Whether the increase is the result of enhanced enforcement or a proliferation of scammers, records show that Ponzi victims lost $31 billion in the decade beginning 2009, more than three times the amount lost in non-Madoff schemes in the previous decade. (The figures are not adjusted for inflation.)
Sioux Schaefer was one of those millions of victims, and her case demonstrates one of the ways scammers have changed tactics in hopes of ensnaring unwary investors: Instead of pitching secretive, market-beating stock strategies as Mr. Madoff did, schemers are more frequently selling esoteric investments like natural resource mining and cryptocurrencies.
via In the Decade Since Madoff, Ponzi Schemers Try New Tactics – The New York Times.