Clayton Police Chief warning about Scams targeting Older Residents

Scammers will use any tactic at their disposal in order to steal money from victims.  Scammers will create a sense of urgency in many cases, but they can also stir up emotions or pull on someone’s heartstrings.  Clayton Police Chief Andy Strait warns about scammers targeting older residents, who might be more vulnerable to these tactics.  “According to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, in 2020, they received a total of 791,000 calls with reported losses exceeding $4.1 billion.  Based on the information provided by the complaints, 28% of the total losses were sustained by victims over the age of 60 resulting in over $1 billion in losses to senior citizens.  This actually represents an increase of about $300 million in losses in 2020 as opposed to victims that reported losses in 2019 that were over the age of 60.  So, we are definitely seeing an increase in victims and the scams are getting more elaborate and convincing to folks that just aren’t familiar with them.”  Chief Strait offers these tips on identifying potential scams.  “Anytime you get someone calling you about lotteries, if you didn’t play the lottery you’re probably not going to be a winner.  Most of these involve getting gift cards.  The IRS, the Social Security Administration, sheriff’s department, or anyone that has to do with government outreach, are not going to ask you to get gift cards to take care of a problem with your account.  When you hear these gift card requests that is automatically the biggest tell-tell sign of a scam.  Hang up on them.  Report it to your local police department or sheriff’s office.  A lot of times, there is not a lot we can do.  We have been able to forward some of the more elaborate ones to our local federal government offices and let them work on them.  They may have some information already on those, so we are forwarding some of those but for the most part, there is not a whole lot we can do because they are so good at scrambling the phone number and things of that such.  So, when you get these phone calls, hang up on them, just don’t entertain them because the IRS and the Social Security Administration are going to reach out to you by mail.  They are going to want you to call them back at their centers and it is going to be legit.  It’s not going to be someone telling you, you have a problem with your Social Security information and then turning around and asking what your name is.  If they were legit, they would already know who you are and everything about you.”  Never give any personal or account information to anyone who calls you on the phone.  Instead, ask for a number, verify who it is, and then call them back if you have proven it is legitimate.  The best advice is to let Caller ID do its job.  Only answer the phone if you know the person calling you.