, but usually get-rich-quick scams which promise high returns in short amounts of time.

He said that now days one did not expect people to fall for e-mails offering high returns on investments ? but it still happens.

And he said that other scams included being approached by individuals offering fabulous investment opportunities. He said these approaches were usually made by people off the Island, and sometimes even had a local link selling on the deals on-Island.

?But this is not just a Bermuda problem, but a world-wide problem,? said Mr. Sutherland.

He said often potential ?investors? were sent links to a site which had ?pretty pictures of buildings? but was in fact just a front to add weight to the fraudsters claims to be a bonafide business.

And then there were unsolicited telephone calls, normally called ?cold calling?, involving a hard sell which sometimes managed to get people to part with their money there and then.

Mr. Sutherland said that the BMA is working on legislation that will allow them powers to regulate cold calling and step in to challenge any deal ? if the scamsters have not already upped and left with the cash, leaving no trail.

?They specialise in the hard sell, this share is worth 10 cents, but will be worth $10. If this is the case, (with the cold calling regulations) you can repudiate the deal,? he said. ?But it is a job to enforce this off the Island.?

Where they would have a case is if somebody on Island is cold calling or selling a product being sold, and the BMA could step in and investigate.

?The problem is people come to us after the fact,? said Mr. Sutherland. ?They think they might be doing something a bit wrong and do it on the QT, and if it does not work out they then come to us. But often by then the money is long gone.?

One well-known scam is the Nigerian begging letter, which used to be sent by post, but now normally arrives by e-mail. These kinds of scams can be effective with the more vulnerable in the community ? the elderly.