Short Takes: Investors Get Warning On Year-2000 Scams

State securities regulators are warning investors to beware of scams that invoke year-2000 computer problems.

The North American Securities Administrators Association Inc. said recently that investors are being persuaded to withdraw money from their savings accounts and turn it over to con artists. These scamsters are also sending unsolicited e-mail touting products that supposedly fix the year- 2000 problem, the umbrella organization for regulators said.

"There's a lot of misinformation and sensational claims about the year 2000," a spokesman for the regulators group said, "and we are concerned that it could lead people to do stupid things."

Regulators also cautioned against "affinity fraud" in which scam artists use an assertion that they are the same race or religion as potential victims to gain their trust and then defraud them.