[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_05]: This is Scams and Cons News with Jim Grinstead.
[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_01]: In this week's news, a Ferrari executive outraced a scammer,
[00:00:13] [SPEAKER_01]: and a fake contractor destroyed a family's house.
[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_01]: But we begin with a scam preying on pastors.
[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_01]: An Arkansas pastor got a text from someone he thought was a parishioner.
[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_01]: It came from the same area code where he lived so he thought it was real.
[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_01]: The goal was to get the pastor to buy gift cards to help the parishioner.
[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_01]: The thing about pastors and many of the rest of us is that we want to help people we know.
[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_01]: And for pastors, it's part of the job description.
[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_01]: The same thing happened at two other churches in the area.
[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Each church warned parishioners of the scam via their Facebook pages.
[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Members of these churches now have been baptized in the ways of scammers and con artists.
[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_01]: How about those Memphis folks, eh?
[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_01]: After so many scams you'd think they'd learn,
[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_01]: but its citizens took it in the pocketbook again.
[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_01]: This time for $773,000 as part of a phishing scam.
[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, the one where a con artist tries to talk you out of information they can use against you?
[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, city officials hid it from the public when it happened in 2022.
[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_01]: It only came to light this year during a budget committee hearing.
[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_01]: WREG tells more.
[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: The report of scam allegedly took place when someone pretended to be
[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Zellner Construction on an existing city contract where invoices were paid.
[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_00]: The financial loss apparently was never acknowledged during former Mayor Jim Strickland's administration.
[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_00]: City Councilman Jeff Warren says this is not a good reflection
[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: on any city leaders who were in office at the time.
[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think it's a blemish on all of us that were there when it occurred, you know,
[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_02]: but if you think about it, this is a crime.
[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, so this is someone who intentionally deceived people.
[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Your newsletter was told a city employee paid the Memphis company they thought was Zellner $773,695.
[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: But the money didn't go to Zellner, but apparently to a scammer.
[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: When the city realized the mistake, it couldn't get the money back.
[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_02]: This is horrible, you know, but I feel that, you know,
[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_02]: the more things like this that you can find, the better you can run your government.
[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_02]: So if we've got people stealing from us and we don't know, we can't stop it.
[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00]: You're probably asking how could this happen and involving such a large amount of taxpayer money?
[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: City Councilwoman Jerry Green calls this incredibly alarming.
[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_05]: I mean, we have to make sure that we are taking care of the taxpayers' dollars.
[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_05]: That is our number one job, is to be good stewards of their funds.
[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_05]: And so to learn that we have been taken advantage of in some way was very disturbing.
[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_00]: A city official tells WREG the alleged scam happened when the city was operating under COVID-19 era policies
[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: that relaxed protocols and procedures for wire transactions.
[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Since then, tougher pre-COVID policies have been put back in place.
[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_00]: COVID always seems to get the blame for everything.
[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_01]: But can you believe they think it was a good thing that the public lost its money,
[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_01]: suggesting it was a learning experience?
[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, if they think it's such a good thing,
[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_01]: it might have been good to tell city employees to take notes on how to hide the evidence.
[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_05]: Absolutely, we should be putting in every protocol, safeguard,
[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_05]: anything that we can do in place to make sure that this doesn't happen again.
[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_01]: One possible safeguard could be the ballot box.
[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Ferraris are fast, but some of the company's top execs are too.
[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_01]: One of them lapped a scammer.
[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_01]: A text message reportedly sent to the Ferrari exec claimed another company was about to have a big expansion
[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_01]: and Ferrari's help could be needed.
[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_01]: The texter told the Ferrari exec to be prepared for a non-disclosure agreement that would be sent soon.
[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Then came the deep fake voice call explaining why the text came from an unrecognized number.
[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_01]: The wise Ferrari exec then asked the scammer a question
[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_01]: that only the real caller could answer.
[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And that question was, what was the book you recommended to me a few days ago?
[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_01]: The scammer quickly ended the call.
[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Kudos to the Ferrari exec who knew how scams are run and how not to fall for them.
[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_01]: This is Scams and Cons News.
[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_01]: A Georgia couple was bulldozed into a scam that cost them their home.
[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_01]: In 2021, an alleged contractor offered a hand with wood flooring he saw in a pile
[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_01]: next to the elderly couple's home.
[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_01]: The man claimed to be a Christian and promised to fix the house up for them.
[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_01]: No surprise here, the man was a con artist.
[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_01]: He told the 73-year-old woman living in the house he could do the job for $143,000.
[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_01]: The couple agreed, took out a loan, and work began on the house.
[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_01]: The money was to be paid out as the work progressed.
[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_01]: All it took to get started was $60,000.
[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_01]: The first nail was pulled out of the living room and before long the room had been stripped
[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_01]: of everything, the sheet rock, insulation, and ceiling.
[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_01]: They learned the man hadn't pulled a permit from the city to do the work
[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_01]: and with $60,000 of their money in his pocket, he was gone.
[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't the first time police had encountered this scammer.
[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_01]: They say he's taken advantage of homeowners looking to repair damage from calamities.
[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_01]: The con artists often pose as claims examiners so they have access to the insurance funds.
[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_01]: The couple has little recourse.
[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Even local charities who help people in need
[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_01]: say fixing the problem would cost more than they could afford to give.
[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_01]: It's not exactly a George Clooney type of scam,
[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_01]: but Las Vegas skimmers are betting they can rob people of their money.
[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Over the last couple of days, federal agents and local police have visited about
[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_03]: 1,500 businesses here in the valley.
[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_03]: They recovered 18 skimmers.
[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_03]: Crooks are targeting everything from debit cards to EBT benefits.
[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Skimmers are devices hidden inside ATM and other payment machines.
[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_01]: They capture the information needed to access someone's bank account.
[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_03]: Marnie Whalen says it is beyond frustrating.
[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_03]: Crooks using skimmers like these to steal from clients with the Division of Welfare
[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_03]: and Supportive Services, going after money loaded onto a family's account
[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_03]: that they need to put food on the table.
[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_04]: Between July and March we had about 1,600 claims
[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_04]: that totaled about $500,000 in benefits that we were able to reimburse.
[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_04]: For the month of April we've had close to 2,000 claims
[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_04]: and another $500,000 just in the month of April.
[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_03]: So it is just exploding?
[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_03]: This week, agents with the Secret Service joined local law enforcement to search out
[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_03]: and remove skimmers at various locations around the valley.
[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_03]: ATMs and gas pumps are popular targets.
[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Some skimmers fit directly over a credit card keypad,
[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_03]: while others are smaller than a quarter.
[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Police say it's best to use a credit card instead of a debit card.
[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Scammers sometimes hide cameras and gas pumps to record your PIN number.
[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And beware as you insert your card.
[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_01]: If it doesn't slide easily into the slot, there may be a skimmer inside.
[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_01]: And lastly, from the Scams and Cons Department of Pinnography,
[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_01]: a scammer stripped an investor out of more than $1 million
[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_01]: by saying the money would go to websites
[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_01]: featuring adult entertainers performing on webcams.
[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Two other investors were taken for a total of $170,000.
[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Prosecutors said the con artist transferred $200,000 to his personal bank account
[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_01]: and spit it on things like luxury cars, a new Ford F-50 truck, and gambling.
[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_01]: He faces up to 20 years in prison, where I'm sure he'll hope to never drop the soap
[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_01]: unless the cameras are running.
[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_01]: This is Scams and Cons News.