Different Worlds, One Scam

Affinity Fraud Victims: Should They Have Known Better?

While many of Madoff's investors were not Jewish, some of his biggest investors included well-established Jewish organizations like the national philanthropic group Hadassah and New York's Yeshiva University. Individual investors included well-heeled Jewish country-club members who socialized with Madoff or money managers close to him.

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"A lot of business is done, especially at Madoff's level, at these country clubs, at a golf game or a tennis game. Social networks, business networks and charitable networks are all wrapped up together," said Rob Eshman, the editor in chief of the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, which has chronicled the Madoff scandal's impact in Southern California.

"These are people who not only play together and pray together, but they attend each other's kid's bar mitzvah, go to each other's weddings," he said. "It's a rarified world of exclusivity and trust."

Many of Madoff's alleged victims, critics say, were sophisticated enough to know better but were blinded by good returns and downright greed.

"They felt their money was guaranteed, that, no matter what the economy, this guy had the Midas touch," said Jay Sanderson, the chief executive officer of the Jewish Television Network, which saw two of its biggest donors felled by Madoff investments. "In many cases, the people who gave him all their money felt privileged to give him all their money."

At the end of the day, Verges said, any group is susceptible to affinity fraud.

"Especially when it's someone from our trusted community -- no one wants to believe that that person would essentially violate them or steal from them," she said. "In fact, that's exactly what these perpetrators are banking on."

In the last 10 years, the SEC has filed charges against affinity fraud schemes targeting Korean-Americans, Jehovah's Witnesses, African-American Baptists, Latin American investors and Texas senior citizens, among others.

Brad Garrett, an ABC News consultant and a former FBI agent, said that chances are, there are many more affinity fraud scams that have gone unreported. Garrett said that, as with other crimes, victims may feel embarrassed to report the crimes or may simply want to avoid contact with police.