Your Money Matters by Thomas Sottile, Esq.
Economic Downturn Has More Con Artists
Aiming At Elderly Targets
Deputy Chief Postal Inspector Teresa “Terry” Thome, a native of Lancaster County, PA, began her law enforcement career as a postal inspector in the Los Angeles Division where she specialized in mail fraud investigations.
Telemarketing scams, insurance, franchise and work-at-home schemes all crossed her desk and brought her into contact with thousands of victims, many of whom were older Americans.
“Over 40% of all fraud victims are 70 years of age or older,” said Inspector Thome, who presently heads Eastern Field Operations for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service from her Washington, D.C. office.
Among her other important responsibilities, Deputy Chief Thome is a member of the advisory counsel for the Research Center on the Prevention of Financial Fraud, which brings together academicians, business experts and crime-prevention professionals in an effort to counteract the multi-million-dollar fraud victimization of U.S. citizens.
What makes this task exceptionally challenging, opined Insp. Thome in a recent interview, is that not all fraud victims are the same; each sub-category of victim has its own set of weaknesses which are targeted by particular schemes.
Once the “right” ploy finds a party willing to take the bait, that person’s name becomes highly valuable property in the underworld of fraud operators who function nationally and from foreign countries which often are ambivalent when it comes to protecting Americans from swindles. The victims’ names, telephone numbers and any other personal data are compiled on lists which are worth tens of thousands of dollars to the criminals. The struggle to obtain and control these lists has sparked warfare among Jamaican gangs resulting in deaths, said Insp. Thome.
More importantly from the consumers’ perspective is that once the boiler rooms start working on the telephone numbers, the barrage of calls and mailings which follow make the recipients’ lives insufferable. Mainly through the use of the telephone, these criminals persuade, trick and badger their victims into wiring or mailing hard-saved dollars after worthless promises of lottery winnings and valuable prizes.
In the fight against these sharp tactics, Insp. Thome cites the National Telemarketing Victim Call Center (www.ntvcc.org; toll free: 888-990-1988) as a resource which increasingly has been successful over the years in blunting the long reach of unscrupulous telemarketers. The NTVCC joins with local, state and federal law enforcement in order to obtain copies of telephone and mailing lists and other victim information which have been seized from fraud suspects during the execution of search and arrest warrants. Then in a creative counter-measure, the NTVCC uses the seized data to operate a reverse boiler room: Senior volunteers, some of whom who have been victimized themselves, attempt to head off frauds in progress by calling names and telephone numbers taken from the criminals’ lists of easy marks.
Insp. Thome pointed out that NTVCC volunteers work one-on-one with vulnerable consumers; advising them based upon personal fraud experiences; assembling evidence about the false promises made; and counseling them about the lulling techniques used by con artists to avoid detection by law enforcement. They also assist victims in filing formal complaints and in seeking refunds of monies paid under false pretenses; especially when civil or criminal action against the perpetrators may result in court-ordered restitution. Many times if a volunteer caller can turn the scheme inside out and fully explain it to the potential victim, that person will have the strength of knowledge to hang up on the next hundred or so fraudulent telemarketers until the bad guys finally stop calling.
Melodye Kleinman is the Executive Director of NTVCC and a coordinator for the Fraud Fighters program which actively recruits volunteers to work in the organization’s call center in Los Angeles, CA. There the volunteers meet to receive training, support, an ordered-in free lunch, and regular updates from local fraud experts on the latest schemes. Those who join the program as volunteers become subject matter experts themselves, which is a great way to avoid becoming personally victimized.
Ms. Kleinman said in a recent conversation that at one time there were seven call centers located throughout the U.S., but limits in funding reduced the number to one. Nonetheless, the NTVCC reaches out across the country and asks citizens to be their “eyes and ears”; to gather information pertinent to fraudulent solicitations so that it may be entered into NTVCC and law enforcement data bases. This assists in tracking the fast moving operators who often use the same or similar mailings or telephone pitches; grabbing the money while opening new post office boxes and switching cell phones as they run to stay one step ahead of the law.
What are the current frauds which are most complained about by consumers? Ms. Kleinman articulates that work-at-home schemes involving out-sourced computer billing and other purported “office” work which can be done on a personal computer is one such scheme. Here the anxious job applicant believes that he or she has found employment which can be accomplished at home; however, the so-called employer seeks an advance payment to cover marketing or advertising costs, supplies, customer leads, etc. The fee may be nominal at first; $25 to $50. But then it escalates in an attempt to have the prospective employee pay hundreds of dollars for what ends up being a compilation of other dubious on-line “employers,” if anything. The bottom line is that there is no reason to send money to anyone who is offering you a job.
A second major current scheme, says Ms. Kleinman, also reflects a distressed part of the economy: timeshare resale fraud. Many older Americans are attempting to sell their timeshare interests because the annual maintenance costs, increasingly, have become too burdensome. Unfortunately, the market is flooded with individuals who want to unload their timeshares for this reason; some practically giving them away.
Then the telephone rings from a person who identifies themselves as a buyer or broker with a bonafied offer to purchase the owner’s timeshare at a fair market price. What they want is an upfront payment purportedly to cover the incidental costs of the transaction; or to show a good faith intention to sell. The caller may even promise to escrow the funds and name a bank. The monies are demanded in some irrevocable form such as certified funds, bank check or wire transfer, and in the amounts from $500 to over $10,000.
Ms. Kleinman stresses that her senior volunteers advise timeshare sellers who call with questions that there is no reason to send anyone money in advance for an offered sale or service. Also, a written contract must be provided beforehand under any circumstances — and the buyer/broker completely vetted. Additional information about the possible pitfalls of selling or renting timeshares may be found at the Florida Attorney General’s webpage (www.myfloridalegal.com/timeshares).
Regrettably, it is all too clear that economic downturns make Americans, especially seniors, more vulnerable to fraud. In this battle against crooked telemarketers and mail fraud artists, we can make a positive impact by not only connecting with the resources available to us to thwart their schemes, but also by assisting our family, friends and neighbors to do so as well. If everyone was able to accomplish this, a lot more money would stay in the savings accounts of those who earned it, instead of falling into the criminals’ hands.
*
Thomas Sottile is an attorney in Media, PA. He retired from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service after 23 years as an investigator and attorney.
Economic Downturn Has More Con Artists
Aiming At Elderly Targets
Deputy Chief Postal Inspector Teresa “Terry” Thome, a native of Lancaster County, PA, began her law enforcement career as a postal inspector in the Los Angeles Division where she specialized in mail fraud investigations.
Telemarketing scams, insurance, franchise and work-at-home schemes all crossed her desk and brought her into contact with thousands of victims, many of whom were older Americans.
“Over 40% of all fraud victims are 70 years of age or older,” said Inspector Thome, who presently heads Eastern Field Operations for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service from her Washington, D.C. office.
Among her other important responsibilities, Deputy Chief Thome is a member of the advisory counsel for the Research Center on the Prevention of Financial Fraud, which brings together academicians, business experts and crime-prevention professionals in an effort to counteract the multi-million-dollar fraud victimization of U.S. citizens.
What makes this task exceptionally challenging, opined Insp. Thome in a recent interview, is that not all fraud victims are the same; each sub-category of victim has its own set of weaknesses which are targeted by particular schemes.
Once the “right” ploy finds a party willing to take the bait, that person’s name becomes highly valuable property in the underworld of fraud operators who function nationally and from foreign countries which often are ambivalent when it comes to protecting Americans from swindles. The victims’ names, telephone numbers and any other personal data are compiled on lists which are worth tens of thousands of dollars to the criminals. The struggle to obtain and control these lists has sparked warfare among Jamaican gangs resulting in deaths, said Insp. Thome.
More importantly from the consumers’ perspective is that once the boiler rooms start working on the telephone numbers, the barrage of calls and mailings which follow make the recipients’ lives insufferable. Mainly through the use of the telephone, these criminals persuade, trick and badger their victims into wiring or mailing hard-saved dollars after worthless promises of lottery winnings and valuable prizes.
In the fight against these sharp tactics, Insp. Thome cites the National Telemarketing Victim Call Center (www.ntvcc.org; toll free: 888-990-1988) as a resource which increasingly has been successful over the years in blunting the long reach of unscrupulous telemarketers. The NTVCC joins with local, state and federal law enforcement in order to obtain copies of telephone and mailing lists and other victim information which have been seized from fraud suspects during the execution of search and arrest warrants. Then in a creative counter-measure, the NTVCC uses the seized data to operate a reverse boiler room: Senior volunteers, some of whom who have been victimized themselves, attempt to head off frauds in progress by calling names and telephone numbers taken from the criminals’ lists of easy marks.
Insp. Thome pointed out that NTVCC volunteers work one-on-one with vulnerable consumers; advising them based upon personal fraud experiences; assembling evidence about the false promises made; and counseling them about the lulling techniques used by con artists to avoid detection by law enforcement. They also assist victims in filing formal complaints and in seeking refunds of monies paid under false pretenses; especially when civil or criminal action against the perpetrators may result in court-ordered restitution. Many times if a volunteer caller can turn the scheme inside out and fully explain it to the potential victim, that person will have the strength of knowledge to hang up on the next hundred or so fraudulent telemarketers until the bad guys finally stop calling.
Melodye Kleinman is the Executive Director of NTVCC and a coordinator for the Fraud Fighters program which actively recruits volunteers to work in the organization’s call center in Los Angeles, CA. There the volunteers meet to receive training, support, an ordered-in free lunch, and regular updates from local fraud experts on the latest schemes. Those who join the program as volunteers become subject matter experts themselves, which is a great way to avoid becoming personally victimized.
Ms. Kleinman said in a recent conversation that at one time there were seven call centers located throughout the U.S., but limits in funding reduced the number to one. Nonetheless, the NTVCC reaches out across the country and asks citizens to be their “eyes and ears”; to gather information pertinent to fraudulent solicitations so that it may be entered into NTVCC and law enforcement data bases. This assists in tracking the fast moving operators who often use the same or similar mailings or telephone pitches; grabbing the money while opening new post office boxes and switching cell phones as they run to stay one step ahead of the law.
What are the current frauds which are most complained about by consumers? Ms. Kleinman articulates that work-at-home schemes involving out-sourced computer billing and other purported “office” work which can be done on a personal computer is one such scheme. Here the anxious job applicant believes that he or she has found employment which can be accomplished at home; however, the so-called employer seeks an advance payment to cover marketing or advertising costs, supplies, customer leads, etc. The fee may be nominal at first; $25 to $50. But then it escalates in an attempt to have the prospective employee pay hundreds of dollars for what ends up being a compilation of other dubious on-line “employers,” if anything. The bottom line is that there is no reason to send money to anyone who is offering you a job.
A second major current scheme, says Ms. Kleinman, also reflects a distressed part of the economy: timeshare resale fraud. Many older Americans are attempting to sell their timeshare interests because the annual maintenance costs, increasingly, have become too burdensome. Unfortunately, the market is flooded with individuals who want to unload their timeshares for this reason; some practically giving them away.
Then the telephone rings from a person who identifies themselves as a buyer or broker with a bonafied offer to purchase the owner’s timeshare at a fair market price. What they want is an upfront payment purportedly to cover the incidental costs of the transaction; or to show a good faith intention to sell. The caller may even promise to escrow the funds and name a bank. The monies are demanded in some irrevocable form such as certified funds, bank check or wire transfer, and in the amounts from $500 to over $10,000.
Ms. Kleinman stresses that her senior volunteers advise timeshare sellers who call with questions that there is no reason to send anyone money in advance for an offered sale or service. Also, a written contract must be provided beforehand under any circumstances — and the buyer/broker completely vetted. Additional information about the possible pitfalls of selling or renting timeshares may be found at the Florida Attorney General’s webpage (www.myfloridalegal.com/timeshares).
Regrettably, it is all too clear that economic downturns make Americans, especially seniors, more vulnerable to fraud. In this battle against crooked telemarketers and mail fraud artists, we can make a positive impact by not only connecting with the resources available to us to thwart their schemes, but also by assisting our family, friends and neighbors to do so as well. If everyone was able to accomplish this, a lot more money would stay in the savings accounts of those who earned it, instead of falling into the criminals’ hands.
*
Thomas Sottile is an attorney in Media, PA. He retired from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service after 23 years as an investigator and attorney.
