Keep your cash safe from scammers

Published 8:40 pm Sunday, March 8, 2009

Sharon Larsen from Mukilteo called me last week sick and tired of the scammers who’d been calling her home. She said she had three such calls in a week and one of them wasn’t even from a real person, just a machine.

The machine said it wanted her to start working for the government mailing out insurance checks to people who had paid off their mortgage and were entitled to a refund.

Larsen said she knew immediately that it was a scam, but she couldn’t help but call another number supplied by the machine to learn more.

“They said I could make up to $38,000 to $39,000 a year from my home mailing out refunds to people,” Larsen said.

Then came the kicker.

“All I had to do was to send $69 today for them to be able to send out their starter kit,” she added.

Of course she didn’t send out the money. And she asked that her number be placed on the company’s do-not-call list. She said she hasn’t put the number on the government’s do-not-call list because it had also been used as a business number and the family had needed to be able to take calls from other businesses.

Coincidentally, Larsen’s call arrived just as I was reading a news release from the state Attorney General’s Office on the top 20 consumer complaints for 2008. Larsen and I guessed that her call last week was in the category ranked 16th on the list — advance fee fraud.

Exactly 395 people complained to the state’s consumer division last year about scammers who wanted them to send out some sort of payment, usually in order to participate in a made-up money-making endeavor.

Larsen was hoping we’d warn others because she thinks that scams are on the rise because of the recession. “I expect it to get worse before it gets better,” she said.

One of the other calls she’d gotten a couple days earlier was what appeared to be a scam to sell her an extended warranty on her car. That one didn’t have its own complaint category last year, but maybe it’s making a comeback.

It’s hard to tell whether Larsen’s right about an upsurge in scams, but I think she is.

The state statistics note that there were 25,197 written complaints last year, way up from 2007, which saw 19,868 complaints. In 2002 and 2003, which has saw some tough economic times, there were 25,627 and 24,597 complaints, respectively.

Tough times and scams seem to go hand in hand. Sadly the victims are often the people with the least amount of spare cash who are lured by the idea of making some quick money.

Not all of these complaints to the state were about scams, but the list does show which industries got people ticked off last year. Here’s a look at the top 10 of the most complained about industries for 2008: 1. phone companies (at the top since 2001), 2. retailers, 3. debt collectors, 4. auto sellers, 5. electronic shopping, 6. contractors, 7. books, magazines and directory publishers, 8. cable networks and program distribution, 9. health care, and 10. commercial banks.

Banks moved up, by the way, from 13th in 2007. Also moving up were retailers, auto dealers, books and magazine sellers, cable companies and health care agencies.

The attorney general’s office noted that it isn’t just collecting complaints. It also tries to help at least some people get their money back. In 2008, it mediated a record amount of $6.84 million, up from $5.43 million in 2007.

But I recommend you don’t count on getting your money back, especially from scammers. The better move is not to give it up in the first place, so stay smart in 2009.

Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459; benbow@heraldnet.com.