COUNTYWIDE : Course Aims to Help Seniors Fight Fraud

In front of a classroom assembly, a 66-year-old woman quietly recounted a tragic story of how an elderly man’s bank account was robbed of $10,000.

The man is her father, and she recently described to the class how over a period of four years, a friendly local handyman had helped himself to more than $8,000 from her father’s checking account and other valuables, only to vanish mysteriously.

Fearing the possibility of attracting future misfortune, the woman and her 92-year-old father declined to be named but hope that their presentation to the first meeting of the “Don’t Get Swindled Class” at the Fullerton Senior Multi-Service Center will serve as fair warning to others.

“People just feel so embarrassed and humiliated,” said Detective Steve Christoffersen, who has investigated numerous fraud cases against seniors and is now probing the handyman case. “We have problems even getting reports out of them.”

So for the next six weeks, David Konstan will educate seniors on such topics as investment fraud, insurance scams, phony charities and credit card fraud. The free class started Thursday.

“Be wary,” Konstan told the class. “Put up a shield. Do not accept things at face value. (Con artists) count on the elderly person being too embarrassed to tell (police), even if they’ve been conned.”

In the handyman case, the victim said the relationship began when he spotted a house painter working on a neighbor’s home. “I wanted my house painted. He did a good job,” the victim said.

When that job was complete, the young handyman--believed to be in his 30s--began to do other chores. For the 92-year-old, living alone and with children in other cities, the new hire seemed to be just the right fit.

Before the relationship ended, the handyman wrote more than 30 checks, forged from his employer’s checkbook, and took cash and other valuables.

“I had given him every advantage in the world, and then he came up and lied and took me to the cleaners,” the victim said. “It’s hurt me so much. . . . I would have done anything for him.”

Apparently feeling some remorse, the suspect has reportedly called the victim three times to apologize, the daughter said. “I believed it when he said he was sorry,” said the daughter, who has also spoken to the thief. “He said he was in trouble, and it helped him get out of that trouble.”

Christoffersen said the suspect may not have started out with the intent to steal. “I think he saw how easy it was, and it snowballed,” he said.

Law enforcement officials say that seniors are often seen as easy targets and often fall victim to fraud.

In “Operation Disconnect,” an 18-state FBI undercover operation this year, more than 200 suspected telemarketing swindlers were identified. Much of the fraud exclusively targeted seniors, according to Richard Ress, an FBI special agent in Washington, who was a supervisor in the operation.

“Generally, they look for the elderly because they feel they are vulnerable: They are home during the day, they have money, they are easily manipulated,” Ress said.

Ress said phony telemarketers buy “reload lists” from other telemarketers. The lists contain the names, addresses and credit card account numbers of seniors who have already bought merchandise.

Christoffersen said seniors should never commit on the phone to buy something, adding that they should ask for a call-back number and an address.

“If it sounds too good to be true, it is,” Christoffersen said.