By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
Real undercover FBI video of Israeli fraudsters played today for seniors at an adult daycare center to teach them how criminals prey on the elderly. As a hidden camera rolls, they see the scammer demand more than $2,000 before she’ll mail a sweepstakes prize to the victim. But there is no prize and the victim’s really an FBI agent who plays along, saying her mother just died.
“The funeral had cost us a lot of money. I don’t know if I’ll be able to come up with the extra $2,200,” the undercover agent says.
“Maybe try one of your credit cards, a cash advance or something like that,” replies the scammer.
“I felt violated for my mom,” said Joan Vogel.
Vogel’s widowed mom, Betty, got sucked into this Israeli scam, which agents busted in 2009. Vogel spoke at the sentencing of a scam ringleader, Matthew Getto.
“This is about Matthew ripping off so many senior citizens. I thought my mom at $200,000 was a lot. There was somebody in New England for $750,000. He was brought to justice, which was really kind of a miracle,” Vogel said.
“It’s a $25 million scam. Those particular fraudsters were convicted. A lot of them were imprisoned,” said Steve Lee, acting director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs.
Lee helped prosecute that case and now heads New Jersey’s Division of Consumer Affairs. Today, he launched the division’s counter-offensive against the plague of fraud.
“These scams just continue to grow and grow and for every fraudster that’s arrested and prosecuted, there are two, three, five, 10 more fraudsters and more scams that are ever more sophisticated. And in the past it used to be just the Nigerian Prince scam,” he said.
The division reports three major frauds called imposter schemes: the Advance Fee, promising victims “free money” like a lottery prize if they pay upfront fees or taxes; the “Grandparent” Scam, convincing victims to wire money overseas to pay relatives’ bail or medical costs; and the IRS/Immigration Scam, threatening victims with jail unless they pay back taxes.
“And they’re being told, if you don’t pay back taxes now using pre-paid debit cards, you’re gonna be put in jail, we’re gonna send people to put you in jail right now. And there are victims falling prey to this,” Lee said.
He claims education is key to combating fraud. Vogel says her mom at first refused to believe it, even when she read the papers.
“You’re on the front page Mom. Here you are: 82-year-old woman scammed out of $180,000. And she just kind of, ‘um,'” Vogel said.
The division designed this seminar specifically to connect to the most vulnerable audiences and they’re going to take this show on the road to all 21 New Jersey counties, figuring the best defense is a good offense.