Crime Watch Committee

Thursday - November 19: Wellsville's Crime Watch Committee held their regular monthly meeting Thursday evening at Village Hall. Committee Chairwoman Janet Taggart conducted the meeting.

WPD Officer Steve Rodgers pictured above present this month's program. His topic was fraud. Rodgers also works for CF Bank as a Client Service Representative.

Most rampant in today's times is Medicare fraud preying on the elderly. It covers a range of schemes from selling medical equipment to rolling lab medical testing schemes. Both are often offered to customers through mailed advertisements, phone solicitations, on the internet or ads in the print media. Most of them offer to bill Medicare direct on the customer's behalf. Once they have your billing information they often bill Medicare for equipment and testing that was never delivered or performed.

Never sign blank insurance claims or give blanket authorization to medical providers to bill for services rendered. Even on doctor office visits make sure any insurance billing forms are filled out and always take the time to double check what they are billing for before signing. Always ask what will be charged for and what the share for you to pay will be. Always keep accurate records of all health care appointments and what was done at that time. Carefully review insurance statements and if you have any questions call them for an explanation. Never do business with door-to-door or telephone sales people who tell you their services or medical equipment are free.

Another popular method of fraud is the check cashing offer. This is where you're contacted and asked to cash a large check and you only have to return a portion of the amount. You get to keep some for your efforts. It's not real. If you fall for it and some bank cashes it you will have to pay when the check bounces and comes back. Most banks put a hold on checks for large amounts before you have access to any of the funds. In the meantime they process the checks to verify that they are legitimate.

Rodgers displayed a sample of what most bank checks should look like and gave some pointers for detecting fraudulent checks. Usually on fraudulent checks the routing & account number are very bold and glossy. On real checks those numbers are kind of faded and subdued. Many times a phone number appears under the written amount on the checks. Most legitimate checks have a perforated edge on at least one side of the checks.

Another popular ruse to bilk you out of your money is the claim that you inherited a large sum of money from an unknown relative or you're the lucky winner of a lottery somewhere overseas. All that is needed is a fee to get it released to you. It often comes in the form of an e-mail telling you all that has been done to locate you, usually from some lawyer or solictitor. Again it's not real. That's the last you'll hear once you send the fee.

Never give out bank account numbers or pass words when someone calls to say they need your information to verify your account. The callers will say they are calling from "your bank". Legitimate banks will never do that, ever. If you get such a call it's just a scheme to get access to your accounts to quickly drain all your money out of those accounts.

Another area to be careful with is internet sites that sell you merchandise on-line. Always carefully check for the security symbols on any site. Honest sites always use the lock symbol prominently on the web pages. Banks have multiple layers of security built into their sites.

Don't fall for the telephone solicitations that demand that you have to act now and that it's an one time offer that won't last. It's a ploy that doesn't give you a chance to think it over and it's a high pressure sales pitch to separate you from your money. Often these pitches come will an offer of a free prize if you act now. Many times once they get your billing information your money is gone and you never receive what was offered.

Remember if it sounds too good to be true it is exactly that. There is no such thing as a way to get free & easy money from unknown sources. There are many devious schemes generated to separate you from your money. Be vigilant always. Don't get taken in and fall for it. If you get such offers report it to the police.

The Crime Watch Committee is going into hibernation for the next three months. The next meeting will be Thursday, March 18, 2010. However, even though there are no meetings until then, we're still around. If something comes up you can call any member of the committee at any time.

ole nib