Neal Embry
Vestavia Mayor Ashley Curry talks to a crowd of senior citizens at a seminar aimed at helping them avoid scams.
Vestavia Hills Police Lieutenant Steve Gurley said his department once heard from a man who was told his grandson was in a Mexican jail.
The caller, who said he was the “attorney” for the man’s grandson, told the elderly man he needed a $5,000 money order in order to clear things up and get him back home. The man, frightened, rushed to Publix to obtain the money order, but before he could do so, a manager who knew him advised him to call his grandson.
As it turns out, the man’s grandson was in class at the University of Alabama, far away from any Mexican jail. The grandfather, thankfully, was saved from a scam, one of many which target the elderly, Gurley said.
Gurley, along with Vestavia Hills Mayor Ashley Curry, former state representative Paul DeMarco and law enforcement representatives from the local, state and federal level, talked to Vestavia Hills senior citizens at a seminar on Aug. 7 in order to tell them about the most common types of scams and how to avoid them.
“We are a target-rich area,” Curry said.
Scams are an “incoming call or email with an emotionally-compelling argument resolved with money,” Jim Pope, special agent for the Birmingham bureau of the FBI, said.
Gurley told stories of senior citizens who gave their life savings to a “Nigerian boyfriend,” or gave fraudulent contractors multiple checks totaling about $80,000 for $2,500 worth of roof repairs.
“They’re in jail,” Gurley said. “They don’t have two nickels to rub together. I can’t get her money back, but I can tell her story to you all.”
Erica Barnes, an assistant U.S. attorney and chairwoman of the city’s planning and zoning commission, told the crowd if someone calls them to say they owe money to ask for a name and a number to call back, and also reminded seniors to be careful in hiring caregivers, telling them stories of senior citizens who lost large sums of money, including $400,000, to criminal caregivers.
“This stuff is embarrassing, I get it,” Barnes said. “Nobody wants to talk about it. You feel stupid. You feel embarrassed. But if you don’t tell anybody, the person that did it to you is just going to go and do it to somebody else.”
Pope told the crowd some of the most common scams:
- The IRS scam, where scammers tell people they owe back taxes and must pay with a credit card or send a gift card. Scammers will often make their number look like the local IRS office’s number, but Pope said the IRS will never call someone about owed taxes unless a paper bill has been sent, and they will never ask for card information over the phone.
- Robocalls. These calls are designed to keep people on the phone long enough to retrieve personal information and potentially scam them.
- Jamaican lottery, where scammers tell people they’ve won the lottery, but in order to get the money, they must pay money. Pope told the crowd that’s not how the lottery works.
- “Can You Hear Me?” scam, where scammers ask the person if they can hear them, record them saying yes, then use that voice to access their bank account and other personal information.
- Grandparents scam, like the one previously discussed, where scammers will tell the potential victim their grandchild is hurt, imprisoned, etc. to get money.
- Computer problem scam. Computer companies have the ability to remotely access computers to deal with problems, so scammers will often pose as those companies pretending to help, while actually stealing personal information.
- Sweetheart scam, where someone befriends someone online and initiates a personal relationship, but then asks for money in order to come see that person.
If you believe you’ve been a victim of a scam or a potential victim, contact the Vestavia Hills Police Department at 823-1153.
