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Show n n re? nn r i ' r f ? f j i w i W tT,n j j L LiLJ L3 W Li W'J u u rzs n n r? B r' r:: elder'.;, re 3 rr.vr concern to the Fosu' Service, a senior officii of the Fos:l b.scc.ion Service told a ccr.i;reiona! committee. 'SFL RIOL S MEDIC XL rrorr.o:ier.s p:objM affect senior c::::er:s more than an other t v p e c! mail order fraud." Assist.,-; Chief Postal Inspector for Criminal lnv esti-g.r.ions esti-g.r.ions Fle:eher F. Acord told tr.e House Select Committee on Aging. "Due to rising costs of medical attention, and. perhaps, previous unsuccessful unsuccess-ful attempts to alleviate their suffering." he testified, "the e.JerK are often tempted to tr these purported cure-alls from a lew unsjvorv promoters for a long list of problems, including arthritis, cancer, obesitv . mi-potencv mi-potencv and baldness." ACORD CITED a California ease where a promoter mailed thousands of advertisements to people throughout ihe L'n-ited L'n-ited States and Canada for a home cure for cancer priced at S00. In a test purchase, postal inspectors investigating the case received bottles of B12 vitamins and kelp compound and a hv podermic needle to inject in-ject the fluid. "Ihe fluids were so contaminated con-taminated by poisonous bacteria bac-teria that serious illness or death could result." Acord told the committee. Part of the promoter's sentence on a plea of guilty to mail fraud was to notify as many people as possi- not to use :V r'oe.ict beca..ve of its pos.siKc dancer. ACORD SAID woik-. t-home t-home and inv estrren' w ;nj are also high on the list of n. ; fraud schemes directed .; fe eldflv . "The most common c':;r-ings c':;r-ings are for envelope v -g and m...kmg a product, pe-r-.::. baby booties or .-.p-ors." testified, "where it is ;i,.: v alleged there is a market w wc: in fact, there is nore. o: the promoter will bi:v the p:o-duct p:o-duct when, in fact, the piorr.o-ter piorr.o-ter w ill not." Acord told t' c committee the Inspection Service Ser-vice has put hundieds of these work-at-home promote s ot business in the last s months. BECAl SE THE eldei v ,,-c often hardest hi! bv inf.ution. Acord said, main have been persuaded to mv est their "nest eggs" in fraudulent pi omo-tions. omo-tions. He told the committee that the Progressive larmeis Association, formed in Missouri Mis-souri by Russell Phillips, convinced con-vinced 6.000 people to invest $12 million before IT'A fled for bankruptcy. "One 72-v ear-old man invested in-vested $70,000. Another eldei-lv eldei-lv farmer, w ho inv ested approximately appro-ximately $50,000, committed suicide as a result of his lost investment." Acord testified. ACORD SAID Phillips and four others were found guiltv during a 10-month long trial and will be sentenced next g. s . . , v , ". c: " s . vs.-. . ... . ; . w o C ' " .' . . ' V'. .. - S... ' S. . . S . ' . . ' ' . , . v . . .' . . ; . t, v. :.,!.. SOlE Ot :-e v , . . c e :-v - j o.-.' :o v- .' 1 v . . v v . . fe.; :o; i:is - -. . ...:,o'i : V s.. . ilia! ihe I ,,, ; ,m v, as i,n.,w ,r e o; so re o' .' . r ' -s t.nol co !': v Wfl, ",o:s. , . wi'O lla.i tCO ' .11 ve V- . , l OKU s MO ; , r,,., Set ice w ill ot'sc- e i : .inn. ..'. l'ons,,:rc! ( ,.. , o. Vv Cs s. Oct (' I I . as j. IC' continuing 1 1 ..::.:. a i , , , t o ma k e A in e i is .: u s au .0 e ol l lie lew swi, ', W ho l,sC - r.lai's 10 laSC I . llOlls Ol OO I, s ., aia..,; : . ihe puhli, |