Enforcement actions against financial advisors who defraud seniors and baby boomers will hit a record this year, according to state securities officials.

"It's rampant throughout the country," the enforcement committee chairman of the North American Securities Administration (NASA) told the Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper recently published a comprehensive report on the problem, which is "worsening."

The number of criminal complaints, cease-and-desist orders and other regulatory actions against advisors' dealings with people over 50 more than doubled in just one year.

In many cases, the victims made risky bets to rebuild portfolios ravaged by the 2007-08 financial crisis. This made baby boomers, which represent 25% of the U.S. population, "especially vulnerable to fraud." prosecutors told the Journal.

Variable annuities are among the vehicles most used to bilk boomers and seniors. Enforcement actions related to VAs more than tripled in 2010 over 2009.

Other common vehicles used by unscrupulous advisors are Ponzi schemes, self-directed IRAs and unregistered securities.

Enforcement actions associated with "free-lunch" seminars more than doubled and those with misuse of professional credentials nearly doubled between 2009 and 2010.

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