Watch your wallet: from romance scams to AI schemes, thousands hustled from Cape victims

Between late 2018 and early 2019, men began incessantly calling Robert Tobey's landline phone, said his daughter Alissa Tobey-Johnson.

By the time she and her family realized her father was being scammed, he had already lost thousands of dollars.

"They were telling him they needed help. And he thought they were friends," said Tobey-Johnson. "It blew my mind and broke my heart."

Tobey, who lives in Connecticut, had been diagnosed with early-stage dementia. Tobey-Johnson said her father wasn't aware the scammers were manipulating him. He willingly gave them his Social Security number, and they re-routed his monthly $1,200 deposits to a different bank account.

Over the phone, scammers pushed him to buy gift cards from Walmart, which he sent by mail to addresses in Texas and Washington state.

Tobey also sent scammers Walmart-to-Walmart money transfers.

"We’re estimating between the Social Security fraud, money wires and gift cards, he lost at least $5,000," said Tobey-Johnson.

Far from being the only person scammed

Tobey is far from being the only person being scammed. According to the National Council on Aging, five million older Americans are victimized yearly with an annual loss of $36.5 billion.

While the most common financial scams include government impersonation scams, sweepstakes scams, and robocall scams, Barnstable Police Detective Sgt. Kevin Connolly said scams also come in the form of friendly conversational phone calls, emails and texts.

"Once they get these victims on the phone, they sink their hooks into them and fleece them of everything they've worked for their entire lives," said Connolly.

In a sweepstakes scam, according to the Federal Trade Commission, a person gets a call, email, or letter saying they have won a sweepstakes, lottery, or prize — like a new car or a digital tablet. The red flag comes in the next step: they ask the person to pay money or give them their account information to get the prize.

Government impersonation scams often start with a call, email, text, or social media message from someone who says they’re with a government agency, the commission says. Scammers might give an “employee ID number” to sound as though it is an official call, and they may have personal information about the potential victim.

"They often say they work for the FTC, Social Security Administration, IRS, or Medicare — but sometimes they give you fake agency names, like the non-existent National Sweepstakes Bureau," the commission advises. "They’ll also give you some reason why you need to send money or give them your personal information immediately. If you get a call or message like this, hang up or ignore it. It’s a scammer."

What kinds of scams are out there?

Unfortunately, said Barnstable Police Detective Steven Barrette, scams are only bound by a con artist's imagination.

There are grandparent scams, grandchild-in-jail scams, Internal Revenue Service scams, Social Security scams, lottery scams, "and the list goes on," said Barrette.

In the grandchild-in-jail scam, according to the FBI, victims are told that a grandchild is under arrest and needs bail money. The grandparent is then told to package the money a certain way and hand it off to a ride-share service driver.

But law enforcement would never make such arrangements.

"Once you think you've caught onto them all, they come up with something else," said Barrette, who works out of Barnstable Police's investigative services division.

Barrette is also a task force officer with the United States Secret Service and retrieves money for scam victims across the country.

Romance scams have snagged Cape Codders

Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands representatives know of individuals swindled by Netflix scams, high-pressure phone sales for appliance warranties, and internet purchasing scams, said agency Communications and Development Manager Laura Roskos

Romance scams have also become extremely prevalent in the last several years, said Darlene Skog, the money management program manager for the South Dennis-based nonprofit.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, romance scammers create fake profiles on dating sites and apps or contact the victim through social media sites like Instagram or Facebook. "The scammers strike up a relationship with you to build up trust, sometimes talking or chatting several times a day. Then, they make up a story and ask for money," the commission says.

"I've had experience helping a few elderly gentlemen who lost thousands and thousands of dollars because of romance scams," said Skog.

According to Social Catfish, a company that performs reverse image searches to verify online identities, Americans lost about $1.3 billion to romance scams in 2022, up from $547 million in 2021.

A reluctance to seek help from the police

The sad thing is, said Skog, is watching how embarrassed a victim is when they realize they've been hoodwinked.

"That often stops them from seeking help from the police," said Skog.

When a victim's family calls police to report romance scams, it's often hard for the victim to acknowledge that they've been scammed, said Barrette.

"They either don't want to believe it or they don't care," said Barrette, with Barnstable police.

Barrette recounted a case in which a Barnstable romance scam victim sent $650,000 to scammers in Vietnam and China. The amount was the person's entire inheritance, said Barrette.

"He developed a relationship with someone who said they could invest the money for him," said Barrette. "They had a website that mirrored a legit investment firm."

Romance scams, said Connolly, also with Barnstable police, can be difficult to remedy because a victim needs to be declared incompetent for families to take financial control. Otherwise, they can give their money to whomever they want, he said.

Scams using artificial intelligence are also taking off, said Connolly. Con artists can pull social media videos and manipulate the voices to sound like a victim's family member.

"They put time and effort into these scams to make them believable to get as much money as possible," said Connolly. "It's scary how real the voices sound."

What are the red flags to look out for?

Connolly and Barrette travel across the Cape and Islands to give scam prevention workshops. Their next workshop, which will teach attendees about how to recognize scam attempts, will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on April 18 at the Barnstable Adult Community Center.

Every police officer in the state was also given informational handouts and training to understand how scamming affects their communities.

"The training is so widely adopted that the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Council had us incorporate our presentation into its service training," said Connolly.

During these trainings, the pair tells people to be on guard against pressure calls and immediate demands.

"Scammer will call and say they are the chief of police, and if the victim doesn't pay a certain amount of money immediately, they'll be arrested," said Barrette.

It's the pressure to act during the call that is the red flag, said Barrette. Scammers want to keep victims on the phone so victims can't hang up and verify who the caller is before they send money.

Another warning sign is when intermediaries become involved in scams. During a recent investigation, local police helped an older woman who met someone online who said their husband was on an oil rig and could only receive money in the form of bitcoin. Another person, who she thought was a mutual friend with the online scammer, was sending her cash, which she transferred to bitcoin and sent overseas.

"It's another example of a complex investigation that began with someone who was just trying to help someone else," said Barrette.

If a person receives an email from a credit card, a bank, or a mortgage company asking to change a password or verify a bank account, Connolly said to "pick up the phone and call them directly."

"Or go directly to the bank and find out if it's a scam. Don’t use links they are sending, or phone numbers," Connolly said. "When in doubt, call the police."

Can money be recouped once it's gone?

Barrette said he's helped retrieve about $500,000 for victims in the last two years.

Fraud analysts from local and national banks have developed relationships with Barrette and helped in asset recovery.

"Sometimes they’ve identified something quick enough before the person even knows they have been scammed," he said. "Early detection is key."

In some cases it's too late to recoup any money, but when he can, Barrette said it "feels pretty damn good."

What are some solutions?

Tobey's family took action quickly once he fell victim to scams. His daughter said they established power of attorney based on his dementia diagnosis and transferred ownership of his house to another family member to protect the property. She also purchased a special phone that only allows incoming and outgoing calls to certain phone numbers.

Tobey's family also consulted the Social Security Administration and a lock was added to his account.

"To his day, there's no way to make any adjustment without physically going to a Social Security office and showing multiple forms of identification to make changes," said Tobey-Johnson.

The easiest way to avoid scams, said Connolly, is to stick together.

"I talk to my mom every day. If something went awry in her life, or a pattern changes, I would know about it," he said.

But the most important thing is never to allow emotions to prevent a call to family members or the police if a person has become a victim of a scam.

"If someone broke into your house, you are a victim of a crime and you call the police. This is the same thing," Connolly said. "There's nothing to be ashamed of."

If you feel you've become a victim to a crime, call 508-958-6522 or email 214@barnstablepolice.com or 246@banrstablepolice.com.

Rachael Devaney writes about community and culture. Reach her at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod, Islands help, advice available with money schemes, scams