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Scam savvy

How to protect yourself from con artists who see you as a target

BY ELLEN MITCHELL | Special to Newsday

10:34 AM EDT, September 5, 2008

'They said, 'Don't worry.' They took me in a limo to their office. They said, 'Sign here, sign there,' and I did."

And that's how Priscila Nano, 66, a divorcee, came to lose the house in Great Neck that she'd lived in and loved for 29 years.

Nano is not alone. Consumer Action, an advocacy group, reports that, while people older than 60 make up 15 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 30 percent of fraud victims.

The FBI warns that seniors are enticing targets because they are perceived as trusting people who often are sitting on financial nest eggs. In general, they also are more likely to be lonely, to have trouble recalling details of a scam and to be embarrassed to report a fraud, the FBI said.

In the current financial climate, home foreclosures, according to the FBI, have become particularly fertile ground for scammers who prey on seniors having difficulty making mortgage payments or obtaining a loan for home repairs. Then, too, myriad other scams target a vulnerable older population, namely -- identity theft, credit-card fraud, health-care scams, insurance fraud, lottery fraud, investment fraud, lonely hearts con games and, finally, funeral and burial schemes.

In recent years, scammers have been going after younger people, too, experts say. Baby boomers, intent on both preserving their youth and increasing their retirement savings, make easy fodder for those offering everything from miracle wrinkle creams, according to the FBI, to get-rich-quick investment scams, according to the North American Securities Administrators Association, a self-regulatory body for the investment industry.

It's become popular for con artists to reach out to baby boomers with events such as "free-lunch seminars," offering a meal and an "expert" and investment tips, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been working to halt frauds targeting retirement investments.

Baby boomers, because they usually have some computer skills, also often are victimized by criminals using the Internet, according to the FBI, which finds that online scams such as phishing (attempts to withdraw private information, usually for purposes of identity theft) and e-mail scamming are on the increase.

Nano is an example of the typical senior mortgage scam victim, authorities say. Following her divorce, she was living alone and on the brink of foreclosure in 2004. A come-on letter from someone purporting to be a mortgage broker and offering to help her refinance captured her eye.

"They said they could get me good credit. It sounded good. I agreed," Nano said. It took only an hour for Nano to unknowingly sign away the deed to her house, which ultimately did go into foreclosure anyway when the new owner defaulted. Forced out of her home, Nano now lives nearby.

The mother of three adult children, Nano did not tell her offspring of her mounting financial difficulties because "they have their own problems; this was my problem."

Helping save the day
Attorneys Douglas Good and Jennifer Hillman of the Uniondale firm Ruskin, Moscou Faltischek worked pro bono to arrange a settlement for Nano in which she eventually got back most of the value of her home. Additionally, the "mortgage broker" who scammed Nano has been told by the courts to pay her a $3.5 million judgment, although he has few documented assets.

"We don't know where he is," added Hillman. "We hope Priscila will see some of that money, but the reality is, it's unlikely."

Artee McKoy, 94, had two homes stolen "out from under him," according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. The daughter of an old friend of McKoy's, Alexandra Gilmore, 36, formerly of Massapequa, allegedly worked her way into the elderly widower's confidence and then, through forgery and other means, worked to steal both the Jamaica home in which he then lived alone and a Bayside house he rented out for income. She also allegedly paid for travel, gifts and her child's dental work with McKoy's credit cards.

Both Gilmore and the "buyer," Rebecca Tharpe, 30, of Brentwood, to whom she allegedly sold McKoy's Jamaica house, are charged with multiple counts of grand larceny totaling $800,000 and are out on bail. They're further charged under the State Hate Crimes Act, which takes effect if the victim is targeted because he or she is age 60 or older.

"She wriggled her way in. She had him mind-boggled," said McKoy's daughter Mary Thompson, 67, of Gilmore. "She came over every day. Then she took him to her house in Massapequa. I had to call the police. I couldn't even get in to clean."

McKoy, who has Alzheimer's disease, can only shake his head in vague comprehension of what is going on and say, "I worked very hard, two jobs night and day."

Ann Goldweber, director of the Elder Law Clinic at St. John's University School of Law, is working for convictions in McKoy's case and to have McKoy's finances made whole again.

"Our position is he should get back title to both homes and not be responsible for paying back the mortgage, which is held by HSBC.," Goldweber said. "Anything McKoy signed should be voided because of his lack of competency."