Scams may be up in 2011

14 years ago

By DAVID HARE, Staff Writer

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Sensitive documents are shredded. Photo by Mark C Psoras

In his play “The Tempest,” Shakespeare writes, “What’s past is prologue.”

Though the bard of Avon meant it as a pretext to murder, the line could just as easily apply to other, albeit less nefarious, crimes such as identity theft.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how many cases of identity theft we had this (past) year,” said Lt. Mark Houghtaling of the Montgomery Township Police. “It’s one of the upcoming crimes in the next year.”

Living in the Internet age has only made it easier for criminals to pilfer personal information used for their financial gain.

“It’s stunning the numbers for Internet fraud,” Houghtaling said.

Add to the growing list of cyber crimes, child pornography, as well as rapes linked to online dating.

“Parents need to block stuff or at least monitor their children’s computer use,” he said.

Fraud comes in many forms, in the mailbox or over the phone.

“If it sounds too good to be true it is,” said Sgt. Alex Kromdyk of the Lansdale Police Department.

“Invest in a shredder,” he said. “Anything with your name on it shred it. You never know who might be going through your trash once it leaves the curb.”

Chief Tim Dickinson of the Towamencin Police Department said many of these schemers prey on senior citizens. He cited “the Nigerian lottery” as an example of scheme too good to be true.

“They say you’ve won some kind of lottery, but in order to collect the money, you have to send them a certain amount,” he said.

“You’d be surprised how many people fall for it,” Kromdyk said. “All they need is one or two people, get them on the hook.”

And once you’re hooked, it’s hard to get free.

“Even if you just call them without knowing it’s a scam, and you don’t send any money, now they pass your name on to another group,” he said.

What makes Internet scams so appealing to criminals is convenience.

“They never have to leave their home or apartment,” he said.

Another scam involves “skimmers,” devices placed on ATM machines that can access bank accounts once an ATM card is inserted.

Kromdyk said unsuspecting people don’t notice skimmers because they are designed to “blend in” with ATM machines.

One defense against identity theft and other cyber crimes is to invest in anti-virus software, Kromdyk said.

He also encourages people to check their credit history at least twice a year.

“If you think you’re the victim of a scam, you need to check your credit history right away,” he said.

Police are also seeing more cases of road rage, according to Kromdyk, who defined it as “a manifestation of aggressive driving.”

This includes speeding, running red lights, cutting off other motorists.

He encouraged people to report aggressive driving, but at a safe location where they can use a cell phone.

“It’s best not to fuel the aggression,” Kromdyk said.

Dickinson said overall crime in Towamencin is down 7 percent, a trend he hopes to continue in 2011.

“We tend to follow the national trends, and our statistics went down as did the national,” he said. “There are so many variables that contribute to crime, socioeconomic, the weather, age, police response.”

Still, budget strapped police departments are having to do more with less.

“We’re down two positions (in 2010), and we could only replace one of them,” Dickinson said.