News
Seniors fall victim to telephone scam
By Jaime Richardson
Imagine getting a phone call late at night from a person claiming to be your relative. He’s in trouble and needs you to loan him money, and you oblige because, well, isn’t that what family is for?
This is the setup for an especially violating and dangerous senior scam that recently affected residents of Green Valley.
“It’s an old scam that has unfortunately been going on for a long time. But in the past three months, we’ve really seen it take off,” said Said Sgt. David Valencia of the Pima County Sheriff’s Office in Green Valley, who says they’ve been receiving three or four reports of this nature per month.
In one incident Tuesday, a Green Valley resident, whose identity is not been revealed by the Green Valley News because of the sensitive nature of the crime, allegedly received a call at 9:30 p.m. from a man who immediately said, “Guess who?”
The resident started naming potential relatives who might match the young male voice on the line. When she said the name of her nephew, he said she’d guessed right. She doesn’t speak with this relative frequently, so it was plausible to her that she didn’t immediately recognize his voice.
When the man said he forgot his credit card and asked to borrow $1,400, she began to second guess herself, but she says that because she was so tired, she wasn’t thinking as clearly as she should have been. She and her husband drove to the parking lot of Desert Diamond Casino on Interstate 19 to meet the “nephew,” who said he’d sent his new girlfriend to meet them. The parties met and spoke, and the victim handed over the money. The woman was friendly and even gave the victim a hug.
But the victim says she was uneasy from the start, only to have her suspicions confirmed when she returned home and called her sister, who reported that the nephew hadn’t flown to Arizona on a business trip after all.
“I feel so stupid,” said the 78-year-old woman. “I can’t believe that I could do something so stupid.”
But Valencia says that the scam is easier to fall victim to than one would imagine.
“For every victim who files a report, there are 14 who haven’t reported it, probably because they’re too embarrassed,” Valencia said.
“Seniors seem like easy targets because they’re more trusting, and maybe not aware that incidents like this are happening.
“Green Valley residents are especially vulnerable to this scam because people here are transplanted from all over the country and may not have any family nearby.”
Scammers are aware that Green Valley is an affluent community, he says, and may be dialing random numbers from a local phone book.
To protect yourself, seniors should trust their gut instincts and hang up the phone if the person sounds suspicious. If the caller doesn’t know your name, or doesn’t reveal their own name right away, those should be immediate red flags, he says.
“The things he was saying hit the wrong nerve, but I went ahead anyway. This never would have happened if I had just taken two seconds to think logically about what was going on,” said the victim.
“I don’t understand the world today. I would never do anything to hurt anyone like this.”
jrichardson@gvnews.com | 547-9726
Comment on this story online at www.gvnews.com.
This is the setup for an especially violating and dangerous senior scam that recently affected residents of Green Valley.
“It’s an old scam that has unfortunately been going on for a long time. But in the past three months, we’ve really seen it take off,” said Said Sgt. David Valencia of the Pima County Sheriff’s Office in Green Valley, who says they’ve been receiving three or four reports of this nature per month.
In one incident Tuesday, a Green Valley resident, whose identity is not been revealed by the Green Valley News because of the sensitive nature of the crime, allegedly received a call at 9:30 p.m. from a man who immediately said, “Guess who?”
The resident started naming potential relatives who might match the young male voice on the line. When she said the name of her nephew, he said she’d guessed right. She doesn’t speak with this relative frequently, so it was plausible to her that she didn’t immediately recognize his voice.
When the man said he forgot his credit card and asked to borrow $1,400, she began to second guess herself, but she says that because she was so tired, she wasn’t thinking as clearly as she should have been. She and her husband drove to the parking lot of Desert Diamond Casino on Interstate 19 to meet the “nephew,” who said he’d sent his new girlfriend to meet them. The parties met and spoke, and the victim handed over the money. The woman was friendly and even gave the victim a hug.
But the victim says she was uneasy from the start, only to have her suspicions confirmed when she returned home and called her sister, who reported that the nephew hadn’t flown to Arizona on a business trip after all.
“I feel so stupid,” said the 78-year-old woman. “I can’t believe that I could do something so stupid.”
But Valencia says that the scam is easier to fall victim to than one would imagine.
“For every victim who files a report, there are 14 who haven’t reported it, probably because they’re too embarrassed,” Valencia said.
“Seniors seem like easy targets because they’re more trusting, and maybe not aware that incidents like this are happening.
“Green Valley residents are especially vulnerable to this scam because people here are transplanted from all over the country and may not have any family nearby.”
Scammers are aware that Green Valley is an affluent community, he says, and may be dialing random numbers from a local phone book.
To protect yourself, seniors should trust their gut instincts and hang up the phone if the person sounds suspicious. If the caller doesn’t know your name, or doesn’t reveal their own name right away, those should be immediate red flags, he says.
“The things he was saying hit the wrong nerve, but I went ahead anyway. This never would have happened if I had just taken two seconds to think logically about what was going on,” said the victim.
“I don’t understand the world today. I would never do anything to hurt anyone like this.”
jrichardson@gvnews.com | 547-9726
Comment on this story online at www.gvnews.com.
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