It’s not just your grandmother that scammers in Charlotte are targeting – it’s you, too

But one demographic is the most vulnerable. No, not the elderly.

“What we’re finding is that all demographics are targeted,” said Tom Bartholomy, president and CEO of the region’s Better Business Bureau. “But the most vulnerable is the 18-24 age group, and the least susceptible are senior citizens.”

When I couldn’t hide my surprise, he laughed and said that he was surprised, too. In fact, his way of thinking about scams has been flipped on its head.

“They’re tech-savvy, but they’re not scam-savvy at all,” he said of the younger generation. When college students and recent graduates are targeted, they often fall victim to employment scams, though the total amount of money lost often stays in the hundreds rather than the thousands.

One junior at Johnson C. Smith, after applying for a handful of internships, received an e-mail from somebody who he thought was with Procter & Gamble.

He’d been accepted as an intern, it said, and all interns received a computer – but legally, there was a catch. He’d have to be the one to purchase it, though they would, of course, cover it.

Two days later, he received a cashier’s check in a FedEx package for $7,800, which he was to deposit into his personal checking account before wiring down to the company’s partner in Florida.

It wasn’t until the bank called, telling him that he had to make good on the check that turned out to be counterfeit, that he realized what had happened.

The scams only become more ruthless with age.

Preying on fear

“Scammers prey on peoples’ fears,” Bartholomy explained. “They pose as the IRS, debt collectors, the FBI… nobody wants to be in trouble with those guys.”

When targeting adults ages 25 to 30, scammers typically go the debt collection route – and make sure that there’s a kernel of truth in each call they make. They’ve somehow gained access to vaults of data containing names of people who have taken out loans and call to threaten jail time and ruined credit if the outstanding balance isn’t paid off in full.

This hits home hard and fast for a good bit of Charlotte’s population, especially those just beginning to work toward paying off the thousands of dollars worth of student loan debt they’re saddled with.

“If you’re in the demographic, I’d anticipate receiving calls,” he said.

What if your loan was paid off years ago?

Well, that’s tricky. Most people, understandably, given in to the overwhelming sense of fear and confusion when faced with a threat regarding their finances, especially when they can’t prove otherwise with anything more than, “I paid it off.”

Don’t give in, Bartholomy urged. Instead, fight back by demanding the scammer to prove their claim to you before you begin to entertain the idea of paying off a balance that you don’t think is valid.

The overwhelming question in each case is this: How do they get the data, and how can it be protected? The Better Business Bureau often works with the FBI and Secret Service to shut a scam down (though the money is often forever lost), but the bigger challenge is finding a solution to protect the vulnerable.

And yes, your grandparents are still vulnerable, especially to both the “Grandparent Scam” and the “Microsoft Scam.”

When a local woman, whose identity is being withheld, bought a new computer, she received a phone call from someone letting her know that it had been hacked. Even at 72, she caught on quickly and hung up.

The next time she opened the computer, though, her screen “locked up” and a message told her that it had, indeed, been hacked – but that for $299, the group that she had just hung up on would fix it for her. In order to do so, she was going to need to download the software that would grant them access to it. They’d handle the rest, but only if they got the money first.

“They wanted her checking account information over the phone, but she said she couldn’t do that,” her daughter said. Their demands for payment escalated to prepaid debit cards from Walmart and, when she refused, a money order.

Finally, she turned the computer off and tucked it into a bag to be taken into a reliable serviceman. Within an hour, her daughter says, she got another phone call demanding an explanation as to why she’d turned the computer off.

After it was looked at by an IT professional, it was determined that though the scammer was in her computer, nothing had been embedded.

“Anybody that has a computer has gotten an error message,” Bartholomy said. “So it’s easy to fall for.”

Though in this instance, the hackers were stopped before they were able to do permanent damage, he describes the rest of the process as easily believable. When the victim downloads the alleged “patch” to fix the computer, they’re actually downloading a video that appears to be an IT professional taking control of the screen; In reality, scammers are hiding behind it, stealing their identity.

To add insult to injury, when they instruct the victim to do a hard reboot to finish the process, bots are activated that render the computer useless.

Can you hear me?

The most common scam the Better Business Bureau has seen since the beginning of the year is what Bartholomy calls the “Can You Hear Me?” scam – and it’s well on its way to being this year’s IRS scam.

He described it to me like this: When the victim answers the phone, what they hear is static and the caller asking, “Can you hear me?”

“I mean, what are you going to say if someone asks if you can hear them on the phone?” he said. But it’s the verbal ‘yes’ that gets the scam rolling.

The ‘yes’ is recorded and then used as a verbal agreement to purchase things like vacation or a credit card – but it’s crucial to remember that it isn’t proof.

“They’ll say that they’ll sue or arrest you for backing out of the verbal contract, but legally, they can’t use a recording.”

Today’s headlines are tomorrow’s scams

Take a look at any major news source and you’ll see the topics most likely to be used in scamming situations, Bartholomy said.

The best way to protect yourself is to know what you’re up against. Scams typically involve a money order or a pre-loaded debit card (which have become scammers’ preferred method of payment), but the easiest thing to do is fight it on the front end.

“Just say no,” he explained. “Even though that’s not that simple.”

At the very least, he implores people to educate themselves using the BBB’s website, specifically the news section, And to always question the validity of the person on the other end of the line. Official bodies such as the IRS don’t often operate over the phone – in fact, they hardly ever pick up the phone when it comes to collections.

Though the kingpins of these operations do get found (the BBB worked with the FBI and Secret Service to shut down the IRS scam, which was happening in India and scammed people out of $300 million), it’s rare that the money lost does.

“It’s like handing that scammer cash and just walking away,” Bartholomy said of falling victim. “You can never be too careful.”