Overseas Scam Artists Target Local Elderly

Location: State of Delaware
Date of Occurrence: Ongoing
Suspect(s): To be determined

Resume: On Tuesday of this week, a Troop 1 patrol officer was dispatched to the WSFS bank on Marsh Road for a fraud report.

In this case, an 84-year-old female victim advised she had received a post card in the mail (unknown exactly when, but several months ago) for which she could fill out and send back to be enrolled in a sweepstakes. She put her information on this card and put it in the mail.

The victim was then called in July. During this call, the subject on the phone told the victim she had won a $2.4 million dollar sweepstakes. At first, the victim did not believe she had won and hung up. The alleged sweepstakes company then started to call the victim on a regular basis until she finally fell for the scam.

In order to speed up the winnings the victim was advised that she would be sent several checks in the mail. She was then advised to deposit the money in her bank account and in turn wire a portion of the funds to a bank account in Jamaica for tax purposes.

Within several days, the victim received three checks totaling $10,500.00. She did as she was told and ultimately wired over $1,000.00 to the Jamaica account. An alert WSFS bank employee smelled crime afoot and worked to freeze the funds and contacted the police. The checks were also proven to be fraudulent.

This investigation is ongoing.

Unfortunately, this type of crime is all too common and the elderly population seems to be targeted the most. Why? Well, many senior citizens are on fixed incomes. What law enforcement officials have found is that with the rising costs in health care, and other monetary factors, the idea of receiving extra income seems all too tempting for these proposed victims and some fall for this trickery. The fact is that these scam artists know this all too well.

The best way to combat this type of crime when it occurs is to inform the public, and not just the targeted victims. Caregivers and financial institutions alike need to be aware of these types of crimes and work to help those who need looking out for.

Don’t Be a Fraud Victim Tips and Ideas

Should someone solicit you, never give them your social security number.
Keep your banking information to yourself. Under no circumstance, give anyone your banking information including account numbers or routing information
Beware of scammers; the IRS rarely calls citizens on the phone. They usually correspond via the mail.

If you receive a letter asking for your personal information, be wary. If there is a service you want, seek out the service yourself by contacting the Better Business Bureau or by looking in the phone book.

It’s America; you will never receive something for nothing. Avoid believing in a promise of money from unknown sources.

Don’t be embarrassed. If you were scammed, report it and share your experience with others.