Du Quoin Police: Impersonators Pretend to be Family Members in Need

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Officer Dale Swallers of the Du Quoin Police Department is warning residents across the region to be aware of two frauds that have already been perpetrated on local residents.

He said ome scanners exploit the avarice of people looking to get something for nothing, some scammers take advantage of honest people who are simply trying to conduct straightforward business transactions, and some scammers - perhaps the worst of all - victimize people who are motivated only by a good-hearted desire to help out those in need.

The scheme described above falls into that last category. The basic set-up is that a scammer gleans just enough information about a family to be able to impersonate one of them during a brief phone call to another family member. The scammer will place a call and claim to be in some form of distress that has left him/her stranded far from home and in desperate need of someone to wire him/her some cash. In many cases, eager-to-help relatives will promptly send money as instructed, not realizing until it is too late that the person they've been talking to is an impersonator.

If you should receive such a call and can't be sure whether it's on the level, the best approach is to elicit as much information as possible from the caller, then contact a direct relative of the person the caller is claiming to be and try to verify the information.

Another approach to use, if you can't reach other relatives right away, is to ask the caller a question that an impersonator would be unable to answer. Be careful to pose a question that requires from than knowledge of basic family information, because that information is too easy for outsiders to look up. Instead, ask about something like a detail of a family event that someone who was not present would be extremely unlikely to know about.

In general, pleas for money from people with whom you have only casual or infrequent contact with should be handled with Ronald Reagan's signature phrase in mind, "Trust, but verify."

In addition to the scams such as this, the Du Quoin Police Department has been advised of yet another lottery/sweepstakes scam in which the victim is apprised by telephone that they are the winner of a large sum of money, and that money in the form of processing fees, duties, etc., must be paid in order to release the prize to the victim. The victim is then provided with a mailing address (a Canadian address in the most recent version reported) to which the victim is to forward a check or checks.

Many of the targets of these scams are elderly and can ill-afford the loss of a large portion of their retirement "cushion." Family members and/or caregivers should be alert: be watchful for sweepstakes envelopes suddenly being hoarded, or repeat phone calls from unfamiliar numbers or mail from unknown sources. Be wary of comments regarding sudden or repeated bequests or donations. Keep lines of communication open and listen for comments regarding sudden windfalls, gifts, etc. that the caregiver knows are beyond the means of the individual to make.

Being prudent, thoughtful and asking questions are not rude actions. They are the smart thing to do. One may be trusting, but still be wary.