Scammers share lists of targets

Underground networks of schemers buy, sell directories of potentially easy prey

Does it seem like you’re a magnet for phone calls, online offers or mailed letters offering you everything from cash awards to a jail sentence if you don’t send money immediately?

It’s not your imagination. You likely are a target, and that’s probably because you’re on some kind of list that scammers buy and sell among themselves.

On that list, you are in good company with Noma Russell of Albuquerque, who says she has gotten at least three scam calls a day “ever since I can remember.”

“I’m crippled and can’t get to the phone,” she says.

The 81-year-old woman says her friends are similarly bombarded, and they provide a sort of scam support group for each other: “We discuss this all the time,” she said.

Older people are susceptible, she says, because most are unfamiliar with computers and other technology that are the tools of many predators.

“All this jargon you can’t understand … we didn’t grow up that way,” she said. “We were very trusting, and we didn’t have all these devices to scam us. We’re smart in other ways.”

Connie Quillen of the Better Business Bureau says “a whole underground network of scammers” shares lists of people who are considered easy marks.

There’s money to be made in putting together such a list and selling them to fellow scheming scammers. The list can include people who have already fallen victim to one scam or another, or “a whole new directory of people who are … exhibiting the behavior of an easy target,” says Quillen, executive assistant at the BBB that serves New Mexico and southwestern Colorado.

That could be you if, for example, you once entered an online sweepstakes or perhaps submitted your personal information on a website for free information or other offers. Aspects of your identity are out there in the Web world, and they don’t go away.

The same holds true for solicitations that are sent by mail.

The best way to tell whether an email or letter is legitimate is to review the privacy policy of the company asking for your personal information, she said.

“They should tell you who your information will be shared with,” Quillen said. “If there isn’t a privacy policy then I wouldn’t give my information, but even if there is, I’d still proceed with caution.”

The bad news is that once you’re on the list, “there really isn’t anything you can do to get off,” Quilllen said.

You could, as a last resort, change your phone number and suffer the inconvenience. But if you do that, be sure that you protect your private information so you don’t end up back where you started.

If gift cards are on your holiday shopping list this year, there are some things you should keep in mind.

Be aware that gift cards are prime scam territory. Employees or customers at a store that sells gift cards have been known to sneak a scratch on the back of the card, where it lists the card’s number. This gives them access to the account, so they can cash in before you do.

Avoid this by making sure the card you buy has an intact scratch-off section and that if it comes in a package, that the

wrapping is intact. Report a damaged card to the store selling it. It’s also a good idea to give the recipient your receipt so they can verify the card’s purchase in case it is lost or stolen.

The Albuquerque Police Department is warning of a new twist on the arrest-warrant scam. This is the one where someone calls you claiming to be from your local law enforcement agency. They tell you they have a warrant and you will be arrested unless you buy a prepaid card and quickly call back with the card’s number.

The latest high-tech version of this is that the phone number you are to call is linked with the police agency’s actual voicemail message system.

“The criminals are now looping phone calls through what sounds like a legitimate police agency phone mail system as a way to dupe the victims,” APD spokesman Tanner Tixier says.

Here’s the advice from Tixier: “… law enforcement will never call and ask for any payment information over the phone. Additionally, you should always be wary any time you are asked to pay for something legitimate with a `prepaid card.”