The warning comes amid multiple local high-profile prosecutions of accused Ponzi scheme architects who face charges of running pyramid scams by taking money from new investors to pay off older ones.

Also facing problems are landlords and property managers who are on the front lines in the economic downtown. 

An emerging scam Baker said he’s seeing is one in which a would-be renter sends a landlord a check for a deposit but “accidentally” writes it for too much. The renter asks the landlord to cash what will turn out to be a fictitious check and wire the “extra” to them.

Best Practices in tenant screening include running your prospective tenants credit report and FICO Score.  The results of the tenant credit report will provide you with a window into their fiduciary responsibility.  You can see their revolving credit obligations and determine whether this tenant is capable of making the rent every month.  Remember it’s probably better to let the apartment go vacant for another week then renting the unit to an unscrupulous tenant. The financial costs of evictions are painful lessons that will make you wish you ran that credit report.