Please don’t feed investment vultures

web of economic activity” that falsely portrayed the California green energy services company as a vibrant, promising business, according to an SEC civil complaint filed Monday.

The illusions included valuing a promissory note listed on the company’s books at $869,000. Mr. Letcavage either knew or should have known that the note had little or no value, according to the SEC. The inflated value appeared on financial statements Premier filed with the SEC in 2013 and 2014. The misstatement enabled Premier to overstate its fiscal 2013 income by nearly $1 million, according to the SEC complaint.

The agency also charged 67-year-old Tustin, Calif., resident Joseph Greenblatt, the company’s consulting accountant, with helping Premier prepare the false financial statements.

What do these three tales have in common?

They all involve investments that are not appropriate for someone saving for retirement or a child’s college education. Nor are they appropriate, in many cases, for investors who have idle cash to invest, mistakenly believe they know what they are getting into and think they can stomach the risk of less-conventional investments.

Investors would be better served investing in a diversified portfolio of low-cost mutual funds that have a solid track record. They have a much better chance of understanding how their money is being put to work than they do of monitoring digital billboards in Washington, D.C., from the comfort of their Seattle homes.