Outsmarting the Scam Artists: How to Protect Yourself From the Most Clever Cons

Doug Shadel is the State Director for AARP Washington and previously served as a fraud investigator and special assistant to the attorney general for the Washington State Attorney General's office.

He is a nationally recognized expert on financial fraud, having co-directed numerous studies for AARP, the AARP Foundation, the FINRA Investor Education Foundation and Stanford University. Shadel has presented his research findings at the National Academy of Sciences, the National Association of Attorneys General, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and at international conferences in Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain.

He has co-authored six previous books including three on crime prevention: Schemes and Scams (with John T.), Outsmart Crime (with Al Ward) and Weapons of Fraud (with Anthony Pratkanis). In 2000, Shadel received the FBI Director's Award for his work fighting financial fraud. He holds a PhD in social science and serves on the advisory board of the Financial Fraud Research Center at Stanford University. Shadel lives in Seattle with his wife Renee, son Nick and daughter Emily.