SWINDLES: Battling the Biggest Fraud

It may be a letter in the mailbox saying, "Management opportunities starting at $18,000 a year are available in a new chemical company." Or a telephone caller asking, "Would you be interested in doubling or tripling your income on a part-time basis?" Or a young woman "pollster" on a street corner questioning passersby, "Do you feel you are being paid what you are worth?"

In whatever form, the evidence means the same thing: the pyramid operators are coming. Back of their fast talk is a billion-dollar industry−and the nation's No. 1 consumer fraud. Federal...