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Discovering The Mature Lifestyle

An agency is helping senior citizens in Anoka County. Page 3

Finance

February 18 & 19, 2016

February Issue

Brooklyn Park Police reach out to senior citizens BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER Kimberly Czapar, a crime prevention specialist with the Brooklyn Park Police Department, spends a lot of her time helping senior citizens learn how to avoid losing their money. She, along with colleagues Gerry Gibbs and Terry Dehmer, sponsor a variety of workshops for seniors. Last month, Czapar teamed up with Detective Chris McNeill and Gary Johnson of the Better Business Bureau to present a “Scams, Schemes and Shams” workshop. “We try to reach out to elders because they tend to be targets,” Czapar said. Scams abound as tax season approaches, she said. Some seniors get calls from people who pose as an IRS agent and say they owe money. “That’s a very scary call to get; they’re really slick talkers,” Czapar said. “A lot of people say it will never happen to them, but it can happen to anyone.” According to the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, the IRS does not ask for credit or debit numbers over the phone, or threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for failure to pay taxes. “The best way to handle such a call is to hang up the phone,” the Attorney General’s Office said. “Speaking with the scammers may encourage them to call again.” Attorney General Lori Swanson’s office said in a report on IRS imposters that these scammers make more than 10,000 calls a week and have taken $15 million from victims in the past two years. Czapar said some of the other typical ways seniors are defrauded include a computer scam, where a person will telephone you, saying they are with a major computer company and that something is wrong with your computer. They will tell you that you need to go

A Brooklyn Park Police Department workshop on “Scams, Schemes and Shams” drew senior citizens last month. (Submitted photo) to a designated website so they can help you fix the issue. Other typical scams include the grandparent scam, romance scams, sound-alike charities, travel scams and contractor frauds. Grandparent scams typically begin with a phone call or email claiming to be about or from a grandchild or other family member in distress, expressing an urgent need for money to be wire-transferred.

Romance scams sometimes arise when people are registered on dating websites and may develop an online relationship. “The scammers are talking to multiple people at a time, asking for money for various reasons,” Czapar said. “At that point, emotions are invested.” Once a person answers the call and talks, there is a WORKSHOP - TO PAGE 3


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