By Pat Culverhouse
Technology brings the world into the homes of practically every American. Unfortunately, along with entertainment, information and communication, that same technology brings in individuals and groups whose sole purpose is to separate unwitting people from their money.
Scams have become almost commonplace, and the methods are becoming more sophisticated as technology improves. By email, text message, phone calls and Facebook posts, every individual who owns a connective device is a potential target.
“Probably four or five times during a person’s lifetime, they will be the subject of an attempted scam of some sort,” said Det. Sgt. Jason Smith.
Smith, who heads the Minden Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division, investigates complaints of scams. His workload currently runs around 10 cases a month. And, it isn’t getting smaller.
While there are many different ways scammers operate, one of the more popular includes a fake situation that requires the target make a payment. And the popular method of payment is through the purchase of gift cards.
“No legitimate bank, government agency or corporation, whether it’s a one-man or a billion dollar business, is going to require payment by gift card,” Smith said. “Companies will not reach out via email or text to say there’s a problem.”
Investigations into these activities can lead to an identifiable IP address inside the borders of the U.S., but in far too many cases Smith finds the trail ending inside the borders of an across-the-world adversary.
“In one of our investigations, a person was told the only way to fix his problem was to forward eight thousand dollars in gift cards. Fortunately, he only sent two thousand. Our investigation ended in China. It almost always ends there,” Smith said.
Money from the United States eventually landing in that country through scams run by well-organized call centers probably runs into the hundreds of million dollars each year, Smith said.
“I would feel safe to say the citizens of Minden have sent to China about one hundred thousand dollars in the last 12 months,” he said. “And when we see stuff landing in China, it’s untraceable.”
Smith said he’s currently working a case involving fraudulent checks where account numbers and routing numbers appear legitimate. The check cashing scheme includes mobile deposits and is not easily detected.
“It’s about a 60/40 proposition that the bank will stop these checks and prevent loss of money to the person on the account,” he said. “About 99 percent of the time it’s outside the state and we won’t get our hands on them. We do have warrants for several persons in Dallas, in Florida and Oklahoma.”
Smith said another scam targets individuals who are looking for job opportunities, especially those that allow a person to work at home.
“One of our cases involves a man from the Baton Rouge area who bought a $2,300 gaming laptop and shipped it to a person in Minden who had responded to a work from home ad,” he said. “The local person thought they would be paid $2,000 a month plus a bonus for each unit they forwarded.”
Smith said the Baton Rouge man later found his Microsoft and PayPal accounts had been hacked, “…probably because he clicked on something he should not have.” Smith said the Minden individual, who thought the work was legitimate, will not receive a penny for the job.
“There is no such thing as easy money. It’s a scam to think you can sit home and make money,” he said.
If there’s a doubt about any email or text, Smith said those on the receiving end should not click to open. Should curiosity get the best of them and the message is opened, there’s another “don’t” to remember.
“Never click on any attachment,” he said. “That’s the beginning of a very bad experience. Doing so gives the sender access to accounts and critical information.”
Information should never be given over the phone, Smith said. And people receiving a phone call should pay attention to the voice on the other end of the line, especially of the caller has a heavy foreign accent.
No one is safe from a scam attempt, but there are demographics that seem to be more frequently targeted.
“Elderly persons and the disadvantaged are targeted more frequently,” Smith said. “Data breaches uncover personal information and that information gets picked up and sold to who knows how many. It seems the longer people live, the more information on them is available and it’s harvested.”
Smith has a message for individuals who believe they have been the target of a scam, or who have found themselves losing money through some type of scheme.
“Many people are too embarrassed to report they’ve been a target, especially the elderly,” he said. “Never feel that you can’t talk to us about it. Everyone needs to know if they have doubts, come up here or call. We’re here to help you. If we can make it to an end point, we can help with getting money back.”
