The Belmont Police Department is reminding residents to always remain alert for scams. And while anyone can fall victim to a scam, older residents should stay especially vigilant.
Detective Sgt. Paul Garabedian noted that “grandparent scams” are an especially common and effective con. In these scams, a scammer calls and pretends to be trying to help a victim’s grandchild.
“Someone calls and says [the victim’s] grandchild got arrested for something, or they need to pay a fine or they’re going to be arrested,” Garabedian said. “They’ll get the elderly person to go make a large withdrawal from their checking account.”
Sometimes, more sophisticated scammers can use public records to figure out the actual names of the victim’s relatives. Other times, they simply bluff.
“They’ll even get the victim to say it,” Garabedian said. “Like, they’ll say, ‘I have your grandchild,’ and the victim replies with something like, ‘You have Sally?’ Now they can say, ‘Yes, I have Sally.’” And just like that, the scammer has the name to work with, without having to do any research.
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Another common type of scam involves “spoofing” a phone number, a process that allows scammers to create a fake caller ID number. A scammer can mask their number to make it look like they’re calling from a utility company or government agency.
“It can show up as the Belmont Police calling and saying there’s a warrant going out for your arrest; if you want to take care of it now you’ll send $500 in gift cards,” or withdraw cash to hand off to a courier, Garabedian said.
That’s an especially dangerous one because it can appear to be a legitimate call, Garabedian said. The key is to recognize the high-pressure tactics the caller is using, because no legitimate agency or company would call with such an urgent demand.
“The light department will never call and say, ‘You owe us money right now or we’re going to shut off your power,’” Garabedian said. “No one’s ever going to call you and demand money or payment in Bitcoin or in gift cards. No one’s going to demand payment immediately. Those things are all red flags.”
It is a major red flag when a caller demands someone pay a fee or fine in an unusual form of currency, such as gift cards or Bitcoin, since those forms can be harder to trace than other electronic payment systems but easier to move than cash. Demanding payment in cash can also be suspicious because most official business is conducted by check, bank transfer or credit card.
Ultimately, according to Garabedian, if you are contacted by someone who is pressuring you to pay money immediately, you should always take a moment to think about the situation and verify it.
“People can call [the police department] to confirm something or call a family member — just run it by somebody, a friend or a relative,” Garabedian said. “Have a trusted person that you can call.”
If you are worried about a spoofed number, you can hang up, look up the correct phone number online, and then place a call yourself so that you know you’re reaching the legitimate contact.
If you think you may have given money or private information to a scam artist, don’t be embarrassed or ashamed to talk about it, Garabedian said. Instead, call that trusted person and the police as soon as you can.
“We have ways to stop transfers; we have resources that can freeze accounts or notify banks to take action,” Garabedian said. But once the transfer has been completed and the money has been withdrawn by the scammer, it can be difficult or impossible to recover anything.
“The quicker we get notified about it, the quicker we can take action,” he said.
