VISTA -- Affinity fraud. It's a common type of investment fraud, say state and local officials, and it's growing. And it may have been used to snare the savings of scores of North County Latinos.

Simply put, affinity fraud happens when one or more individuals take advantage of the trust of fellow members of religious organizations or other groups to benefit themselves.

While it has not officially been labeled as such, the investment scheme that led to the arrests Thursday of five members of a Vista faith-based group who failed to fulfill promises to build homes in exchange for small investments fits the definition.

The four men and one woman, all either directly or indirectly associated with First Latino Group LLC, have been charged with conspiracy to commit grand theft, conspiracy to sell real property without a final report issued by the California Department of Real Estate, conspiracy to commit theft by false pretense, conspiracy to commit forgery, and conspiracy to record false or fraudulent documents.

Robert Madruga, a San Diego County deputy district attorney in charge of real estate crimes, said Friday that while he could not comment directly on the allegations in the First Latino case, "people can make their own connection between the facts and theory."

The San Diego County district attorney's office said that those arrested had solicited members of North County Latino churches to invest in the home-buying program. The state Department of Corporations has said the number of fraud cases targeting members of churches, ethnic groups of trade associations is increasing.

Rolando Montez, 49, of Vista, founded First Latino in 2002, and he and four others with ties to the company are scheduled to be arraigned on five felony counts each at 2 p.m. Monday in San Diego Superior Court.

The others charged are: Terry Samples, 45, of Fullerton, who was described by his attorney as the controller for First Latino; Franklin Ontiveros, 41, of Oceanside, who is listed on a First Latino brochure as a staff member under the headings "office and administration," "insurance group" and "public relations"; Johnnie Mae Johnson, 55, of Vista, who served on the First Latino board of directors; and Jacob Miller, 73, of Vista, who operates Select Realty in Vista and is alleged to have conspired with Montez to forge an investor's signature that resulted in the illegal sale of property, prosecutors said in a news release.

Each was being held in the Vista jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. None had bailed out as of Friday evening.

A North County Times articles in August reported that several investors, a former business consultant and attorneys said the organization collected at least $1.2 million from more than 100 North County Latinos. Shortly after the newspaper's first story was published, state and local authorities launched investigations into the group.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said Thursday that First Latino received more than $1.3 million from investors as defendants promised low-cost home loans, credit repair, mortgage elimination and fraudulent real estate investment opportunities to about 118 victims.

Several investors interviewed by the newspaper before the investigations said they learned about the program through meetings conducted at a Vista church where Montez's late brother was the pastor.

A Vista attorney who sued First Latino this year on behalf of two investors said his clients initially were quite comfortable with what they heard about the investment plan.

"In my two cases, both involved situations in which the initial contact was made through church and people felt safe as result of that," said attorney Cary Cotton. "The people felt they would not be cheated because the contacts came through the church. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case."

Cotton settled one suit and the other is pending.

Susie Wong, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corporations in Sacramento, said Friday that if First Latino targeted members of a congregation, it would fall within the definition of affinity fraud. Wong added that the three cases of affinity fraud the agency has encountered this year included one in San Diego unrelated to First Latino.

The agency warned investors to be skeptical when presented with "guaranteed" returns or "risk-free" investments.

The district attorney's office offered consumers some advice.

"You want to make decisions based on the facts of the investment, not because you trust the person trying to sell it to you," Tricia Pummill, a deputy district attorney in the office's consumer protection division, said earlier this year.

In many cases of investment fraud, the organizers are prosecuted for grand theft, Pummill said.

Anthony Samson, a deputy district attorney for economic crimes, said back in August that those who perpetuate such schemes focus on specific groups such as religious, ethnic or trade organizations.

"The scams have been around as long as I have, and they will continue to be because they are very attractive," Samson said. "If it is too good to be true, it is."

Samson said he is certain that many instances of fraud go unnoticed because people are embarrassed about losing their money and are reluctant to report what happened to them.

Christian Ramirez, director of American Friends Service Committee, a human rights group with an office in San Diego, said Latino victims of such scams are often simply unaware of their rights as consumers.

"For the most part, the Latino community tends to not seek justice through the courts because people don't have knowledge about how the process is implemented," Ramirez said before investigations began in the First Latino case.

Anyone with questions about an investment program can call the California Department of Corporations at (866) 275-2677 or the district attorney's office at (619) 531-4070.