Consumer Scams

MARINETTE, WISCONSIN

Scams and Fraud Artists

Many banks in Wisconsin have customers that have been the victims of scams and fraud artists. Hearing about the experiences of these victims is often frustrating because there is usually little the bank can do to mitigate the customer's loss after the fraudulent activity has already occurred. This Protective Bulletin will address many different scams that we are aware and give you tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of a scam or a fraud artist.

The first four scam examples and tips were provided by a committee called "Triad" which works to help prevent the criminalization of older adults. Triad combines the resources of senior citizens, sheriffs, and police working together to provide on-going tips to senior citizens about confidence scams. Senior citizens are vulnerable to all kinds of confidence scams and groups because older adults typically spend more time at home than other age groups and are available to answer the door or telephone. Also seniors may be more trusting and susceptible than others, often considering scam artists as friends instead of people planning to dip into their life savings.

Scam and Tip #1

An elderly man, residing in a rural area, was approached by a door-to-door salesman to have the trees in his yard trimmed for $1 a cut. He was startled by the bill of $5,300 for 12 hours work but felt intimidated and wrote the check which was immediately cashed. This bill amounted to about $450 per hour for the scammer. The victim later counted 411 cuts. An attempt has been made to recover his money, but it will be difficult.

Tip: Persons should be careful when smooth talking strangers or recent so-called friends try to attempt them to get something for almost nothing. If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

Scam and Tip #2

Many people have been called by Police Chief's Associations and/or Firefighter's Associations to be asked to buy products or tickets to a fundraising event. The victims are led to believe the money will benefit the local police or fire department. This example is a classic instance of when the telephone is used to get people to buy things or to give things away, called a telemarketing scam.

Tip: Be cautious. Call the local police or fire department to see if they are currently conducting fundraising activities. The soliciting callers may be paid telemarketers for a national lobbying group. Telemarketers may even receive most of the money and the funds will not go to benefit the local police or fire department. If someone wishes to support the local police or fire department or other local charity, that person should write out a check and send it directly to that organization. Many bogus charities use sound alike or official sounding names to confuse persons into thinking that they are a real charity. NEVER contribute in cash or send cash through the mail.

Scam and Tip #3

An elderly woman was called by phone and told that she had won a $400,000 prize. However, she needed to give her credit card number to pay the taxes up front before she could receive the prize. She was so excited about winning that she gave the telemarketer her credit card number. The next morning she started to think about the telephone call and called her credit card company. There was a $400 charge on her account from the con artist. And there was no prize. Within 3 days, she received letters stating that she had won large "prizes" from as far away as Canada and Australia. In each case, she was asked to send money first to claim the prize. Her name had been sold to other scam artists and she had been put on what con artists call a "sucker" list.

Tip: Whenever anyone has to pay something to get a "free" prize, it is most likely a scam. Sometimes the con artist asks the victim to pay "taxes" or "shipping and handling" fees to make it legitimate; the victim might be asked to buy overpriced product such as vitamins or magazines. Con artists are very friendly and persuasive, and persons are pressured to act immediately. Legitimate prize companies do not ask prize winners to pay to receive the prize. Remember, do not give out your credit card or bank account numbers over the telephone.

Scam and Tip #4

A rural resident has received two copies of a bill for $34.97 for a magazine that she did not order. The second letter threatened that the account had been turned over to a collection agency and that she had been assigned a poor credit rating from the magazine. Another person renewed his magazine subscription and agreed to pay in three installments. When the bill came it totaled much more than he realized so he decided to cancel and lose his first payment. However, he kept on getting dunning notices for payment and then came a notice that the bill had been turned over to a collection agency.

Tip: No one is obligated to pay for items that were not ordered. If anyone feels that they have been incorrectly billed and are receiving threatening letters, that information should be turned over to the Wisconsin Trade and Consumer Protection Agency (1-800-362-8189). No one should pay for an item that was never ordered. The best way to put con artists out of business is to report the fraud. If the scam goes unreported, others may fall victim to the same scam.

Other Scams - Heard from Nigeria Lately?

This scam targets bank customers. The scam involves a customer receiving a letter, sometimes by certified or registered mail, from Nigeria. The letter will state that for some reason, persons working for the Nigerian government have several million dollars left over from a government project. This money or a percentage of it, the letter states, can be transferred to the bank customer's account if the customer supplies the supposed Nigerian civil servants extensive information about the customer and the customer's bank account information and numbers. Unfortunately, if the victim agrees to go along with this "confidential business proposal" as many of these letters are titled, and supply the requested information, a large amount of funds does not get transferred into the customer's account. Instead, a debit to the customer's account is usually made (ostensibly to cover taxes or to pay "local and international expenses incident to the transfer") and the customer never hears from Nigeria again. Obviously, if any bank customer receives this offer in the mail or gets a telephone call from someone in a foreign country who has millions of dollars to offer them, the customer should immediately hang up the telephone or discard the letter.

Junk Mail and Unwanted Phone Calls

According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice Office of Consumer Protection, experts estimate that Americans receive almost two million tons of junk mail every year, with the average person spending eight full months of his or her life just opening that mail. Telemarketing calls are also time consuming and irritating.

We can help you eliminate your name from large mailing lists which are sold to direct mail marketers by providing you with this information. In order to have a name removed from these lists, write:

Mail Preference Service
Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 9008
Farmingdale, New York 11735-9008

Names will usually stay on the removal list for five years, then the name may be registered again. To avoid getting sexually oriented mail, a person must fill out Form 2201 and 2150 at a post office. The forms must be filled out by the person to whom the mail is addressed. To complete Form 2150, the person must include the envelope and entire contents of the sexually oriented mail, sign the front of the envelope, indicate the date it was received and attach it to the form.

To reduce the number of telemarketing calls received, consumers may send a name and telephone number (including the area code) to:

Telephone Preference Service
Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 9014
Farmingdale, New York 11735-9014

Both the Mail and Telephone Preference Services are operated by the Direct Marketing Association. These efforts may not eliminate all of the unwanted mail or telephone calls, but these annoyances should be significantly reduced.

Federal law prohibits telephone solicitations before 8 a.m. and after 9 p.m. Telemarketers must also identify themselves on the phone by providing their name, the company that they represent, and a phone number at which their company can be contacted. Consumers can notify telemarketers that contact them directly that they do not wish to be contacted. The telemarketing agency is required to keep do-not-call lists of people who request that they not be called.

We encourage you to take a look at the following official U.S. Government websites
to learn more about Identity Theft, Fake Check Scams and much more.

OnLine OnGuard Your Online Safety Net Stop, Think, Click
OnLine OnGuard is maintained by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with
significant input from its many government and technology industry partners

FakeChecks.org - Everything you need to know... and more
"This Web site was created by the National Consumers League (NCL), the nation's oldest nonprofit consumer
organization, as a central source of information and advice about fake check scams. NCL created the site in
collaboration with the Alliance for Consumer Fraud Awareness, a coalition of consumer and business organizations,
government agencies, and companies that are committed to fighting fake check scams"

Fighting Back Against Identity Theft - Federal Trade Commission
This is the official website of the Federal Trade Commission. "This website is a one-stop national resource to learn about
the crime of identity theft. It provides detailed information to help you deter, detect, and defend against identity theft."

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