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Scammers target 'trusting' seniorsAug 23, 2012 (Chicago Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- If scams against seniors have anything in common it's that they're always changing, according to police officials. "A lot of the schemes are dynamic. They are constantly changing," said Hinsdale Deputy Police Chief Mark Wodka. The newest scheme involves gift cards, he said. Two residents were told they were won multi-million dollar prizes, but they needed to purchase gift cards and supply serial numbers to collect their fortune. One person lost $4,500. The other called police, which is what Wodka wants people to do. "There are many incidents we don't hear about because of embarrassment or because they think there is little law enforcement can do about it," Wodka said. If victims don't follow through with an investigation, arrests never would happen, said Cherie Aschenbrenner, crime prevention specialist and elderly service officer with the Elgin Police Department. "It's the most underreported crime there is because seniors don't want to tell," she said. "They don't want to follow through in court either." La Grange Police Chief Michael Holub said a 2011 ruse involved a person posing as a utility worker appearing on people's doorsteps and telling them that they were supposed to receive a refund for overpaying their bill. "It was a ruse to get inside their houses," said Holub. "What person doesn't think they've been overcharged for their utility bill " Aschenbrenner spends a lot of her time speaking with seniors describing common scams and giving warning signs. Many ruse schemes involve people posing as city or utility workers to try to get inside a home, she said. That was the idea behind a 2010 event with Elgin police and Central Kane County Triad featuring Kane County Sheriff Pat Perez and Elgin Police Chief Jeff Swoboda in a fashion show. They modeled uniforms for area police, code enforcement, utility workers and others who might come to a home. "The bad guys know that seniors don't like to bother police," she said. "They are embarrassed. They don't want their kids to find out. And, seniors are very afraid of retaliation." Most of all, seniors are trusting, Aschenbrenner said. That might be why a trick known to law enforcement as the granny scam is so common. Thieves call a senior citizen and pose as a grandchild in distress, asking them to wire money. Paul McCurtain, spokesman for St. Charles police said the department received two reports of the scam last year. In one case, an employee at Meijer stopped the senior from wiring money after recognizing the scam, he said. In Wheaton, some residents were defrauded out of hundreds of dollars in 2011, according to a police report. "Such scams are easily defeated if the prospective victim takes the time to do some research before acting on the claim," Wheaton Police Chief Mark Field. said via email. Elgin resident Kate Silver, 65, agrees. She came to the rescue of a fellow senior after overhearing a conversation at her bank. "She was sniffling and saying, 'my grandson has been in an accident and he's in jail and I have to wire him some money. I'm not supposed to tell his parents,'" Silver said. "The hair on the back of my neck rose up." Silver had recently attended an Elgin police seminar on the topic. "Every word she told this bank teller...was almost verbatim of (the police) description," she said. At first the woman didn't believe Silver, but eventually called her daughter and learned her grandson was not in jail. The incident was reported to police, and no money was wired. "The thing is, they got her that day. They'll get someone the next day and the day after that," Silver said. "The only way to stop them is to educate people." [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] ___ (c)2012 the Chicago Tribune Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |