Claiming that Kincherlow could earn 20% per year safely, he persuaded the widower to pour his life savings into real estate investments with an El Segundo investment firm called Jon W. James & Associates. Kincherlow said he was assured that his principal was safe. But signs of trouble emerged when he wanted to start spending some of his savings. Then, company managers either couldn't be reached or talked him out of withdrawal, he said. Meanwhile, they tried to persuade him to secure a huge home equity loan to invest even more.

Securities regulators filed an emergency action last summer to shut down the firm, which they claimed was operating a $22-million fraud. James maintained in legal filings that the company's investments simply had insufficient time to pan out. In any event, a court-appointed receiver says investors are owed about $13 million, but the company has less than $4 million in assets to repay investors.

"They're telling me that I might end up with $6,000 or $7,000 out of all of the money I invested," said Kincherlow, who now lives in Victorville. "I wish I never had done this."

He has plenty of company. More than 200 investors are in similar straits with Jon W. James & Associates, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

About 5 million seniors are victimized by some sort of financial fraud each year, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. California law enforcement authorities believe that about a million of those victims live in the Golden State. Fraud against seniors is rising, experts add, but precise numbers are impossible to come by, partly because authorities believe that only 1 in 5 such frauds are ever reported.

The tragic part: Once a senior gets taken, there's little chance he or she will ever get the money back. And experts maintain that most of the fraud is easily avoided.