Con men and scam artists are still hard at work trying to swindle you out of hard earned money. I have received the phone call from the Internal Revenue Service demanding money for underpaid taxes or arrest warrant will be filed. Knowing that the IRS does not call and demand money, and that the caller could barely speak English, I asked him to give me my Social Security Number to make sure it wasn’t me (deceased) father who they wanted to speak with. The phone call suddenly ended without even a polite “Goodbye.”

The IRS does not make phone calls demanding money or threaten with warrants. They send a letter of notification of a pending audit and give the name and phone number of whom to contact. Furthermore if they know your phone number and note that you underpaid taxes, they also have your name and SSN, DOB and all other pertinent information about you in front of them. Don’t be intimidated by someone claiming to be with the IRS and demanding money.

Another scam that has not gone away is the grandpa scam. A young sounding scammer calls until a possible elderly person answers. The conversation goes like this, “Grandpa, I am in the Bahamas on spring break and was caught drinking a beer! The police officer say’s if I can pay him $1,000 he will let me go. I don’t want to call mom or dad because they will be mad at me and it would break their hearts. Would you give go to the bank and send the money?”

Just hearing “Grandpa I’m in trouble!” causes panic and of course any good grandparent would help their grandchild stay out of trouble. The trouble is the grandchild is not even related and there is no police arrest. By the time the grandparent next talks to their family, they learn none of the kids were in the Bahamas and nobody got arrested. It was all a scam. I had a retired physician who was hard of hearing fall for this one.

Again, just asking the name of the grandchild will often end the call and scam attempt. I also had one where a school mate who knew the family used the correct names in a scam attempt. Luckily the scam fell through when the grandparent called their child who then asked the grandchild about it. The grandchild had a falling out with a classmate and gave the name which resulted in a confession.

The contractor scam is also very prevalent. A man claims to be a contractor and agrees to put in new kitchen cabinets or appliances. The contractor of course wants half the money up front and never does the work. Make sure the person doing the work does not have a bad record with the Better Business Bureau. Ask for references and get a contract.

Also make sure the contractor is self insured. A supposed fall inside your home could result in the contractor suing you and getting a long overdue back surgery at your or your insurance company’s expense.

As for banks, I only do business with humans if at all possible. They know me at my Tipp City bank and if I came in asking to wire $8,000 to the Bahamas a red flag will pop up in their brain and say this is unusual for Joe, maybe the manager should talk with him about this. I know this because I have seen it over my career when a teller or bank manager and even manager of a local drug store became suspicious and suggested they talk with the police before sending such a large amount of money.

I also have seen many cases where an elderly person who may be suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s will write checks to scam artists who pretend to be friends or doing housework. I had a neighbor who was getting a little confused and when I saw her out trimming her grass with pinking shears, I suggested her son put his name on her checks and any checks written by her were worthless without his signature.

Once when two salesmen approached my neighbor’s house, I walked over, knocked on the door and was invited in by my neighbor. I told the two men I was a police officer and if they were legitimate any check she wrote would have to be signed by her son.

Another scammer sold a chair to an elderly veteran who could no long get out of his recliner. The daughter became suspicious when the $1,500 chair was costing her father over $2,200 and still had not been delivered. The next time the salesman showed up to collect $320 for payment, I was in the next room listening and arrested the man. He lived in Centerville, plead guilty as charged and paid back all the money he had collected.

There is and never will be a shortage of scam artists in this world. Why do physical labor when you can easily swindle the right victim. For every scammer, there are thousands of marks just waiting to give their money away.

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