Imagine getting a call saying your relative who is sick with COVID-19 needs a ventilator and if you don’t send money now, that potentially life-saving device will go to someone else. That’s the pitch fraudsters are making to elderly people, according to the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York. Toni Bacon says international scammers are becoming increasingly savvy and authorities need the public’s help to prevent people from becoming so-called “money mules.” WAMC's Jim Levulis spoke with Attorney Bacon.
Bacon: Money mules are people right here in America. Many of them are senior citizens who are operating as an underground banking system for international fraudsters. Fraudsters living overseas who are targeting Americans. So essentially it goes like this, foreign based fraudsters living overseas target Americans to a variety of robocall scams. Many of these folks are elderly, they focus on seniors trying to steal their hard earned savings. But the fraudsters have a problem. They can't get the money out of America. Very few Americans are going to send money over to India or over to West Africa or down to Jamaica, for someone they don't know. But they're willing to send it to someone in Albany, or Syracuse, or Saratoga Springs, someone who sounds like a neighbor, or sounds like a friend. Those are the money mules. And those money mules collect all the victims, the fraud victims’ money, they pull it together, and then they send it overseas to make sure that it gets in the hands of the fraudsters.
Levulis: So when it comes to these schemes, are there specific things that people should be on the lookout for, whether it be you know, a phone call, an email, specific indicators that you would warn people to be on the lookout for?
Absolutely. The first thing, if you don't know the phone number, if you don't recognize the phone number, and there's a pause, a pause or a delay, when you answer the phone, that's likely a robocall. And that's likely a call from a fraudster overseas who's trying to scam you out of your money. A second red flag is someone calling, pretending to be from a government agency. Maybe they're pretending to be the IRS, or the FBI, or an agency that says you owe taxes, and they demand you pay over the phone. The government's not going to call and demand you pay over the phone, that's a second red flag. And a third red flag is a lot of these fraudsters will demand that people pay in gift cards. And one message I'd like to send to all your listeners out there, gift cards are for presents, not payments. Gift cards are for presents for someone for a birthday, or a holiday or a special occasion. Gift cards are not a way to pay bills or pay a debt. And if someone on the phone wants you to pay in gift cards, that's a big red flag to stop and say that might be a scam.
Now, if a person unfortunately does end up sending money in the form of a gift card or any associated form, is that it? Is the money gone? Or are there avenues for recourse?
Unfortunately, oftentimes, that's it. Oftentimes the money is overseas and it's hard to get back. It's in Jamaica, it's in Costa Rica, it's in West Africa. But sometimes, especially if victims act quickly. If they act quickly and they call law enforcement quickly. There can sometimes be ways that we can get the money back. But it really requires someone to call law enforcement right away and we have to be lucky. But with a little bit of luck and some hard work and if we can move fast enough, then sometimes we are able to get some money back for some of these victims.
And is your office in the Northern District of New York seeing any particular uptick in this type of activity?
Absolutely. Absolutely. Very sadly. When the COVID pandemic hit, the fraudsters took advantage of it and they jumped on it right away. So we've certainly seen an increase in scams targeting people related to the COVID-19 pandemic, either very sadly, calling people and saying ‘your relative needs a ventilator, if you don't pay right now we’re going to give it to somebody else.’ And really the relative isn't sick. The relative is not on a ventilator. It's just a scammer. We've seen other scammers saying ‘if you pay us money up front, we can get you a government grant or government assistance.’ Well you don't have to pay up front for a government grant or government assistance and these fraudsters are just stealing the money and further victimizing people who need help. So yes, very tragic. These cold-blooded fraudsters who are living overseas are taking advantage of our friends and neighbors right up here in Northern New York. And they're preying on their fears and trying to steal their hard earned savings.
Say I receive one of these calls and there is a number associated with that. And I turn that over to law enforcement agencies. Is that agency able to track that number? Or does that just go to nowhere?
It absolutely doesn't go to nowhere. We can't investigate what we don't know. And it's very important for people to report fraud, report this type of fraud, and to do it quickly and promptly, because that's how we're able to determine how these transnational criminal organizations, how these foreign fraudsters are working. And so we absolutely encourage everybody, if you are the victim of one of these scams, please report it as quickly as you can. Don't be embarrassed, don't be ashamed. These are professional fraudsters. They're sophisticated networks. They're basically paid trained con artists. And for us to beat them, we all have to work together, every single person in the Northern District of New York, and we need people to report as quickly as they can and as much information as they can, so that we can take down these networks.
And shifting to another topic. U.S. Attorney, back in October, you stood with other law enforcement leaders from the Capital Region, declaring a united front so to say to combat gun crimes following a particularly violent summer. Have you seen any results from that effort yet?
We absolutely are starting to see results for that effort. And first, I'd like to thank all of the community support, the people who are calling in tips who are helping law enforcement find who are these folks who have the guns? Who are the shooters on the street? Who are these people terrorizing neighborhoods, and helping us make a difference and identify those people and bring them to justice.
Are those results that you're seeing are they particularly, you know, certain cases, or is it you're just kind of getting a better cooperation between your office and the various agencies?
It's everything. We certainly are seeing an uptick in cases and an uptick of in gun cases in our district, both in October, and in the month of November. So that's very positive in terms of bringing cases. But bringing cases, prosecution is only part of it. Prevention is an equally important part, and preventing crimes from happening, getting the guns off the street, deterring the shooters, deterring the gangs, and letting them know that the federal government is here. We are looking, we are part of the team. And we're just not going to tolerate people shooting up the streets of Albany, Troy and Schenectady, or anywhere in the Northern District of New York, and that that type of violent crime just needs to end. So it's both. We're seeing some difference made both in terms of prosecutions, but also in terms of the prevention side.
Turning to another subject, President Trump's campaign and some of his supporters have claimed there was election fraud this year. U.S. Attorney General William Barr has said there is no evidence showing widespread fraud. Are you aware of any wrongdoing associated with November's elections in the Northern District of New York?
I would certainly defer all questions about elections, election integrity and security to the Department of Justice, back to main Justice. I couldn't comment on any particular matter with respect to that here.
And now your position is an appointed one. Have you spoken to anybody on President-Elect Joe Biden’s transition team about you remaining as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York?
No, I've not had any interaction with anyone on the transition team.
Do you intend to reach out to the team or will you wait for a call?
Right now my focus is exactly what you said earlier. And that is how do we reduce violent crime? How do we keep the streets safe? How do we keep seniors safe and away from these transnational criminal organizations that are targeting them, especially during this this pandemic, which really makes it – it’s despicable to target people during a time when we are most vulnerable and most in need of help? And so that's really where all my energy is going right now. How do we keep communities safe? How do we keep people safe? And how do we bring to justice those criminals who are trying to prey on innocent seniors?
