Land scams that earned the state infamy in decades past are rare these days, but the state's rapid growth breeds other unsavory practices that affect businesses as well as individuals. As retirees and seekers of the good life swarm to enjoy the warm weather and fulfill their dreams, con artists are close behind, happy to take advantage of the newcomers' optimism.

"We're known historically for having fraudulent activity. Crooks come down because all the money is here," says Mark Mathosian, regional administrator of the Florida Department of Financial Services office in Fort Myers.

"It's a target-rich area for fraud. We're the highest-growth area in the state, we have a mobile society, we also have a segment of the population that's wealthy," agrees State Attorney Steve Russell of Fort Myers.

"Because we have such rapid growth and people haven't been here as long, word of mouth and reputation may be thin," he adds. "In a more stable, mature community, it's probably easier to determine the reputation of the people you deal with."

People who see Florida as their land of opportunity often bring unrealistic expectations and naiveté-along with their dreams and life savings, Mathosian says. Sometimes they simply don't realize the level of competition and the challenging business environment. "They get involved with business ventures they've never done before because they're looking to change their life and they put their life savings into their dream only to find that they crash and burn," he says.

Other times criminals capitalize on their prey's dreams and catch them in investment scams and "get-rich-quick schemes," says Russell. They often target wealthy people or successful businesses looking for investment opportunities.

Small businesses also are prime targets for advance-fee loan frauds, Mathosian says. For example, a man who wanted to start a horse track in the area needed about $6.5 million. Instead of going to a bank, he responded to an ad that claimed to provide capital for businesses and a low-interest rate. He applied and was told he qualified, but he had to put up one percent of the load in advance-$65,000.

"He fronted it and got ripped off," Mathosian says. That's common.

"Crooks always move to areas with high growth because they know that's where the marks are going to be," adds Mathosian. "Growth brings money and it also brings sharks."

Also common in the region are people trying to pass worthless checks, Russell says. "Small businesses particularly always have to be aware of worthless checks," he notes.

Some of the highest-profile cases of unsavory business practices involve construction companies that disappear into the night, leaving customers with incomplete homes and creating a cloud of suspicion over the local industry. "They get a lot of attention, especially from the media, because [the customers] put their life savings into a home and are left high and dry," says Russell. "My experience is it's a small percentage of the construction trade."

Those cases are not always criminal. "Because we're a high-growth area, we attract new construction busines-ses, some who have the wherewithal to make it and some who don't," he says. "We have to sort out whether it was done knowingly or they just got behind and went under."

As one of the biggest industries in the region, construction presents a variety of opportunities for ne'er-do-wells and criminals. Construction-site theft is fairly common, sometimes attracting organized criminal groups from the east coast, Russell says. Larger companies typically secure their sites, but smaller outfits can't always afford to, he adds.

Construction companies share one of the greatest challenges with other industries-finding trustworthy employees.

Sometimes the result is simply shoddy workmanship. In construction, for example, booming business has created a high demand for subcontractors and skilled labor. "They can write their own ticket," Mathosian says. "They don't need your business and they're not necessarily going to provide you with the best business practices." Furthermore, because of the struggle to maintain full staffs, employers don't always take the time and effort to adequately screen new hires.

Workers' compensation fraud is also a problem in some industries. "We have some of the highest workman's compensation rates," Mathosian says. "There are some people with some injuries that malinger and cost businesses tremendous amounts."

Companies can be just as guilty of crossing the line by intentionally misclassifying employees, telling their insurers that employees are in less risky positions than they really are. "That company may pay a lesser rate than a company operating legitimately, which creates unfair competition," Russell says.

Employees can undermine a business through such traditional crimes as embezzlement, but thievery can also be high-tech and well organized, as in the growing problems with identity theft. "Identity theft is the number-one fraud in the country," says Mathosian. "A lot is taking place in legitimate businesses because they're hiring people who are taking advantage of their business."

Several businesses in the region have been caught in credit-card skimming schemes, which can happen fairly easily in shops and restaurants where employees handle payments, especially if the transaction takes place out of the customer's sight.

Typically, Mathosian says, "Bad guys hire people who work at legitimate businesses and pay them, say, $50 for every card they skim." They take the customer's credit card and run it through a small box, which records the card's information. The device can hold information from about 200 cards. Criminals then create new cards with the stolen information. "The average loss in a skimming scam is $2,500 per customer," he adds. Technology can help prevent the problem, he says, including devices that allow the employee to process a credit card in front of its owner. If a customer gets burned, that business is bound to suffer in reputation and patronage, he adds.

The multiplying population and accompanying crime rates also create greater demands on those charged with protecting the public. "It's like dumping more and more sand in the hourglass. But the bottleneck stays the same size," Russell says.