PORTLAND, Maine — FairPoint Communications and Maine law enforcement agencies are teaming up on an effort to educate the public on telephone scams across northern New England that are targeting the elderly.
FairPoint and law enforcement officials are holding a press conference Wednesday to release details on a coordinated effort to prevent the scams. They’ll be joined by a relative of a victim and representatives from agencies representing the elderly.
FairPoint is the largest landline telephone and Internet company in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
The company says con artists are preying on elderly victims by telling them they’ve won a lottery but need to make a payment to cash in.
They also should be considering the robo calls from “card services” informing you that they can lower your interest rate. Funny thing they don’t even know what credit cards you might have–just want you to provide them with that information.
or if you have them at all.. i must be one of the few people on the planet that doesn’t have a vista or mastercard and i still get them cauz they act like i have one
No kidding! The “extended warrantee” for your car was a good one. The recording would say your warrantee is about to expire, then you’d talk to the rep and they’d ask, “What is the make and model of your car?” Don’t you know?? You called me! [click]
About a month ago I started getting calls telling me I could “win” a weekend cruise just for answering a poll. I’m offended that there are people out there who think I’d be dumb enough to fall for that.
Every once in a while they get someome who’s got dementia, alzheimer’s, or is otherwise mentally incompetent and they take advantage if the individual doesn’t have someone overseeing their affairs. To the scammers, it’s like fishing…you may have 1000 swim by your hook, but if you catch one it can pay off big.