Saving seniors from scams
The Daily Mail
Jan. 10, 2009

A representative of the Office of New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo met with senior citizens at the Acra Senior Center Friday to offer tips on how to avoid being caught up in money scams.

During the lively presentation, Mark Hoops, the Office’s senior consumer fraud representative, described schemes that target senior citizens, such as sweepstakes companies that offer prize money in return for an international money order, home improvement contractors who ask for cash upfront to buy supplies, and solicitors collecting for not-so-charitable causes.

Copies of the Office’s Smart Senior booklet, which outlines how to prevent and report fraud, were available as well.

Hoops warned the audience that even though as seniors, they have built up a history with banks, creditors and charities, banks might not catch abnormal activity or recognize it as fraud. Sending such orders, he cautioned, could quickly plunge a victim into debt, but is also illegal.

Hoops said that shut-ins and those who only have a telephone for company are especially at risk from these types of schemes. Hoops asked seniors at the lunch to speak with their friends who may fall into that category.

Hoops then turned the presentation to the scams home contractors pull on unsuspecting homeowners. He described the difficulty of tracking a suspect contractor, especially if the contractor was paid in cash.

Different counties across the state have different rules as to what type of contractors need licenses and training to conduct business, so the Office of the Attorney General recently launched a Web site to help inform homeowners and stop dishonorable contractors from pulling off their scams.

The site, NYKnowYourContractor.com, provides homeowners lists of which home improvement contractors and landscapers have complaints filed against them or are subject to lawsuits. It offers tips for finding the best contractor for a job, such as knowing which permits are needed for what type of work, obtaining proof of insurance for a potential contractor and interviewing multiple contractors for a cost estimate and to agree on a time frame.

The site also directs users to the state’s Consumer Protection Board as well as regional and county bureau and agency information sites.

Hoops advised the audience that charitable donations may not always end up where the donor intended.
“Anybody who wants to solicit money from New Yorkers is mandated by law to register with the Attorney General and report to them every year their collections, the name of the telemarketer they hired, and what they paid the telemarketer and what pledges they collected that actually went to the charity,” he said.

Last month, Cuomo issued a report that showed, on average, that 38 cents of every dollar brought in by a telemarketing company on behalf of a charity actually goes to that charity.

Hoops said that people considering donating to a charity with which they are unfamiliar should request its annual report before writing a check.

“When you introduce the Office’s name into the conversation,” he said, “the scammers usually hang up.”

He reminded the audience that solicitation calls from people claiming to be state troopers are from scammers, too.

Many audience members said that they had received calls from so-called troopers asking for money.

“State troopers don’t solicit funds. It’s simple, they don’t,” he said.

People can further protect themselves from scammers by taking advantage of the Security Freeze Law, which went into effect in 2006.

Under the law, people can send requests to the three major credit reporting agencies for a freeze, or lock, of their credit histories. Doing this will help prevent anyone from opening accounts or borrowing money using the information contained within.

Hoops described the benefits of a credit freeze as like becoming invisible.

“You stop getting bogus checks in the mail, offers for cruises disappear. Your mailbox lightens up,” he said.

Reports can be unlocked for legitimate reasons by the account owner and then relocked once the process is conducted.

Freezing the records will not disrupt credit card accounts or halt transactions, he explained.

Several seniors at the lunch said they were familiar with the schemes Hoops highlighted. Several said they knew of people who had been victimized by one scam or another and they would start using Hoops’ tips if they did not use them already.

Greene County Legislator William Lawrence, R-Cairo, who also attended the lunch presentation, said afterward that the freeze law was an excellent idea.

Using the service left little option for someone to open an account using someone else’s personal information, he said.

Hoops asked the audience to tell their friends about the protective measures, saying that as the public becomes aware of certain schemes, scammers are forced to give up their game.

Hoops is scheduled to make other related presentations around the county in the coming months.