About 75 Sherburne County Seniors joined the SALT council for the 19th annual Seniors and Law Enforcement Together day out at The Friendly Buffalo last Wednesday.

Seniors gathered for a light breakfast and the program began with a welcome from Sheriff Joel Brott and a State of The County address by County Administrator Steve taylor.

 

The first guest speaker was Gary Johnson of the Better Business Bureau, who shared information on scams, Better Business Bureau reviews and how to be empowered to take action to protect oneself and others in today’s marketplace.

 

“We are not a government agency,” Johnson noted. “We are funded by accredited businesses. We are based in Burnsville and we were the first BBB is the country.” 

 

Businesses are rated from A+ through F, depending on numerous factors including their length of time in business and if any government actions have been taken against them. A non-accredited business is simply a rated business which is not a member of the BBB.

 

The BBB handles complaints against businesses by fowarding them to the company for a response.

 

“We are not an enforcement agency but typically these complaints do get resolved,” Johnson said.

 

Johnson said he does a lot of work in senior outreach and youth education. Seniors are a target for scams because they tend to trust people and respect authority.

 

Johnson recommends getting an answering machine to handle telemarketer calls in addition ot getting on the no call list.

 

“If an offer sounds to good to be true, it probably is,” he said. “Invitations to financial seminars or investment planning are also often directed at seniors.

 

“I have eaten a few good meals from those,” he said. “But don’t make snap decisions under pressure. If they say do it now or it will be too late, don’t do it.”

 

Johnson says people should check their bank statements monthly for unauthorized charges and getting a free credit statement every year. 

 

He cautioned against emotional appeals from charities, noting that it is too easy to get ones name on a list to become a target for other organizations and businesses soliciting funds. The BBB has a Wise Giving section on their website where charities are rated depending on how much of each donation goes to administration and how much funds the cause.

 

Other common scams include lottery scams, the grandparent scam, the home repair or improvement scam  and the IRS scam. 

 

“One IRS scam involved calling the person and telling them the IRS owed them money and if they would just give their account number over the phone, the IRS would make the deposit,” Johnson said. The IRS does not call or send e-mails if you owe them money or vice versa. They will send a letter in the regular mail.

 

Natural disasters like tornados and earthquakes bring out scammers.

 

“More people have been married to Kim Kardashian than killed by ebola in this country,” Johnson said. “Don’t get caught up in the treadmill. Don’t send money. Don’t fall for it.”

 

Among the most common and unfeeling scams are the romance tricksters, the fastest growing and most lucrative of all scams. 

 

Speaker Jody Buhl found  romancescams.org online at Yahoo. It’s a support group for victims which draws 2.5 million hits per month on their website and has 25,000 active members with a total membership of 70,000. 

 

“Many scams are from Nigeria or Ghana,” Jody said. “And the victims don’t talk about them because they feel shame at how gullible they have been. To date we have had 2,330 people report losses totaling $37 million or an average of $16,000 per person, and that rate is climbing.”

 

Victims are often chosen from dating websites like match.com. Jody estimates as many as half the profiles on the website are false and little is done to prevent this crime.

 

A scammer will “fall in love” online, use sweet words and groom their victim over time.

 

“It may  take years,” she said. “They will befriend your friends and family and they have cohorts who will play roles for you to talk to. They will send you gifts of flowers, chocolates or teddy bears to verify your address. They will also  travel internationally because they live in Africa. They call you by terms of endearment so they don’t forget who you are and call you the wrong name. They will tell you they pray for you. Expect to get calls often, in the middle of the night. That is to give you sleep deprivation so you make bad decisions.”

 

Eventually the scammer will get around to asking for money so the two of you can be together,” said Jody, who admitted she was taken in by such a scam herself, although now she is happily married.

 

Scams can involve reshipping items, which have likely been stolen, check cashing and check forwarding, all of which could end up with the victim being charged with a crime.

 

Local Police Chiefs Brent Baloun of Becker, Joel Scharf of Big Lake and Ron Nierenhausen of Elk River spoke to the seniors. 

 

Chief Baloun noted Becker was named the 11th safest city in Minnesota. Chief Scharf noted Big Lake had the lowest crime rates. Chief Nierenhausen spoke briefly about Officer Besser and how much he will be missed by their department.

 

“We have a very good working relationship,” said Sheriff Brott. “It may not be the case in other counties but we really enjoy working together.”

 

Lunch of soup, salad and sandwiches was served before Elk River Police Officer Dan Block demonstrated the use of a taser.

 

“I have been tassered six times,” he said. “There will not be a seventh.”

 

Aside from law enforcement, other resources at the lunch included Great River Faith In Action, Guardian Angels Senior Housing, Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), Senior Linkage Line, Shepherd of Grace Senior Community and the SALT Council.