The U. S. Postal Inspection Service reports that every year, mail fraud schemes are directed at consumers of all ages but some groups, like retirees, are more impacted than others. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says that consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to overall types of fraud in 2023. It stated that only a small percentage of victims report the fraud, and even fewer manage to get their money back. Two of Warsaw’s senior residents are among several locals who have recently been reported to have gone through the traumatic experience of being targeted for fraud, one by mail and one by phone.
A long-time local woman (name withheld at her request) made a $500 purchase at Menards on her debit card in August. When she went in the store to pick up the item, it couldn’t be found so she ordered another of the same item. The store then found the first order and she decided to try and get her second $500 payment back by calling what she thought was Apple Pay. The man she talked to on the phone gave her thoroughly rigorous set of classic routines to get her money back. He told her to send $1,898 to someone she trusted by her cash app, or go to Walmart and get a $500 gift card or go to her bank and withdraw $1,000. This senior had recently had a lot of emotional distress in her life and was not fully aware that the person on the phone was trying to steal her money. When she told him she didn’t have enough money in the bank to withdraw $1,000, he told her to get a loan by telling her banker that she needed it for emergency surgery. She realized he was a scammer and told him so.
“My daughter told me that the sum of $1,898 was a classic dollar amount used by scammers, as well as other statements he made,” said the victim. “I got some help from a tech-savvy friend who helped me go through my cash app to get a refund of my extra $500 that I had spent on my purchase. The people working for the cash app were very security conscious and a month after the incident, I received a payment back into my bank account.”
U.S. Postal Inspection Service Postal Inspector Paul Shade talked to the Benton County Enterprise about a senior man living in Warsaw who very nearly lost a large sum of money in a mail fraud scheme. He got a cashier’s check for $8,000 and mailed it to the seller of a truck he thought he was buying. However, the truck was not delivered and with the help of Shade, who found the letter with the cashier’s check, the money never got in the hands of the fraudster targeting the victim. Shade said the practice of mailing checks from residences can be unsafe, and that it is not a good idea to leave mail in a mailbox overnight that has a check in it. He encouraged people to take such mail straight to the post office to lessen the chance of theft.
Lorra, who works on statistics for the Warsaw Police Department, said that fraud crimes are increasing in the area. She said that only one fraud crime was officially reported in 2023, but so far this year there have been four reports since May. She said that many times people don’t report suspected fraud so there is no way her office can know how many cases there are. She also stated that sometimes when fraud calls come into the office, a report cannot be written if the officer answering the call cannot find sufficient evidence of a crime.
The FTC suggests some usual ways scammers will try to commit fraud. They will often insist that you pay in a way that makes it hard to get your money back such as by wire transfer, gift card, cryptocurrency, or payment app. Anyone who insists that you can only make a payment one of those ways is probably a scammer.
Information about ways to protect against mail theft or fraud can be found at www.uspis.gov/tips-prevention/mail-theft.
