April 9, 2007

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  NEWS: Senior Doesn't Fall for Scam

  A senior citizen found an unmetered postcard in her mailbox at her gated community Saturday, which solicited placing complementary fraud alerts on her credit report.
  When Betty Wilcox -who says that she has read about the many instances of scam artists targeting the elderly- read the card, with a Denver return address bearing the name of a business called Identity Rehab Corp., she sensed right away that something was fishy.
  
  The card began with an introduction offering a personalized greeting to Wilcox and purported to inform her about a recent case of identity theft in Chico that led to the arrest of two women on March 16. Arrest records corroborate that three females and one male were taken into custody at a private residence on Notre Dame Boulevard in connection with check fraud, stolen mail and identity theft on the date of March 16. The offer went on to urge Wilcox to place "free fraud alerts on her credit report," followed by a toll-free phone number and the signature of a so-called "identity specialist." Wilcox realized that she'd have to give my credit card number and social security number, and felt uncomfortable about the situation.
  
  When authorities dialed the phone number given on the postcard, the call was intercepted by an answering machine message urging callers to leave their name and phone number so that an employee of Identity Rehab Corp. would be able to return the call when available. Authorities noted that the front of the postcard had a presorted first-class card sticker on the right corner, but was unmetered – which suggests that the card was put in her mailbox by someone, rather than sent through the Post Office.
  
  At present, it is uncertain whether other seniors in Wilcox's community (which requires password access) have received like postcards.
  
  
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