Central Missouri, MU promote fraud awareness
Students should report all instances of stolen money, CPD says.
Published Oct. 9, 2009
Central Missouri residents and MU students have several agencies they can turn to if they fall victim to a scam.
Columbia Police Department spokeswoman Jessie Haden said a Columbia grandmother received a call from a man claiming he was her grandson Sept. 4. The suspect said he was arrested in Canada for driving while intoxicated and needed $2,900 for bond money.
"She said she wasn't going to wire the money today and that she will talk to his parents," Haden said.
Haden said it is common with fraud for a con artist to hit a victim again before moving on to another person.
"They called her and said that they needed more money," Haden said.
The victim refused and through talking with other family members, found out the grandson was not in Canada.
Haden said con artists prey on senior citizens because the elderly worry if they report the crime, people might believe they cannot manage their money properly. Haden also said sometimes young people do not report scams because they think there is nothing they can do.
"If fraud occurs in somebody's bank account and they report it properly, they can fill out an affidavit," Haden said. "Anybody who knows a senior citizen should be mindful of who calls and contacts them.
Haden said CPD does not see these types of scams often but the department does know they are underreported. Some of the cases are never solved.
"When money is wired out of the country, you have to work with law enforcement in other countries," Haden said.
Criminals avoid using the postal service to receive money because they know at that point it will involve postal inspectors, Haden said. When using MoneyGram and Western Union to wire the money, it becomes very hard to find out who is the recipient.
"They use fake names and it can be next to impossible to find them," Haden said. "We have very bad luck and a hard time finding the recipients of the money."
MU Police Department Capt. Brian Weimer said most fraud cases they deal with involve people losing or having their credit cards stolen. Weimer said if an e-mail scam results in someone being scammed out of money, it would then be reported to MUPD.
Haden also said they see friends using a debit card without permission frequently.
Tracy Perkins, Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force detective, said they do not investigate e-mail scams until they involve criminal matters such as theft of money.
"It's very hard to investigate," Perkins said. "Most of these things originate from bogus accounts and you're led into dead ends."
Scams can also occur through text messaging.
According to a news release from the Boone County Sheriff's Department, as many as 50 Boone County citizens, including a Sheriff's department detective, have reported receiving a text message that tells victims to call a telephone number to give a credit or debit card number to reactivate a "service" that was disconnected.
Citizens should not provide information such as credit card numbers in response to unsolicited text messages, the news release stated.
"The reality of it is that the con artists are really good at what they do," Haden said.
— Lyndsie Manusos contributed to this article.
