Warren County, Town senior citizens victimized by scammers

Fraudsters often see senior citizens as an easy mark and someone they may be able to scam. With American senior citizens losing over $3 billion, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), crimes surrounding scammers affect every community.

In fact, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) notified the public on Saturday, July 30, that someone claiming to work for that office and calling himself “Deputy Moore” had placed a call to a resident of an adjacent county, stating that the person needed to pay him money to avoid a warrant being issued.

A media release from the WCSO stated, “This is a scam. If someone contacts you stating they work for this office and request or demands money, please hang up and contact the Sheriff’s office at 540-635-4128. Deputies from this office will not contact you regarding a payment due this office.”

In Warren County last year, according to Major Jeff Driskill, there were 83 reported incidences of fraud. Six were reported by business entities, and the remaining 77 were reported by individuals. He said that an additional four incidences were logged but weren’t included in the total because a complainant’s age was not reported or “were not prevalent to the incident type.”

Of those cases, 19 involved fraud-identity theft, 43 were related to fraud other than identity theft, 19 involved phone, internet, or email scams, one involved a paving scam, and one related to mail fraud.

Driskill said that 47 (nearly 57 percent) of the 83 incidents involved people over the age of 50. Just six of the reported fraud incidents involved a business, nonprofit, or government agency.

In Front Royal, there has been a flurry of activity involving scammers, according to Front Royal Police Department (FRPD) Captain Crystal Cline. Notable cases in the last eight weeks include a case where a Front Royal woman received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the U.S. Border Patrol. The caller told her that someone had set up several addresses in her name and then sent money and/or drugs through the mail to her at those addresses.

The scammer told the woman that there was a warrant for her arrest and that she could hire an attorney, fly to Texas and fight the warrant, or she could put money in an account that would be used by an attorney to fight the warrant on her behalf.

The person asked her how much she had in the bank; she replied that she had $900. The caller then advised her to download a tracking app on her phone and withdraw all the money. Once she completed the withdrawal, she was advised to go to a bitcoin machine, convert the money into bitcoin, and send it to the caller. After she did that, the person told her to max all her credit cards and send more money.

In a late June case, a victim received a call from someone claiming to be from Security Services Credit Union. The woman was told that there was a pre-approved purchase on account through Amazon for $1,500. During the phone call, the victim allowed the caller access to her computer. The caller said he would connect her to an Amazon representative who would cancel the purchase.

Cline said that while on the call with the two subjects, the victim was told there were other purchases, and she would need to get pre-paid credit cards to take money out of her bank account to stop the “scammers.” The callers then said they needed the pre-paid card information so they could put the money in a new account for her. The victim told police she spent $7,500 to buy 15 pre-paid credit cards, then gave the information to the callers.

The FRPD reports that two notable cases occurred in July, including a woman receiving a telephone call that her daughter was in police custody in Hanover County, and she needed to pay $16,000 before police would release her. Because the call appeared to have come from a Hanover County 911 call center, the victim did not question the veracity of the caller’s claim. She sent $15,450 in cash, by UBER, to an unknown person at an unknown address in Richmond. The victim subsequently learned that her daughter had not been arrested.

In mid-July, a Front Royal woman was using her personal computer when a message came across the screen that the computer had been infected with a virus, and she should call the number displayed to get help with debugging her computer.

Upon calling the number, a man identified himself as being with Microsoft and told the victim that all her personal information had been stolen and that her bank account was also compromised. The scammer told her to go to her bank and withdraw all her money. She was also told not to use her phone or any device that could connect to the internet to prevent further loss.

The victim went to her bank and withdrew $15,000, after which she purchased gift cards at the scammer’s urging. She was instructed by the scammer to provide the gift card redemption codes so the caller could deposit the funds into a special account to protect her money from theft.

Both Major Driskill and Captain Cline say that citizens should be wary of anyone calling who claims a matter must be attended to immediately, especially when told to pay with an unusual payment method. Pre-loaded debit cards, gift cards, and virtual currency such as Bitcoin are usually not legitimate forms of payment for monies owed.

Anyone receiving a phone call from someone claiming to be from the person’s bank or calling on behalf of a friend or relative who is allegedly “in trouble”, should resist the urge to act immediately. Scammers will try to pressure their intended victim by claiming time is of the essence. Cline says potential victims can talk to someone they trust, such as a family member, an employee at their financial institution, or a financial advisor, for example.

Driskill state that people over age 5o are “disproportionately targeted as victims of scams and frauds as compared to other age groups.”

Both the WCSO and the FRPD encourage anyone who has been contacted by an unsolicited caller stating that money is needed immediately should hang up and call authorities.