On Wednesday, federal investigators filed mortgage and accounting fraud charges against Beazer Homes USA (NYSE: BZH). The homebuilder will be able to escape prosecution because it agreed to pay $50 million to victims and to accept responsibility for its improper actions.

Beazer found itself charged thanks to its participation in a scheme designed to fraudulently increase its profits and sell homes. Reportedly, the company also participated in an accounting scheme that was designed to "smooth earnings." Thanks to these schemes, homebuyers defaulted on their loans and some neighborhoods saw home values plummet thanks to loan defaults. State and federal investigators have scrutinized Beazer since March 2007, finding that the company's "aggressive sales tactics" contributed to an "unusually high foreclosure rate in many of its local starter-home communities."

One of the most interesting stock scams I can think of is back in the news, with John Felderhof, a former geologist and executive at the company, being acquitted on charges of insider trading and misleading investors in the Bre-X fraud.

The mining company began as a penny stock and at one time sported a market cap of CAD $6 billion before collapsing. It turned out key samples had been "salted," meaning that the huge gold reserves the company claimed to be sitting on did not exist.

The story is filled with intrigue -- one key geologist ostensibly died in a plane crash but rumors continue to swirl that he is alive and living in hiding.

As for Felderhorf, he was not at his own trial. According to the New York Times, "He is believed to be living in Bali, although his wife said in a published interview this week she thought he was living in Canada." Sounds like a great relationship.

To learn more about the fascinating story of the Bre-X fraud, check out Bre-X: The Inside Story. It's not the greatest business book ever, but for 57 cents used on Amazon, it's worth picking up.

The practice that involves people "renting" credit history to improve their own credit score will come to an end, according to Fair Issac Corp (NYSE: FIC), the company responsible for FICO credit scores. The change will occur in a new version of its credit score system, the sixth generation, this September.

The move ends the ability for a consumer with poor credit to be placed as an authorized user of another person's credit card, who has great credit. This person would then benefit from having the payment history of the primary cardholder on their own credit report and improve their credit scores.

The practice has grown more common with internet companies popping up offering money to people with good credit to take on those with bad credit as an authorized user, then collecting fees from those consumers for the act.

This is fraud people; plain and simple.

It's hard to believe this practice still exists in the world we live in today. In a nation where state attorney offices and the U.S. attorney's office go after anyone and everyone who looks like they participate in fraud, including UBS Financial Services, Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) and the one that started it all, the Enron case.

This was considered the "first great scam of the new millennium" by Terry Savage of TheStreet.com. She highlighted that people with poor credit could "borrow" good credit for 60 days and then apply for a mortgage at a lower rate. Maybe that's one of the many reasons why this month's
foreclosure rates rose a whopping 90% year-over-year.

What do you think of this new move from Fair Issac? Do you think this is fair to the people with poor credit? What's your opinion?

By now, the criminals in Nigeria and other similar vermin must be thoroughly convinced that we here in America are a bunch of rich fools waiting to be parted from our money. The reason I write this is because yet another round of siphoning loose green backs has begun and some well meaning people have been sucked in for as much as $1500. This time though the scam in question has a special twist to the bait. Internet scammers are soliciting your dollars to assist in the rescue of hapless puppies trapped in third world countries.

The scammers offer the poor canines for free but of course every rescue mission comes with it's price. The puppies will need shots, visas, passports, luggage, boarding passes and such. What boggles the mind here is that kind hearted people are sending money to these solicitors with out even checking their claims out first. It is as if they have nothing better to do than send money to every stranger with a sob story.

Please, if you are inclined to answer any solicitation which asks for your money without first providing substantial basis for your trust, find several people or organizations that you do trust and ask them about it. Blindly sending cash in answer to a slick presentation is like paying money for a car that the salesman promises is kept in a special secret garage on the other side of town. Your best bet is to restrict your philanthropic efforts to projects which are close to your home. There are hundreds of organizations in every city and every state which are completely worthy of your donations. Find one and give it an amount that you are comfortable with.