Modus Operandi by Mauro Corvasce (universal ebook reader txt) 📕

elderly person's home and confidence. Once this relationship is established there are a variety of con games used by these individuals. Here are a few along with actual case histories from the files of the Social Security Administration.

We once investigated two con men who contacted Social Security recipients, two elderly females, aged eighty-six and eighty-four, and told them that there had been overpayment. The eighty-six-year-old woman turned over $7,050 to the impersonators. The eighty-four-year-old told them she didn't have the $1,628 demanded, but that she could have it for them the next day. She then called the Social Security Office. This matter was reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Another type of con, frequently targeted toward elderly men, are pills and devices to enhance sex and advertised in senior citizen magazines or by direct mail. It is quite easy to purchase mailing lists, which go into great demographic detail in a market area. For instance, if a person wanted to target males over age sixty who reside in a certain location, they would simply contact a mailing label company who would ship them thousands of labels compiled according to recent research data. Armed with this information, con artists target these individuals and offer them pills and juices that they say can make a man, regardless of age, romantic, young, potent, as virile as the gods. These products are sold for ten to twenty dollars, but are made of nothing

but pineapple, papaya, peach, grape and apple juice.

Another con involving the elderly is the dance studio scam. In the most prominent one, the slick con artist preys on the desire of elderly widows and spinsters for attention and the emotional satisfaction this brings to an otherwise lonely existence. Swindling in this area is made possible through the device of lifetime memberships, whereby a studio contracts to provide several thousand hours of instruction to an elderly person who pays in advance. Many victims that we have met have reported to the Better Business Bureau that they have been bilked out of their life's savings for a lifetime membership or multiple lifetime memberships. In one case a dance studio signed a sixty-nine-year-old widow to eight lifetime memberships entitling her to 3,100 hours of instruction at a cost of $34,913.00. She was promised attractive male dancing partners and was assured that the lessons would make her a gifted dancer so that she could perform on television.

Another type of swindle is called the lonely hearts club. What these operators do is try to offer personal introductions to members of the opposite sex. They do not deliver people and charge anywhere from fifty to two hundred dollars. After responding to a newspaper ad for a matchmaker service for the elderly, the subscriber will call to investigate, send in his payment, and then wait patiently for his perfect match to show up. He is told over the telephone to exercise patience while the vast staff of the club sort out the right person for the match. In essence, this elderly victim is contacting one or two people working in a room with nothing but two phone lines and two chairs!

There are also correspondence clubs that take the initial deposits and then go much further to receive more funds from their cons. An elderly gentleman receives delightful letters from a widow across the country found for him by the correspondence club. These, of course, are form letters that are written by the thousands each month by the employees of the scam. After a few months of writing, the widow declares her intentions to visit the gentleman. His interest peaked, he is all set for this visit. However, in transit to the gentleman's home, she falls seriously "ill" and cables him for a bundle of money just until she can get to her own bank and make a withdrawal. The money is sent by the expectant gentleman and that is the last that is heard of the nonexistent widow.

Gypsy swindlers and door-to-door confidence men exploit the elderly to the tune of millions annually through a variety of schemes. Many of these con artists pose as city inspectors telling people that their storm sewers need cleaning to pass inspection. They will work two hours and charge a person $1,050. Other times they will insist that they are roofing inspectors and state that the roof will need painting and repair. They will go on the roof and work for about three or four hours and charge $1,685.

In another investigation that we handled, a retired physician in his eighties gave a representative of an alleged termite control firm $1,790 for treatment of his home, after being shown a piece of termite-eaten wood supposedly removed from his basement. Subsequent investigation failed to establish that there was any termite activity in the home.

A Glossary lor Con Artists

Noted below is the compendium of con artist language. Be sure con artists in your works are flamboyant, extraverted and expert salesmen. To make them realistic you should have them use the following terms and know exactly what they mean:

Big Con A confidence game or trick, usually with an elaborate set up, that nets the swindler big money.

Boob A victim or dupe.

Booster A shoplifter, also an assistant to the operator of a con game.

Bunko A confidence game or swindle. Cannon A pickpocket.

Capper An outside man who works for a gambler, one who brings in the suckers.

Century A one hundred dollar bill, also called a C-note.

Check Kiting Passing a check whose amount has been fraudulently raised. A check bearing a forged signature or check without funds to cover it.

Chump A sucker.

Clip Artist A swindler.

Cold Deckel deck of cards dishonestly introduced into a game.

Flush Describes a sucker who has plenty of money.

Front Money Money put up to lead a sucker into a swindle.

Gaff Any method, device or system used by a swindler to trick a sucker.

Grand A thousand dollars or G-note. Gyp Artiste swindler.

Haul The swindler's take or profit, also called loot, gravy, cut, doe or swag.

Hooked To be swindled.

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