A Quad Cities crowd on Monday night, March 4, heard heart-breaking stories of Iowans being conned out of money from scammers. Some of those stories included: Martha Jo Ennis, a retired teacher from Marion, was conned out of more than $1 million in a Ponzi investment scheme. Another Iowa woman was convinced to withdraw $40,000 […]
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A Quad Cities crowd on Monday night, March 4, heard heart-breaking stories of Iowans being conned out of money from scammers. Some of those stories included:
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- Martha Jo Ennis, a retired teacher from Marion, was conned out of more than $1 million in a Ponzi investment scheme.
- Another Iowa woman was convinced to withdraw $40,000 from her bank account. (The criminals also told her not to tell bank officials why she needed the money and lied to her that they were investigating the bank.)
- A teacher from Boone, was told she had to pay $12,000 because police were investigating her as part of a child porn ring.
- A DeWitt man was convinced he had to pay federal officials money or he would be arrested. A caller informed him that he was the subject of a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation and convinced him to take money to a Davenport location and convert $42,000 into Bitcoin. The man had second thoughts and hung up on the caller. A few seconds later, he received another call. This time, the caller ID came up as the Davenport Police Department and the caller said he was a Davenport officer and told the man if he didn’t make the financial transition he would be arrested. The man sent the money.
- Always double check. If a person calls and wants money, hang up the phone and call a trusted advisor. He added that Iowans’ reputation for being nice people – called “Iowa nice” – is one of the reasons scammers target people in the state. Mr. Ommen said it's OK to say no and hang up the phone.
- Report scams. People can report scams by sending emails to consumer@ag.iowa.gov or by calling (515) 281-5926 or (888) 777-4590.
- Never judge a person’s integrity by the sound of his or her voice on the phone. Scammers know how to sound friendly in order to gain your trust.
- Take your time. Take the time to research, get advice, and learn more about investing.
- Watch out for “reload” scams. If you lost money once, don’t let scammers trick you into trying to recoup the money.
- The presenters on Monday also recommended that participants contact the three major credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion – and put a freeze on their credit. This will keep criminals from approving any new credit account in your name.