Phone scams target locals

WASILLA — At least two local seniors have thwarted phone scammers in recent days, but the threat of con artists remains a constant concern.

“It almost has become so common people don’t even report it anymore,” said Palmer Police Chief Lance Ketterling.

Ketterling said the scams seem to come in waves. He thinks most unscrupulous callers try to target large groups of phone numbers at a time in order to have the best chance of tricking someone into giving out personal information or sending money.

“A lot of these folks that do these scams try to win on volume,” Ketterling said.

Palmer’s Jerry Vanover got a call recently from a man claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service. The 65-year-old said he could immediately tell the call was suspicious. First, the man had a thick foreign accent. Second, there were the sounds of other callers in the background, as if the caller was placing his call from a phone bank.

“I didn’t let them get too far into what they wanted,” Vanover said.

The man told Vanover he was being investigated and that he needed to give up his Social Security Number. He did not comply with the request.

Last week, a caller targeted Lois Feaster, 87, saying that she’d won the Publisher’s Clearinghouse sweepstakes. The man said Feaster needed to send $495 via Western Union before he could come by to give her a check. Feaster handed the phone to her husband, Charles.

“He said, ‘This is a scam. Publisher’s Clearinghouse would not ask for $495 dollars,’” she said.

The couple — who has lived in the same house since 1950 — hope other seniors are aware of the danger posed by fraudulent callers.

“It’s kinda scary,” she said.

Law enforcement is nearly powerless against such scams, according to Ketterling and Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters. Peters said many of the calls originate either out of state or in foreign countries, meaning local police can’t do much about them.

“A lot of time we have no idea where the calls are coming from,” she said.

The best way people can protect themselves is to remember the old adage that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

“It’s just one of those things where if something doesn’t sound right it’s probably not,” she said.

Ketterling agreed. He said the best thing people can do is end the call immediately. Eventually the scammers should give up and move on to the next potential victim.

“Hang up the phone,” he said. “If you get repeated calls from the same number, call the police department.”

Ketterling said the department hasn’t seen a particular surge in scams lately, but the danger is always out there. In addition to the contest and IRS scams, there are numerous other ways con men will use to try to trick people, including giving stories about hardship or pretending to be a distance relative.

“They’ll use some pretty low down ways to get people separated from their money,” he said.