By Kimberly Hopson
L’Observateur

LAPLACE – St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office Capt. Willis Stelly advises residents, particularly seniors, to be aware of several new varieties of scams.
Stelly reviewed several types of telephone and email fraud, such as the “grandparent” scam, the “secret shopper” scam and the “You won a Mercedes” scam.
In “grandparent” scams, the criminals place a call to their elderly victim to say their grandchild has gotten into a serious accident or been mugged or arrested in another state or country and needs them to wire money as soon as possible. This type of scam has been around for a few years and has been documented by the FBI.
Scammers call or email their chosen victim in the “Mercedes” scam to tell them they’ve won a Mercedes Benz in a Publisher’s Clearing House-style contest that the victim was previously unaware of. To claim the prize, the scammer will ask the victim to send a “processing fee.” Variations include winning $1 million or another large sum of money.
Mystery shopper scams are fairly common, especially during the holiday season. In these situations, tricksters contact their victims using the name of legitimate companies such as Secret Shopper and Walmart. The criminals then send a counterfeit check or money order with instructions to purchase items from two stores in the victim’s area, then wire the remainder of the funds. The check is usually made out for a very large amount of money — too much to justify the simple purchase.
Stelly said law enforcement no longer has access to the money once it leaves the country for an offshore account. The detective has worked in investigations for more than a decade.
“Obviously, you have to deposit the check in your account or cash it. What they’re doing is getting real money from American citizens. Once it leaves your account, it’s theirs,” said Stelly.
“They contact a lot of people by email, people who are desperate or looking for jobs, so they have your attention. The thing to remember is, money isn’t free. You’re not going to win anything, and if you do win something, they’re not going to call you on the phone and tell you to wire money so you can get your money. They’d show up at your door with a check,” he continued.
Stelly also discussed two other popular scams: the “bill payment/bank account freeze,” and the “eBay listing.”
Utility provider Entergy issued a notice to its customers earlier this year after it became an unwilling participant in the “bill payment” scam. Victims of this maneuver may receive a seemingly automated phone call from their provider, saying that their bill payment is late or overdue. The automated voice will ask customers to enter their payment information and pin number. For the bank account scam, victims  are told that their account has been frozen and will require payment to re-open.
Scam artists browse listings on the popular bidding site eBay to find posts for large items such as motorcycles, tractors or cars for the “eBay scam.” Using the exact same post and pictures, they re-list the item on the same site, or Craigslist, with a considerable price cut. The criminal will then convince interested buyers to purchase the item by depositing the money directly into the account or buy online through an unsecured site.
“Everybody can be a victim, no matter what their profession is,” said Stelly. The detective went on to say that even he has been scammed before.
There is not a general list of things to do to prevent identity theft, but Stelly advised residents not to pay bills by leaving personal checks in their mailboxes with the flag up. Stelly said this is an obvious signal for scammers or other criminals to take your information.
He also advised residents to shred documents that contain account or pin numbers and to never give out credit card information over the phone.
For more information about scams, visit the FBI website at www.fbi.gov.