By Hollyann Preisel
One by one, they shared harrowing stories. Phone calls demanding money. E-mails announcing they had won a prize. A call from the bank explaining someone was trying to cash a check from their account for their life savings, with their name on it.
But one woman, a local snowbird from Massapequa, maybe best summarized the roller coaster of emotions felt in such situations: fear, terror and regret. One day, she got a phone call saying that her grandson had been arrested.
“We have your grandson, Anthony, here,” she remembered the caller saying. “I got so upset. They said they had Anthony in jail, and I couldn’t believe my Anthony would be in jail.”
The price to get him out? $1,500.
The timeline? Now.
“I actually went to the bank and got the $1,500 and dropped it off,” said the woman, who was still so traumatized she asked not to be named, but understood the importance of sharing her ordeal.
She reacted emotionally and fell into the trap that many old adults do. That is why the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office and the Town of Oyster Bay held a series of free Senior Scam Prevention Seminars in 2024 that were intended to teach seniors how to identify the signs of a scam and protect themselves and their finances. They all gathered to learn from and help one another in the hope of preventing future scams.
The most common schemes include mailbox fishing, check washing, electronic phishing, skimming and scam phone calls. All the scams can lead to identity theft and monetary losses.
“Working together with leaders like Supervisor Joseph Saladino, we can fight back against senior scams across our county and blunt their impact on our most vulnerable residents,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said.
“The presentation let me know that this is an expanding problem. Just in terms of the amount of money that people have lost and, unfortunately, the amount of people who have fallen victim,” said Patricia Brown-Coleman, a former Farmingdale School District employee who attended multiple events.
She came for further information and left with tools like a Uni-ball 10-point pen to avoid check washing and tips like:
“Don’t answer the phone. Just don’t do it,” she said, adding, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
She understands the damage that follows fraud.
“It’s unfortunate what we have to do to protect ourselves,” Brown-Coleman said.
“It’s unfortunate what we have to do to protect ourselves.”
Patricia Brown-Coleman, former Farmingdale School District Employee
The anti-fraud seminars were presented by Lauren Littman and Jennifer Contreras, two senior NCDA investigative attorneys. Both speakers used PowerPoints and videos to refresh information that was already known to most while updating attendees on new scams.
“When we talk to seniors, we’re teaching them about the tech, telling them what to look out for, to question everything, and most importantly, who to contact if they believe they’re being targeted,” Littman said.
Officials know how crippling the effects of elder fraud can be, and educational NCDA seminars like these are the best defense for many older adults.
“They are always coming up with new ways to scam people, and it’s good to know exactly what’s going on,” said Jennie Purpura, another local attendee from Massapequa.
According to the NCDA, “The presentation gives detailed examples of the different types of scams seniors may encounter and provides seniors with step-by-step instructions on how to verify website URLs and how to check that they are encrypted, checking that email addresses are legitimate, and other tips on using technology safely and keeping their information secure.”
This includes a discussion on check washing. Scammers use chemicals like acetone or bleach alongside taping techniques to keep and erase specific pieces of information on a check. For example, they might want to keep a signature but change a dollar amount.
Two retired NCDA employees attended the event and both shared their personal experiences with check washing. One woman’s bank received a check 50 times greater than what she originally wrote. The other had a check for $43.66 cashed in for $64,000.66 through the tampering with check washing.
“I almost died when I got the phone call, and I went to the bank and I looked at it,” said one retired employee who did not want to be named.
The other retiree, who also did not want to be named, said, “I wasn’t sure about how acetone was used and the taping of the check. I didn’t know how it all worked. So, I thought back to when it happened to me.”
The feeling of concern never left the room, and those in the crowd wanted to know what was being done to thwart scammers.
“As prosecutors, we work every day for the people of Nassau County to ensure that they are protected,” Contreras said. “And when they are preyed upon, we do everything we can to hold criminals accountable for the damage they’ve caused.”
The attendees now know what they are up against, including if they get woken up by a frantic 3 a.m. phone call.
“For your own safety, don’t answer the phone because if somebody’s dead, they’re still going to be dead at 9 a.m.,” Brown-Coleman said.
The NCDA plans to continue these programs.
The NCDA encourages victims to call 911 and report financial abuse or scams to the Criminal Complaint Unit. For more information, call (516) 571-3505 or email info@NassauDA.org
