Leo Stulen says he was tricked into signing away his life savings.

They're so greedy to get that almighty dollar because they're going to make a big commission that they'll do anything to get it.

For Leo, it all began at a free seminar that offers tips on how to protect your retirement nest  egg. Some seminars provide useful information, but authorities say that too often, instead of simply calling themselves "insurance salesmen," the people giving them cloak themselves in fancy titles. Some even claim to have written books or magazine articles.

(Hidden camera)

"The cover story is an interview with Randy."

Joe Borg: The idea is nothing more than trying to convince the public that you're something you're not.

Chris Hansen:  Financial advisor.

Joe Borg: Senior wealth advisor, I’ve seen them all.

Joe Borg is one of the experts who testified at a recent senate hearing on questionable sales to seniors. Borg is Director of the Alabama Securities Commission and part of a multi-state task force investigating the possibility of fraud in the sale of retirement investments to seniors.

Dateline is about to take our hidden cameras inside some of those the seminars -- and we'll be asking Joe Borg to help evaluate the sales pitches.

Inside the sales pitch
It's a Thursday night at the local steakhouse in Moulton, Ala.

(Hidden camera)

Jim Rieger: Hey, how you doing?

Dateline NBC: Hello, how are you?

Jim Rieger: James Rieger …

This insurance salesman has invited retirees and people approaching retirement to an informational seminar.

And as bait, Jim Rieger is offering everyone who attends a free steak dinner.

(Hidden camera)

Waitress: And what side would you like? We have fries, baked potato, onion rings, rice, or veggies?

But before we're served, there's Jim’s low-key presentation.

Rieger: So there's a lot of bad advice going around…

He begins by saying he's just trying to help you. He's not selling anything at the meeting tonight.

Rieger: I have no agenda when I see people...

Too often, Joe Borg says, that's just a come-on to set up a face-to-face meeting.

Borg: The only reason they do free lunches, free dinners, free seminars is to sell product. The agenda is: buy my product.

The first step: scare tactics

(Hidden camera)

Rieger: Did anybody ever do a check on the financial strength at FDIC?

Jim Rieger warns that money in the bank isn't as safe as you think.

He questions the stability of the government agency that guarantees bank accounts, the FDIC.

Rieger: Does anybody have a guess what the rating is for FDIC? ... Even though it's backed by the government, it's still F-minus.

Chris Hansen: Did you realize that our own government, FDIC, was rated F-minus?

Joe Borg: I had no idea.

Chris Hansen: Is that a scare tactic?

Joe Borg: Of course it's a scare tactic.

Dateline checked, and there is no such rating. And the fact is: no one has even lost a dime on FDIC-insured deposits.

The next step: the big promise

Rieger: There's another type called an equity-indexed annuity. It's that ratchet annuity concept.

Jim Rieger says he has a way to make your money go up, up, up. It's called an indexed annuity.

Remember, that's the same kind of annuity Leo Stulen bought back in Minnesota. They're sold by insurance companies, and linked to the stock market.

And unless you pay stiff surrender penalties, they tie up most of your money for years.

That's why Jim Rieger warns: you don't want to put too much money in what he calls "ratchet" annuities.

Jim Rieger: You all know how ratchets work, right? They only go one way, don't they?

Finally: the clincher
You can't lose a dime.

Jim Rieger: As the market grows in this kind of annuity, your account grows, all right? If the market goes down ... Aren't your funds insured? Well, they are. So if the market collapses, your account never goes down ...

That's true, if you keep your money invested for the length of the annuity, which invariably means years.

But Joe Borg says people can lose big if you have to take your money out early.

Joe Borg: They would pay the surrender charges, which could be 10, 15, 18 percent. And basically they would come out with less than they put in.

Chris Hansen: Less than what they put in?

Joe Borg: Oh, absolutely.

Chris Hansen: Would you recommend one of these to your mother?

Joe Borg: I wouldn't. I wouldn't recommend them to anybody.

If you read -- and understand -- the fine print in annuity contracts, you'll find out about surrender penalties.

But many of us rely on salesmen, like Jim Rieger, to explain things.

The question: will he be honest about those big penalties when he's alone with a senior?

To find out, Dateline rented a house in a small town near Birmingham, Alabama .. And began wiring it with hidden cameras.

We ask a volunteer in his 70's to listen to the sales pitch, and we invite Jim Rieger to make a house call.

(hidden camera)

James Rieger: I don't really sell anything at all. I'm not here for an agenda …

He says he's not here to sell, but it doesn't take long before he starts talking up those equity-indexed annuities that could earn him big commissions.

Rieger: So, this is one of those perfect things where if the market goes up, it soaks up the gains. If the market crashes, your asset still remains here.

There's plenty of talk about what you can gain, but the key question is: will he tell us about those big surrender penalties if you try to get your money out early?

Our volunteer is about to ask.

Leon Morris: What if I get in a jam, or let's say I have a lot of medicine expenses.

James Rieger: You can dip in and take more.

Leon Morris: Or if I need a cash--

James Rieger: You can take more.

There's no mention of big penalties.

But before we can ask more questions, something happens that we never imagined.

James Rieger: What is this little box here?

Leon Morris: Damn, I don't know.

One of our hidden microphones has been knocked loose.

James Rieger: It's kind of weird. It dropped off. Coffee table. That's weird. I've never seen one.

We've been made.

Whatever he thinks the microphone is, he decides to leave before we get a chance to ask any tough questions.

Later, his lawyer told us Rieger always gives a full explanation of surrender penalties before he completes a sale.

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