Elderly warned of sweepstakes, repair scams
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
The elderly in Hawai'i and nationally are being victimized by con artists tricking them into paying thousands of dollars for either bogus sweepstakes prizes or shoddy house repairs.
Police again are logging complaints about these scams, which proliferate every year during the holidays, said Detective Letha DeCaires, who heads the HPD CrimeStoppers program.
DeCaires said police now are investigating four house-repair cases, all involving victims in their 80s, after reports from people who have been pressured to hire a repair company through an agent who comes to their door. The customers pay an advance for painting or other work and receive substandard service or none at all, she said.
In one case over the Thanksgiving holiday, she said, an 87-year-old man paid a total of $10,000 and was given a substandard, incomplete paint job on his East Honolulu home. Many cases of this kind go unreported, she said, so police are trying to head off the problem by getting the word out.
In addition, DeCaires said, a Canadian agency called PhoneBusters has been tracking complaints about lottery scams. In these schemes, people are told by a phone call or letter, usually accompanied by a phony check, that they have won a substantial prize. They're directed to send money to a location in Canada to speed the release of winnings; the scam often describes this money as overseas taxes or legal fees.
PhoneBusters has counted 61 victims in Hawai'i this year, DeCaires said.
Anne Deschene, president of the Better Business Bureau of Hawaii, urged consumers to call the bureau for tips on checking out a work crew before paying them anything (536-6956, or toll-free from the Neighbor Islands, at (877) 222-6551). And if a notice of lottery or sweepstakes winnings comes with an appeal for money, beware, she said.
"Whenever they tell you to pay fees to get a prize, they're wrong," she said.
For information on PhoneBusters, call (888) 495-8501 or visit their Web site, www.phonebusters.com.
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
