Don\u2019t think thieves have no conscience. Some of us feel quite guilty, even before capture. Thankfully, I think I\u2019ve outgrown my unacceptable tendencies; serving two stints in prison and turning seventy make a man mellow and empathetic. Today I\u2019m just one of about fifty aging residents of Paradise Homes who\u2019ve gathered in the community center to hear a police officer lecture us about senior scams. The officer first emphasizes it\u2019s easy to target victims because cons sell Hot Lists featuring seniors who have good credit scores and homes paid off. These affluent folks are also often reluctant to contact authorities. <\/p>\n
\tHe then warns about phony calls from the IRS. I\u2019m tempted to stand and tell my neighbors how I used to operate. I\u2019d phone geezers, as I then considered them, and announce, \u201cThis is the Internal Revenue Service calling to inform you you\u2019re under investigation. You\u2019ve filed incorrect tax forms and owe the IRS two thousand dollars. You must pay us within forty-eight hours or we\u2019ll impound your home and send you to jail.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHalf the people hung up before replying, forty-five percent explained their innocence before cutting me off, and about five percent either hadn\u2019t filed or forgotten doing so, and asked where to send the check. That doesn\u2019t mean one in twenty sent checks to my post office box. Adult children often ruined my plans. Let\u2019s say I got paid for about one call in fifty, a couple grand for a day or two of stressful work.<\/p>\n
\tThe officer shames me when he explains the grandparents scam. I used to call older couples and tell them I was their grandson and had sustained a broken nose in a car wreck in Timbuktu and my medical condition and the jail\u2019s poor connection caused me to sound so different. Please wire money so I can get out of this dangerous place. I hit a few homers on this scam but had a low batting average since many seniors either responded, \u201cI don\u2019t have a grandson\u201d or \u201cI just saw him last night.\u201d Embarrassing and inefficient, this one is. <\/p>\n
\tBanking swindles are potentially very profitable, says the police officer. They certainly are. If I didn\u2019t know the name of their bank, and I usually didn\u2019t, I\u2019d call and say, \u201cThis is the vice president of your bank notifying you there have been several overdrafts from your checking account, and you must pay nine hundreds dollars by noon today or we\u2019ll close your account and ruin your credit rating. No, it\u2019s too late to mail it. And no need to drive here through this rain and traffic. I\u2019ll stop by and pick up your check.\u201d That was much quicker than waiting for envelopes that usually didn\u2019t come but rather risky, and two detectives once greeted me and that\u2019s how I went to prison the first time. <\/p>\n
\tBeware door to door salespeople, states the cop. That\u2019s true. I won\u2019t even open the door for those critters. Too many good people opened theirs for me. I showed glossy magazines and sold hundreds of subscriptions that were never filled, and a few dozen solar panels that somehow never arrived. A friend, a fellow con, that is, suggested I move into smoke detectors. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to have one, ma\u2019am, or the city will fine you five hundred dollars. And in order to protect my license, I\u2019m obligated to tell them. Why not pay four hundred dollars now, and we\u2019ll install them for you next week? Okay, you\u2019ve already got some alarms, but how old are they? Better let me check.\u201d <\/p>\n
She invited me in and I activated a cigarette lighter next to a detector in the living room and said, \u201cSee, this thing\u2019s dead as a doornail.\u201d The alarm soon sounded and the damn fire station must\u2019ve been around the corner because sirens screamed in about a minute. I ran out, pointed to the house, and yelled at the firemen, \u201cHurry and get in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBe careful about the social media, that\u2019s a new world, says the officer. It\u2019s not that new. Fifteen years ago I played the dating game on several sites like Love.net. I didn\u2019t go for home runs in this sad game. I avoided the prettiest women, though they were no doubt lonely, too, and concentrated on average or even homely ladies who looked vulnerable and stated as much in their profiles. On my page I\u2019d posted pictures of some stud far more handsome and robust than I\u2019d ever been, and sweet talked these ladies online and later by phone and was amazed how soon they called me honey, and flabbergasted that several sent me four-figure sums so I could take care of debts or buy airplane tickets to come and visit them. <\/p>\n
\tThe identity theft industry emerged near the end of my career. Other than navigating the dating sites I wasn\u2019t computer savvy. I simply knew lots of cons who knew many others and learned to buy people\u2019s stolen identity. This was the best scam yet: no more grinding phone calls or nasty dogs or nosy neighbors watching as I knocked on too many doors that stayed closed. Now I got Joe Smith\u2019s social security number and banking and credit card information, and soon his credit card, and bought clothes and TVs and cruise tickets and sold his vacation home and prepared to pay cash for my first house where, when I backed up my rental truck full of goodies, those guys in square suits said, \u201cWelcome to the big house.\u201d <\/p>\n
Source: The general points embellished in this story were presented by a representative of the Bakersfield Police Department in the Kern City neighborhood on December eighth, 2015. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Don\u2019t think thieves have no conscience. Some of us feel quite guilty, even before capture. Thankfully, I think I\u2019ve outgrown my unacceptable tendencies; serving two stints in prison and turning seventy make a man mellow and empathetic. Today I\u2019m just one of about fifty aging residents of Paradise Homes who\u2019ve gathered in the community center…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,26,703,714],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n