PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A fraud scheme that targeted more than 100 senior citizens in Northwest and Southwest Philadelphia for nearly two years has been shut down.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office (DAO) said five individuals believed to be the architects of the scheme have been arrested and more arrests are expected.
Assistant District Attorney Gillian Dagress of the DAO’s Elder Justice Unit said the defendants would pose as representatives of a utility company and call the victims to tell them there was a problem with their account payment.
“Say I’m calling from PECO, you just paid this bill for $185, there is a problem with your account,” said Dagress. “Now these defendants knew the amount that these victims recently paid so that lends credence to the claim over the phone that they are the public utility and they are going to settle the account."
Dagress said at the same time, someone pretending to be a representative of the victim’s financial institution called to say they are sending someone to the house to get things sorted out.
Officials said the scammers were after credit cards, bank cards, checking account information, and pin numbers. In some cases, they exchanged fake cards with the so-called problem card.
"In a lot of the cases, they are contacting the financial institution where the victim has the account and asking for increases of limits so they can take out maximum withdrawals before the bank catches them,” said Dagress. “They are doing that to make personal purchases. They are also funneling it through hundreds of thousands of dollars in money orders and then they are doing transfers to their own personal and business accounts."
The District Attorney’s Office set up a hotline number at 215-686-5710 for individuals who think they were scammed by the group. They also said victims can call your local police department to file a report.
Officials said the scammers stole more than $1 million dollars from victims.
District Attorney Larry Krasner said more arrests were likely in connection with the scheme.
District Attorney Larry Krasner said more arrests were likely in connection with the scheme.
