|
![[Under Construction]](images2/undercon.gif)
| |
-
Scam of the Week: Grandma help me!
This week we will discuss an old scheme to part grandparents from their savings.
In the past month, Seniors vs Crime has received numerous complaints of this
scam coming back to life in Nassau and Duvall counties. The reason we are seeing
more of it now may be because students are going back to college after the
summer and the bad guys realize the families are temporarily separated from
their loved ones. Variations of this scheme may include calls from not only
pretend grandchildren but fake nieces, nephews or distant relatives that you had
not heard from in quite a while.
The telephone rings and a voice on the other end says something like "Hi Grandma
this is your favorite grandson". You respond with a " Billy, how are you doing
at school". Then the scammer spins his sad story about being arrested and
needing you to send him bail money since he, of course, does not want to tell
his parents about his misfortune. The caller asks to wire him money from Western
Union or another outside business, but not to use your bank. That is a huge red
flag telling you that the caller does not want the money transfer to be traced.
Your "Grandson" claims he will pay you back when he is out of jail and can get
to the bank.
The trick to avoid being taken in by the caller is to engage him in conversation
about his family. Usually he will know a little information about your relatives
but not many details. Ask him how his sister Jane is doing, knowing full well
his sister's name is Martha. If he plays along with your fabrication you know he
is making up a story. Ask other questions about his family and when he has to
dodge the question or give you false information, he will realize you are on to
him and hang up the phone.
One of our senior sleuths recently received a call from someone claiming to be
his nephew who lived in Norway (he did have a nephew that lived in Norway). The
nephew needed money and asked his uncle if he would wire him $2000. Thinking he
may be about to be taken, the uncle asked how his nephew's wife was doing using
a phony name for her. When the caller did not acknowledge or correct the wrong
name, the "uncle" hung up the phone and the scam was averted.
If you receive a phone call from a person claiming to be a relative needing
money, be suspicious and ask enough questions so that you can assure the
identity of the family member. We want you to keep your money in your bank
account, not in some pretend relative's account.
- Scam of the Week: Unscrupulous Locksmith
This summer there have been three cases our Seniors vs Crime office have
documented involving one locksmith from the Jacksonville area overcharging for
services provided to senior citizens here in Fernandina. In one of these
instances, when the locksmith arrived he scared the homeowner by saying that her
old locks were unsafe. He left the home with the work unfinished but still
charged her $350. By not completing the work, the home was left less safe than
it was before the new locks were installed. In another case, an elderly lady was
charged almost $600 for the installation of two dead bolts and re-keying five
locks. A local Fernandina Beach locksmith said he would have charged less than
$100 to do the same job.
There are a number of things you can do to protect yourself from being scammed
by this type of company:
1. Ask your neighbor for the name of a reliable company that
they have done business with prior to calling information or
choosing the locksmith with the biggest ad in the yellow pages.
2. When searching for a company, do not pick the first name that
the telephone operator gives you or that you see listed in the
yellow pages. Some companies will give themselves a name
starting with the first letter(s) of the alphabet so they will
be selected first.
3. Check with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) at (904) 721-2288
to see if the company is accredited and their rating. The
locksmith involved in these three cases has an F rating, is not
BBB accredited and has 37 complaints lodged against him. Twelve
of those complaints were never responded to. If you do get
scammed by a company, you can make a complaint to the BBB at
their website: www.bbb.nefla.org
4. Consider hiring a company that is in a location such as
Fernandina Beach that requires a business license. There is no
such requirement for companies headquartered outside of the city
that do work within Fernandina Beach to be licensed with the
city. A company that claims in their ads that they are local may
turn out to be from out of town. Ask the company if they are
licensed locally and then confirm it with the City at (904)
277-7325.
5. Get an estimate of the cost of the work you want done before
the work starts. If the price seems too high, contact another
locksmith. Once the work is underway, try not to change or add
new work. That will give the company an excuse to add to your
bill and they may even suggest changes as the work progresses.
6. Do not sign the bottom of the invoice if it contains language
in small print stating such things as "...I absolve locksmith of
all claims arising from performance of the work.." or "...
charges are not subject to dispute..." or "...I'm satisfied and
have no complaint...". Just seeing this language (you may need a
magnifying glass to read it) should alert you to the fact that
this company will not stand behind its work.
7. Finally, do not pay the bill in cash or with a check. Pay
with a credit not a debit card. Charges for faulty work can be
disputed with your credit card company. A debit card takes money
directly out of your account and is much harder to dispute with
your bank if there is a problem with the billing or the work.
- Scam of the Week: Mystery Shopper
The scam Seniors vs Crime reported on last week involved a
locksmith company. They overcharged seniors and in one case,
left the home without completing the work. This week we will
discuss an ongoing scam that unlike the locksmith, just takes
your money and provides no service whatsoever.
The Police Report next to last week’ article on scams included a
report of a Fernandina Beach man who lost almost $2000. He had
been hired as a secret shopper to rate different businesses on
their customer service. Seniors vs Crime investigated two other
local cases of this same type of scheme to part you from your
hard earned money. Fortunately, the senior citizens that
contacted us when they suspected they were being scammed did not
follow through on their first company assignment.
The way this scam works is that you receive delete word. either
is with two items not three. a letter, email or phone call from
a phony consumer research company. They offer you a part-time
job making money as a customer service evaluator. If you show
interest in becoming one of their secret shoppers, the company
sends you an official looking bank, credit union or U.S. Postal
Service check totaling $1000-2000. You are asked to deposit the
check in your bank account and then proceed with your shopping
assignments. Your bank will normally accept the check but take a
week before notifying you it is no good.
After depositing the check, your first assignment is to go to a
Western Union or Walmart near you and wire most of the money
(from their bad check) to an unknown person. Their supposed
reason for this assignment is so you can rate the business on
their efficiency and professionalism in wiring money. Next they
instruct you to take $100-200 and go shopping at a couple of
large retail stores to evaluate the efficiency and quality of
the service you receive. You are allowed to keep your purchases
and also promised $200-300 for your evaluations.
If you make the mistake of starting your first assignment,
wiring money off to a stranger before the check clears your
bank, you have been scammed. You have used your own money and
the check you thought was good was worthless. If you only had
called the banking institution named on the check before
attempting to deposit it, they would have told you the check is
fraudulent. Both banks Seniors vs Crime called told us the
checks were excellent imitations but not theirs.
In summary, this scam may appear to be an honest way for you to
work part time and make some easy money. However, no legitimate
consumer research company is going to send you a check worth
thousands of dollars before you provide any service for them.
Just remember, if a proposition sounds too good to be true, it
probably is and you will find yourself on the short end of the
deal.
-
Scam of the Week: Grandma help me!
This week we will discuss an old scheme to part grandparents
from their savings. In the past month, Seniors vs Crime has
received numerous complaints of this scam coming back to life in
Nassau and Duvall counties. The reason we are seeing more of it
now may be because students are going back to college after the
summer and the bad guys realize the families are temporarily
separated from their loved ones. Variations of this scheme may
include calls from not only pretend grandchildren but
fake
nieces, nephews or distant relatives that you had not heard from
in quite a while.
The
telephone rings and a voice on the other end says something like
"Hi Grandma this is your favorite grandson".
You respond with a " Billy, how are you doing at school". Then
the scammer spins his sad story about being arrested and needing
you to send him bail money since he, of course, does not want to
tell his parents about his misfortune. The caller asks to wire
him money from Western Union or another outside business, but
not to use your bank. That is a huge red flag telling you that
the caller does not want the money transfer to be traced. Your
"Grandson" claims he will pay you back when he is out of jail
and can get to the bank.
The
trick to avoid being taken in by the caller is to engage him in
conversation about his family. Usually he will know a little
information about your relatives but not many details. Ask him
how his sister Jane is doing, knowing full well his sister's
name is Martha. If he plays along with your fabrication you know
he is making up a story. Ask other questions about his family
and when he has to dodge the question or give you false
information, he will realize you are on to him and hang up the
phone.
One
of our senior sleuths recently received a call from someone
claiming to be his nephew who lived in Norway (he did have a
nephew that lived in Norway). The nephew needed money and asked
his uncle if he would wire him $2000. Thinking he may be about
to be taken, the uncle asked how his nephew's wife was doing
using a phony name for her. When the caller did not acknowledge
or correct the wrong name, the "uncle" hung up the phone and the
scam was averted.
If
you receive a phone call from a person claiming to be a relative
needing money, be suspicious and ask enough questions so that
you can assure the identity of the family member. We want you to
keep your money in your bank account, not in some pretend
relative's account.
|
