On behalf of Eastport's Age Friendly Action Committee, committee chair Mary Repole, Eastport Police Chief Mike Donahe and Eastport City Manager Elaine Abbott presented a program at Shead High School on July 18 designed to alert people about scams and frauds and to suggest methods to protect oneself from becoming a victim. Abbott, who attended an AARP Fraud Watch Network workshop earlier this year in Brewer, offered a video presentation and summation from that event.
     "Every two seconds someone in the United States falls prey to fraud," Abbott warned. One of the scammer's favorite tools, Abbott explained, is the telephone. A computer, often showing up as a local number on caller IDs, dials through lists of phone numbers. As soon as a person answers, the scammer goes to work. The initial line of attack is to "make friends" with the intended victim, asking questions about a person's children and grandchildren. The answers to these questions help the scammer to determine a person's emotional triggers. The goal is to get the victim in a heightened emotional state. One scammer brags, "The big trick is to get them under the ether."
     If a scammer is unable to befriend a target, insults, "Are you stupid? Do you want your family to suffer?" and direct threats, "I am going to burn down your house," are the next lines of attack. A scammer admits, "Once I have someone, I never let them go."
     Other psychological tactics scammers employ include scarcity -- "There are only a limited number of these rare gold coins available"; source credibility -- "I am calling from the IRS"; and the promise of phantom riches -- "You have won a lottery."
     "When a person is swayed by one or more of these tactics, logic shuts down," Abbott said.
A Maine woman, whose logic shut down, lost her life savings to the "Jamaican lottery." A caller informed the woman that she was a $1 million winner. But there was one stipulation. Before the money could be released, the woman was required to pay the taxes on her winnings. Excited that she would be able to "set up" her loved ones, the woman immediately wired thousands of dollars to cover the taxes. Only after sending the money did it occur to her she never entered a "Jamaican lottery."
     One Eastport women attending the presentation recently got a lottery winning phone call. Knowing she had not entered any lotteries, the woman challenged the caller. "Walmart automatically entered your name," the caller explained. The woman wisely hung up the phone.
Top scam schemes include identity theft, phony and deceptive banking and lending, and debt collection by imposters. Identity theft occurs when personal information is stolen and used to open bank accounts, acquire credit cards, secure loans, establish utility service and even get a home mortgage. Personal information includes address and phone number, Social Security number, bank account numbers and Internet usernames and passwords.
     The primary phony banking schemes are check scams. A person receives a check from someone he does not know with instructions to keep a small portion of the money and wire the rest back. The letter may explain that the sender is out of the country and unable to process the check himself. The check or money order looks authentic, at times fooling busy bank tellers. When the check bounces, the victim owes the bank any money he withdrew. The National Consumer League emphasizes, "There is no legitimate reason for someone who is giving you money to ask you to wire money back -- that's a clear sign it is a scam." The sign was clear to a First National Bank teller when a local woman appeared with a $4,000 check, said she was to keep $400 and send $3,600 back. Branch manager Tari Camick grimaced, "One of the most difficult tasks bank staff confront is convincing a person in a heightened emotional state that the $4,000 check she wants to deposit is not legitimate or that the IRS is not going to take her to prison if she does not take a loan to send them money immediately."          
     Donahe related a personal experience with phony debt collection. Earlier in the day he received a call informing him he owed the IRS $4,000 and there was a federal warrant out for his arrest. The scammer was not aware Donahe is Eastport's police chief.
     The Eastport Police Department itself was the center of a recent "charity scam." A local resident received a letter from the department asking for a much needed donation. She brought the letter to city hall to inquire if Abbott had any information about the department's financial woes. Abbott, not aware of any police fundraising campaign, investigated the address on the return envelope and discovered it was located in New York.
     "Skimming" is a scam that is of particular concern for travelers. A scammer with an iPad or similar device simply passes by a person in an airport, mall or other public place and captures all the personal information stored in the chips on a person's credit cards. The scammer then imprints cards with his name and the stolen account information. Returning from a trip to Freeport, Abbott discovered her personal and Eastport city credit cards had been skimmed. She sorted out the problem and now carries her credit cards in protective sleeves that block skimming devices. Wallets and passport covers are available to protect chip-embedded personal information. Wrapping credit cards in aluminum foil also provides protection from skimmers.
     Installing phony card slots on ATMs and gas pumps is another technique scammers have devised to steal personal information from credit and debit cards. A scammer places a well‑disguised device over the credit card slot and later returns to retrieve the device, now containing personal information from slot users. Eastport banks regularly check to assure no one has tampered with their ATMs. But Camick warns, "Nothing is safe. Always check to see if you can pull anything off the ATM machine."
     When "nothing is safe," what steps must a person take to protect themselves?
All scammers agree that their victims share common traits. "They are easily excitable, don't consider it is a scam, don't ask questions and don't read information." When targeted by telephone, it is recommended a person takes a step back to calm down, does not get into a heightened emotional state, does not let the caller control them, asks more questions than they answer, and has a refusal script prepared for unwanted callers.
     Abbott assured program attendees that "the IRS and Medicare are never going to call you on the telephone." A bank, if transactions are suspicious, may contact a customer by phone and ask them to come to the bank in person. Camick explained, "The First fraud department has an 800 number that will appear on a caller ID. This call is safe to answer." First National Bank's April Theriault added, "The thing to do if you have any questions is to come into the bank in person."
     "The best way to avoid problems is to keep personal information away from people with criminal intent," advises Abbott. Steps to protect your information include never giving out personal information in texts, emails or over the phone, storing PINs and passwords in a safe place, and not disclosing PINs to anyone for any reason. Because scammers also acquire personal information by stealing mail or retrieving mail from trash, removing mail promptly from the mailbox and shredding mail are recommended. For those without a shredder, Eastport holds an annual shredding event.
     Monitoring mail and bank statements is essential. If bills do not arrive as expected, investigate whether mail is being stolen. "Online banking and electronic payments can minimize risk of personal information being transferred by paper mail," suggests Camick.
     Suspicious charges on bank statements often indicate troubles. A scammer might run a test charge for a $2.50 cup of coffee. When the victim does not notice the small charge, the scammer begins to charge more expensive items. Donahe described a useful app bank customers can download that sends a mobile alert notification each time a credit card is used.
For identity theft or unwanted access to credit reports, a credit freeze allows a person to restrict access to their credit report, making it more difficult for identity thieves to open accounts and access credit in a stolen name. More information about credit freezes is available at <consumer.ftc.gov>.
     Signing up for the Do Not Call Registry at <donotcall.gov> or 888‑382‑1222 will reduce scam phone callers but not eliminate them. Abbott was visiting with a 95-year-old Eastport woman when the woman received a phone call from her "grandson" in Florida. He had a car wreck, he was hurt and he needed money wired immediately. Fortunately, Abbott and the woman knew the grandson was safely down the road in Eastport. "No matter how urgent a situation appears, never wire money in response to a phone call," Abbott counseled.
     In the coming weeks, the committee will be offering the Fraud Watch Network presentation at Eastport's Senior Center.