Contact 6: Warning against "guaranteed return" investment

MILWAUKEE -- An investment always carries some risk, and when someone promises a huge guaranteed return, FOX6's Contact 6 advises to consider it a red flag. Many across the nation learned this lesson the hard way.

A company called A&O Resource Management told investors they could be guaranteed big returns if they bought a life insurance policy product called "a life settlement."

"They can be risky investments. The return rates that were offered to people were very high in this instance, between 12-15% on the investment," U.S. Postal Inspector Marydith Newman said.

Hundreds were lured in -- most of them senior citizens.

"Who pulled money out of their 401ks or refinanced their home to invest in A&O because they were told this was a guaranteed investment and they saw this as a lucrative thing to help them later in life," Newman said.

The truth: it was a scam! 800 victims across the country lost a combined total of $100 million, and the con men spent all of it -- on luxury homes, several high-end cars, jewelry and antiques. Victims were left with nothing.

"They've lost their savings and they have to go back to work -- have to find a job when it's not easy to find a job," Newman said.

The two men at the top of A&O Resource Management are behind bars after receiving more than 45 years in prison for their role in the scheme.

Contact 6 says the word "guaranteed investment" should be a blaring warning bell, and this investment should be checked out carefully.