Radnor Police Hold Seminar on Fraud For Seniors

We all receive them. Those wild exaggerated claims that we somehow won a million dollars in some lottery and we need to pay for the money to be transported back to our homes. Or the telemarketer that wants to sell you something that doesn’t exist, asking for your contact information and bank account number.

The shame of it is that senior citizens sometimes fall prey to these scams. police chief William Colarulo wants to do something about it, and on Wednesday morning at the Radnor Township Building, detective Shawn Dietrich and detective sergeant Andrew Block ran a seminar for seniors on fraud and scams.

Block and Dietrich advised the seniors in attendance: when in doubt hang up the phone on telemarketers and never let a door-to-door solicitor in the home.

Radnor is trying to promote awareness to their seniors for scams and fraud that are reaching epidemic proportions.

“We are seeing an increase in crimes with senior citizens and it is almost reaching epidemic proportions through phone marketers and door-to-door solicitors,” Block said. “We’re also seeing more seniors getting emergency phone calls. That’s a big thing. A senior citizen will get a call from someone disguising their voice and crying, saying that they’re their grandchild and in trouble in Europe or some foreign country, and they need money wired to them.

“We’re talking several thousands of dollars. And you know a grandparent is going to go to great extremes to save a grandchild. These scam artists are that detailed that they can find out grandchildren’s names. They can get information like that. Once that money is wired, that’s it, they can’t get it back. With information out there the way it is today, scam artists target seniors and they feel they’re easy targets. When in doubt, we always suggest they call 9-1-1. We’re getting one to two calls a day now about this.”

Scam artists and marketers build their targets by purchasing phone lists and mailing lists. They prey on the trust of the Baby Boomer generation.

“Unfortunately, that’s very frustrating,” said Dietrich, who organized the powerpoint presentation on frauds and scams to the gathered seniors. “These guys are anyone who is trying to make a quick buck, and it is a shame. These scam artists come looking professional, they want to be your friend, they want to gain your trust. And their aim is the older generation, and we’re trying to educate the seniors out there not to trust everyone that comes up to your door. We want seniors to call police if something doesn’t seem right.”

Some of the points that Block and Dietrich stressed:

1.) Beware of cash-only businesses. Driveway sealers may approach a senior and tell them they have access material and offer to repave a driveway for cash only. It’s one of the scams that have gone on in Radnor.

2.) No secrets. A telltale sign of trouble is be when a salesman approaches a senior citizen and tells them not to say anything to a child or a grandchild, that this deal “Is between us.”

3.) If it sounds too-good-to-be-true, it is. Don’t believe exaggerations.

4.) Beware of contests and sweepstakes. You can win a $3-million sweepstakes over the phone, over the internet or in the mail, and it comes with the caveat of sending money to “release” that money. Don’t trust it, it isn’t true.

5.) Always get three estimates when getting work done to the house.

6.) Never let a door-to-door solicitor in the home

7.) Beware of telemarketers. They try to keep you on the phone using high-pressure tactics to elicit personal information, like a home address, a bank account number. Block and Dietrich stated the solution is simple: Hang up the phone.

8.) Don’t fill sweepstakes information. Much of the time that information is placed into an information bank and could be sold to scam artists.

9.) If you have some doubts whether or not someone is legitimate or not, ask for things in writing, get it checked out first.

10.) Never give personal information unnecessarily.