By STEPHANIE VETTENBURG-SHAFFER

McKean County District Attorney

(Editor’s note: The information in this special series is for educational purposes only and is not intended to address any particular case, nor should any articles be taken as legal advice. Always consult with an attorney on any legal matter.)

Financial schemes are nothing new. Anyone can be a victim of one. I have seen the most educated people fall victim to a financial scam. All of us are susceptible to scams for different reasons and no one can ignore the threat of becoming a victim because it could cost us our entire life’s savings.

The internet has increased the ability of scammers to steal money from citizens. Most of us think that we would never fall for a scam, but when I see the different victims who have been scammed in McKean County, I can assure you, they are no different than the rest of us.

Scams either prey on our fear or the promise of a reward.

Many people have heard what they commonly refer to as ‘the grandparent scam’ where a scammer calls an elderly person pretending to be their grandchild. The scammer acts distraught and claims they need money because something terrible has happened — whether they’ve been arrested and need bail money or they’ve had an accident. The distraught behavior may cause the ‘grandparent’ to not be able to tell it is not their grandchild’s voice — whether the scammer is crying or whispering on the other end of the phone to mask the voice. From the grandparent’s end, their emotions are elevated due to hearing their distraught grandchild and their guard is down too — negating any hesitation they may have had. This is a perfect scenario for a scammer to convince the grandparent to send money — and to do it now (without time to think).

Another scam allows scammers to extort money after creating a fake relationship with someone online.

With Facebook, it is very easy to assume another identity and it is very easy to create relationships. Young people in our county and elsewhere have been the victim of sexual extortion. This occurs after

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Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer somebody created a “relationship” with them online. They believe the relationship is real and it turns flirtatious. To promote that relationship, the young victim is requested to send an intimate photograph. Once something is online, it is there forever. And after the scammer has obtained the intimate photograph, they threaten the victim that, if they don’t send them money, they will send the photo to everyone on their “friends list,” which would include their family, teachers and friends.

I recently read an article where this happened to a young guy in another area and he committed suicide over the embarrassment of the situation. Teenage children of people I know have been the victim of this type of scam.

More and more, I receive calls from local law enforcement about reports they received where a victim was contacted by a scammer pretending to be a police officer. The scammer tells the victim they have a warrant for their arrest — it could be from an unpaid parking ticket from years ago or something else — and, to avoid being arrested, they must immediately send the scammer money. Sometimes the victim is directed to purchase gift cards and read the account number on the card to the scammer or they are directed to send money using an online banking account that allows them to transfer the money to the scammer.

Even if the majority of people don’t send money, if the scammer calls 100 people and a few agree to send them $1,000, that’s a nice profit just for making a few calls.

I think a lot of people are scammed but don’t report it because it may not be a large amount of money or they may be too embarrassed to tell anyone.

The scam that I see the most often involves check schemes. I think these scams are more often reported because they usually involve a bank. This scam may occur with someone you think you have hired to do a job or someone you believe you have created a romantic relationship with after “meeting” them on Facebook.

Regardless of who the victim thinks they are dealing with, the scammer sends the victim a check to cash. For some reason, the scammer cannot cash this check himself. So he needs the victim to cash the check or deposit it into the victim’s own account and immediately withdraw it and then send him the money.

I am aware of three local cases where this has occurred. In each of the three local cases, women were contacted online by someone that they believed was interested in them for a romantic relationship. One of the scammers even pretended to be a celebrity. In each case, the women cashed the checks and sent all or most of the money to the scammer, thinking they were in a relationship and not knowing this was a scam.

The reason this crime is reported more often than the others is because the banks become the victim when they discover that the original check that was deposited is not a valid check and they contact law enforcement.

Despite being told by the banks or police that this is a scam, in at least two recent cases, the women continued to cash checks for the scammer and send the money to them. This can — and has — led to criminal charges.

I saw this same type of scam when I had a law firm. A person who we later came to believe was working with another scammer met with my law firm partner over an alleged civil matter claiming that another person did something wrong and owed them money. Without any effort or negotiation by my firm, the person accused of wrongdoing sent my firm a very large check. I recall it was around $300,000. The person said they were taking responsibility for whatever it was they were accused of and sent the check for that reason. My firm was to deposit the check, take a small fee for the firm, and then send the rest of the money to our “client,” who was secretly working with them. Of course, the check was not valid. Had we done what they wanted, they would have been successful in stealing nearly $300,000. My partner recognized this as a scam because it was just too easy. People don’t give out $300,000 without putting up a legal fight.

The only way we can avoid becoming a victim is to be hyper-vigilant about the possibility.

I think the old rules apply. If it seems too good to be true, it is. Don’t send money to anyone until you confirm their identity. Do not give any of your personal identification or bank numbers to anybody that you don’t know. Keep it in the forefront of your mind that, while the majority of people are good, honest and hard-working, it only takes one person to steal everything you have. Sadly, you can’t trust anyone because of the chance that the one you trust will be that one bad egg.

There is no reason why somebody has to send you a check to cash for them only for you to turn around and send the money back to them.

We can’t let our emotions interfere with good financial decision — whether the emotion comes from the flutters we feel in our stomachs over a supposed new romantic partner or the emotional pain we feel if a loved one calls us crying and asking for our help.