Greenwich Police Investigating New, More Sophisticated Phone Scam

Facing a sophisticated scam that appears to use Internet data mining to steal money from the elderly, are renewing their call for vigilance among town seniors.

Last week, police opened an investigation after a woman in town received a phone call from a man claiming special knowledge of her grandson and pressing for the wiring of funds to Canada, police said. While the general idea is nothing new — pulling on a relative’s heart strings to get money — the man placing this phone call appeared to have specific knowledge of his victim’s grandson, according to Greenwich police Lt. Kraig Gray, the department’s public information officer.

“Police are investigating idea that some sort of Internet data mining took place,” Gray told Patch. “We urge residents to continue to be vigilant. It’s a bit more intimate than we’ve had in the past.”

Details of the case were not available, since it remains under investigation. According to Gray, the caller appeared to have specific, verifiable knowledge of the grandson, including information about where he lived and a recent illness he suffered.

The best way to combat these scams is to preempt them through education and prevention, Gray said, since investigation and prosecution is very difficult.

Legislators in December, through a so-called “anti-phone scam” bill, made it a federal crime to use caller ID services to mislead. According to the FBI, seniors are good targets for scammers because they have strong credit, grew up in an era where people were more trusting, are less likely to report being scammed because they’re ashamed and make poor witnesses for investigators.

In Greenwich, seniors mostly are targeted by snail mail scams, such as those sent in manila envelopes that mimic government correspondence and press recipients to enroll for additional healthcare coverage, said Sam Deibler, director of the town .

“They’re trying to get seniors to buy nonstandard supplemental policies which they don’t need,” Deibler said.

Other scams seen in town include so-called “pigeon drops,” Deibler said, where seniors are approached by strangers who claim to have just discovered envelopes full of money, and promise to split the findings if their victims hand over real cash as collateral — only the find there’s no money in the first place.

To help educate seniors about what they can do, Greenwich police are holding a workshop at 1 p.m. today, April 13, in the , “Don’t Be Scammed.”

Deibler encouraged residents to attend.

“It’s important to be alerted to what types of scams are most prevalent,” he said.

According to Gray, scams targeting the elderly are on the rise in this area.

“They come in cycles,” Gray said. “Right now the cycle is on an uptick.”

The comment comes on the heels of that fleeced thousands of dollars from Greenwich residents who believed their grandchildren were in trouble with the law.

According to Gray, these scams generally include the following elements:

• a loved one is in danger or in a hospital or under arrest
• the incident occurred overseas or where the subject attends school or where they had been on vacation
• the money needs to be wired immediately so assistance can be given
• and the call back numbers given to the victim originate out of country.