Call it an unfortunate sign of the times that the Erie County DA’s Office’s White Collar Crimes Bureau is seeing an increase in incidents where senior citizens are preyed upon by professional scammers and are asked to give up money or other vital information such as social security or credit card numbers.
The premise is that a grandchild or some other family member has been arrested or is in trouble and needs bail-out money. Sometimes the caller alleges they are from the IRS or a financial institution and looking for immediate payments.
It’s not just an Erie County or Western New York thing, it is happening with more frequency around the country.
Erie County DA Michael Keane says that information or money transfers should never take place because of a phone call.
“They’ll pretend like they’re a grandson and say Grandma I’ve been arrested please help me, that kind of thing,” Keane said. “The thing we try to point out to the senior citizen population is that no legitimate person is ever going to ask for your social security number or bank information over the phone.”
Keane said he routinely sends his staff to area senior centers to explain and warn about these types of nefarious calls. The number of these incidents continues to rise as scammers use more complex methods including the use of computers and social media outlets.
And, for Keane, he recognizes these incidents aren’t just about money. They can have a lasting psychological impact on the victims.
“It goes back to the urgency; they’re basically telling people that if they don’t act now that something bad is going to happen to you for your grandson, that kind of thing puts them in an emotional state and then they panic, and they make a decision that they wouldn’t if they were to just take a minute to talk to someone that they trust,” Keane said.
Keane’s advice: Never ever give out any vital information over the phone, no matter how legitimate the caller may sound.
Be smart. You can always hang up on the caller.
