Given the demographics of our community, I can’t say I was surprised to hear that we’re a target audience for telephone scams.
We’re older.
We’re more financially well off.
We’re exactly what today’s tech-savvy bandits are looking for when they dial up the newest schemes to separate us from our money.
“If you’re a fisherman, you go to where the fish are at,” Indian River County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Eric Flowers said. “Likewise, if you’re a bad guy and looking for someone to scam, you go to places where there are people who have money and who tend to be more vulnerable.
“These guys recognize that our ZIP codes, especially on the island, are populated with a lot of elderly and wealthy people, and they target them,” he added. “So we do have a lot of phone scams.”
In fact, Flowers pointed to Federal Trade Commission statistics that show the Vero Beach/Sebastian metropolitan area annually ranks high in reported incidents of telephone scams, identity theft, credit card fraud and other illegal means of swindling unsuspecting victims.
Key word: reported.
“A lot of people who fall for these scams are often too embarrassed to tell anyone,” Flowers said. “Also, not everyone who gets solicited by a scammer reports it. We know about only the cases that get reported.”
Even those cases, though, have been enough to prompt local law enforcement agencies to take measures necessary to vigorously investigate such reports and, equally as important, educate residents about scams to protect them from becoming victims.
The Vero Beach Police Department website has a “Frauds and Scams” page that includes a “Senior Tips” section designed to help residents identify fraudulent pitches and avoid falling for them.
“It’s sometimes hard to tell if a sales pitch is legitimate or fraudulent,” the VBPD web page reads. “You can’ judge it by the tone of someone’s voice, or how friendly or sincere the person seems. Good salespeople are convincing, and so are crooks.”
The page then lists several scenarios that should make you skeptical:
— The caller claims you can make huge profits in an investment with no risk.
— The caller asks for a donation but won’t tell you exactly how the money will be used or how you can verify the charity and what it does.
— The caller asks for cash or insists that you send your payment by private courier or wire money.
— The caller asks for your social security number, credit card number, bank account number or other financial information.
— The caller continues to call relentlessly, even after you’ve asked to not be called.
The Sheriff’s Office, meanwhile, regularly updates its Facebook page with information about the latest scams reported to or uncovered by its Economic Crimes Unit, and asks that the posts be shared to help spread the word.
In addition, Flowers and Sheriff’s Office representatives jump at opportunities to discuss these scams when they speak to various civic groups and community organizations throughout the county.
“Education is our best tool, and this is one of the most popular topics when we do our talks,” Flowers said. “We’re trying to do more on the front side to prevent it.”
Still, the calls come, and too many well-meaning but naive folks get scammed, sometimes for thousands of dollars.
Most of the calls come from scammers based outside the United States. However, many of these con artists utilize today’s cell-phone technology to create phony caller-ID numbers to mask their actual phone numbers and locations.
“They can spoof a 772 number to make it look like a local call, or they can make it appear the call is coming from the IRS or even the Sheriff’s Office,” Flowers said. “You can’t trust the number that shows up on your caller ID.”
VBPD spokesman John Morrison said his department hasn’t gotten many reports of phone scams, and Indian River Shores acting police chief Mike Jacobs said, “We haven’t had too many people who’ve fallen victim to it.”
But, again, there’s no way to know how many residents have been duped but, because they felt foolish, chose to not to say anything. Nor do we know how many people have received such calls and didn’t report them to the police.
Some of these calls, though a nuisance, aren’t necessarily illegal.
“What’s really sad,” Flowers said, “is that we have elderly residents who take the calls because they’re lonely and have no one to talk to.”
One ruse Flowers said has become more widespread and specifically targets seniors is known as the “Grandparent Scam,” which involves sending money to scammers in Mexico.
According to Flowers, the caller is usually a young adult who pretends to be the target’s grandchild, claims that he or she is in jail in Mexico and asks the grandparent to send bail money, often as much as $5,000.
“They’ll call and say, ‘Grandma, it’s me,’ and keep saying it until Grandma asks, ‘Is that you, Johnny?’ Then, once they have the name, they’ll say, ‘Yes, it’s Johnny,’ and play it out from there,” Flowers explained. “Sometimes, the grandparent will have trouble hearing, or there’ll be a bad connection, but if the caller really sells it …
“It sounds too easy, but you’d be surprised how many people fall for it.”
The scams that involve money being sent outside the U.S. tend to be more successful — because it’s harder to track the criminals and the money, especially when the call originates from a bogus number.
“It’s so frustrating for us because we want to help these people, but it’s very difficult,” Flowers said. “If you wire money outside the country, it’s gone. It’s very unlikely you’ll ever get it back.
“Once the money has left the country, there’s just not much we can do. We end up chasing paper.”
Domestic and local scammers are more likely to be caught because of the cooperation between local and federal authorities, who have created national data banks and websites, such as FTC.gov and IC3.gov (Internet Crime Complaint Center). Also, it’s easier to follow – and recover – the money.
“Most of the local scams we see are the Craigslist types,” Flowers said. “Those guys get caught.”
The real damage, though, is done by scammers from outside the U.S. And the best way to avoid becoming their victim? Never give your money or personal information to anyone soliciting funds over the phone, no matter how much money they say you’re going to get in return.
If you get such a call, tell the caller you’re not interested and to not call again. If there’s a follow-up call, hang up and notify your local law enforcement agency.
“And if you do become a victim, please don’t be too embarrassed to call us,” Flowers said. “We’d rather have you report what happened so we can investigate and try to pursue the case.”
At the very least, local law enforcement can use the information to warn your neighbors.
Because we’re a target audience.
We’re exactly what today’s tech-savvy bandits are looking for when they dial up the newest schemes to separate us from our money.