Retirees targeted in credit card chip scam, Sunrise police say
Residents of a Sunrise condominium community were targeted by fraudsters who tricked them, stole credit cards and made illegal charges on the accounts, crimes that have cost victims thousands of dollars, police say.
This is how it worked: A telephone caller impersonated a fraud investigator or employee of a financial institution or retailer. She lied and said there had been fraudulent activity on the credit cardholder’s accounts, falsely claimed that a person was in custody and that credit card chips needed to be replaced.
Next, a woman, sometimes wearing a light blue hospital-type scrub shirt, showed up at the card holder’s home and forcibly took the credit cards, or the unsuspecting owners would hand them over, along with their personal identification numbers.
The scammers then went on unauthorized shopping sprees at places like Rooms To Go, Target and Walmart, and made unauthorized withdrawals from bank ATMs, police reports say.
The callers have targeted about 30 people in the Sunrise Lakes community, but somewere savvy enough to recognize a con job when they heard one.
Sadly, that wasn’t the case for Karen Rosen Woodward, 64, who is retired.
Shewas preparing for bed on April 8 and said a woman called who claimed to be from her bank’s fraud department and said someone was trying to use her card.
“She said my card didn’t have a chip and they needed to replace it,” Woodward said. “I’m not thinking. I live alone and my mother had just passed and it’s late.”
She said a woman soon came to her door.
“I didn’t think I was going to do it, but I had the card in my hand,” Woodward said. “She was starting to come in and took the card frommy hand. Then I go, ‘Ohmy God, what did I do?’”
Woodward didn’t think she’d ever fall for such a story.
“You hear about scams all the time and you didn’t think and you get caught,” Woodward said. “She sounded professional. They knew my bank, knew where I lived...they had the last four digits ofmy Social Security number. They knew everything aboutmy life and it makes me wonder howthey got it.”
Woodward, who said she had a loss of about $1,000 that was eventually covered by her bank, has advice for her peers.
“Don’t answer the phone or the door if you don’t know who it is,” Woodward said. “I wasn’t going to answer, but I didn’t want my neighbors to be disturbed if she was going to be knocking. I’m screening my calls now.”
She had to change her identification and feels less secure.
“You’re afraid to go out,” Woodward said. “I’m afraid they’re going to come back. And if you leave the house, are they going to break in?”
She said she and her neighbors are watching out for each other.
“The more technology we have, the bigger the scams get and the more sophisticated,” Woodward said. “If I can help somebody, it also helps me to talk about it and to let other people know.
“You hear it on the news and think, that’s not me!” she said. “And I’m a pretty smart person. But when they say it’s the fraud department, you start to panic a little bit. And that’s howthey prey on you.”
The rip-offs at Sunrise Lakes happened in April and photographs of two women who police want to talk to were released Friday. If arrested, they could face strong arm robbery and fraud charges.
“Scam artists have always preyed upon our seniors,” Sunrise Police Officer Michelle Eddy said. “A lot of these victims are on fixed incomes. We want to catch these people. That is the main priority.”
Eddy said losses are “upwards of $20,000,” sometimes borne by the victims and sometimes the banks or credit card issuers.
If you get a call from someone claiming to be your bank or card issuer, do not give them any information, hang up and call your bank or the number on the back of your credit card or ATM card to make sure your accounts are secure, Eddy said.
“The banks aren’t going to ask for your PIN, and they already know your address and bank account information,” she said. “And they are never going to send a representative to your house to replace cards or anything like that.”
The agency said it posted news about the scam around town, at the city’s senior center, in the condo buildings in Sunrise Lakes where there are about 4,000 residents and on social media. But so far, no suspects have been identified.
Sunrise police ask anyone with information about these crimes to call 954-764-4357 or Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477. That organization accepts anonymous tips and pays up to $3,000 for information that leads to an arrest.