BENTONVILLE -- The phone rings. The person on the other end offers an extended warranty for a vehicle. Or the caller might warn a warrant has been issued for your arrest for some violation or for missing jury service. Or he could claim there are issues with the Internal Revenue Service or a Social Security number.
All the calls are widespread scams trying to separate someone from his money.
Songhua Liu, 23, of Bedford, N.H., was arrested in Rogers last month in connection with theft of property. Authorities believe he netted from $500,000 to $1 million in fraudulent gift cards, according to court documents. He's being held in the Benton County Jail on a $50,000 cash bond.
The fraud scheme Liu is charged with involves a variety of phone and Internet scams in which people are enticed to buy Walmart gift cards. They share the cards' bar codes digitally with the scammers who send couriers, such as Songhua, to Walmart stores around the country, according to court documents.
Warren Searls, a member of the American Association of Retired Persons Arkansas' executive council and a lead fraud prevention volunteer, said senior citizens are the targets of many scams.
"We grew up very trusting," he said of the older generation. They don't think someone on the other end might be trying to harm them, he said. Some seniors may live alone, and they love to talk to people, so it may make them susceptible to falling victim to a scam, he said.
It's impossible to know how many seniors and others are victims of the scams because many people are embarrassed to admit it, Searls said.
He put the various scams in three categories: the ones threatening arrest or prosecution, the sales pitches and the "once in lifetime" deal.
The AARP did a national survey last month titled "Season's Cheatings: Beware of Holiday Scams." The survey contacted 2,842 people, according to the organization's website. Nearly one in five said they had given a gift card turning out to be worth nothing, had received one worth nothing, or sent and received a worthless card.
Seven percent of the respondents said they were asked to buy a gift card to pay money supposedly owed to a government authority and 13% of those who receive the request said they complied, according to the AARP website.
Searls recommended people don't answer the telephone from an unknown phone number, but he said that also can be tricky because some criminals use phony telephone numbers. Searls said he once received a call from his own phone number.
He also once received what he thought was his pastor asking for $200 gift cards. He didn't fall victim, but he knew someone who did buy a card.
"They are crooks," Searls said of the people behind the scams. "They are very good at what they do."
Searls said there was a case in which a grandmother received a call claiming her grandchild was in trouble and needed money. The woman went to her bank but called her daughter before sending the money, he said. The woman was then told her granddaughter was safe, Searls said.
There are seasonal scams, Searls said. One involving the IRS usually happens around tax season, and others concerning healthcare occur during the registration period for insurance.
Searls said people need to be aware information about them can be easily gathered on the Internet so the caller seems to know them or know about them.
Seniors like her or anyone else being scammed need to know they aren't helpless, said Junell Davis of Elkins, 96. Davis kept receiving bills for a medical-related service she knew was covered. The cost was paid in part by Medicare and the rest by private supplemental insurance she held, she said at the Fayetteville Senior Activity and Wellness Center.
She called the anti-Medicare fraud unit at the state attorney general's office. The mailings stopped cold, she said.
Davis "is sharper than I am," said Pat Lee, 73, of Fayetteville. Lee hasn't been scammed yet but knows seniors like her are on scam artists' prospect lists because of the "offers" she gets, she said.
"They are out there just waiting for me to slip," for her mental functions to dull even slightly, Lee said while at lunch with Davis.
The obvious scams are bad enough, but legitimate companies she does business with will also send her forms for new charges for optional services clearly designed to look like bills, Lee said.
"You have to look closely at the fine print to make sure they are not bills," she said. "Just imagine if you are a little bit cloudy. I've thought about calling my representatives in Congress about it."
"A person with dementia, even in the early stages, could be scammed so easily," she said.
Gene Page, a spokesman for the Bentonville Police Department, said the most common calls the department receives concern scams involving a suspect impersonating a local police officer or government official on the phone. The caller tells the victim they have committed a crime and they need to send the "officer" or "government official" money, sometimes in the form of a prepaid card, to make a charge go away, he said.
Sgt. Shannon Jenkins, a spokeswoman for the Benton County Sheriff's Office, said the most common scam the Sheriff's Office encounters is a call from a fake deputy who says "there is a warrant issued for their arrest for missing jury duty."
The scammers say the warrant can be taken care of over the phone if some type of gift card is provided to them, Jenkins said.
"No one wants to go to jail if they can avoid it, and paying over the phone seems to be an easy way for the victim to get out of their warrant," she said.
It's tough to make arrests in the cases because many calls come from fake phone numbers, Jenkins said.
"Go with your gut. If something doesn't feel right, hang up and call your local law enforcement agency immediately," she said. "Never give your personal information over the phone, ever. I promise, a bill collector or the government already has your information if they are calling you."
People should never give out personal or financial information over the phone, Page said.
"Never send funds or provide credit card numbers to anyone who uninvitingly reaches out to you," Page said. "It's important to know that law enforcement in the U.S. cannot directly receive money from you to resolve a criminal matter or investigation."
Dallas Brashears with the Fayetteville Police Department said people need to know the police will never come arrest a person if he or she doesn't immediately pay over the phone.
"The government will never demand a certain type of payment over the phone," he said.
General News on 01/01/2020