{"id":238434,"date":"2021-04-03T17:27:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-04T00:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/?p=238434"},"modified":"2021-04-03T17:29:17","modified_gmt":"2021-04-04T00:29:17","slug":"no-place-in-montana-is-too-remote-for-scammers-reaching-tribal-residents-with-the-swipe-of-an-iphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/no-place-in-montana-is-too-remote-for-scammers-reaching-tribal-residents-with-the-swipe-of-an-iphone\/","title":{"rendered":"No Place in Montana is Too Remote for Scammers \u2013 Reaching Tribal Residents with the Swipe of an iPhone"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Khalil Abdullah, Ethnic Media Services<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

For a family in Billings, Montana, a personal apocalypse rode into their lives over the telephone.\u00a0 The voice was indistinct, but the circumstances were clear. Her grandson was in jail; didn\u2019t want his parents to know just yet \u2013 sort that out later \u2013 but desperately in need of immediate bail money.\u00a0 Though the February snowstorm was heavy, she gathered the things necessary to make that drive to the bank to withdraw the funds. Of course the grandfather, her husband, insisted on accompanying her.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a very steep hill here in town,\u201d recounted Detective Brett Lapham of the Billings Police Department, \u201cshe loses control of her car and starts sliding down the road, hits a curb, hits some mailboxes, clips a parked vehicle, which causes her vehicle to roll on its side. Both individuals are trapped in the car and have to be extricated by the fire department. Unfortunately, her husband passed away due to his injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lapham spoke at a media symposium on the latest variety of scams in Montana.\u00a0 Sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the event underscored the FTC\u2019s mantra: scammers follow the headlines. Now, of course, COVID-19 virus related scams are ubiquitous.<\/p>\n

There are scams hyping inadequate or faulty COVID-19 personal protection equipment (PPE) and scams pitching non-existent job training and placement programs \u2013 for a fee in advance, of course. Typically, these scams don\u2019t directly incur fatalities, as did the grandparent scam, but scams drain vital financial resources from individuals, families, and communities, often the people who can least afford the loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FTC has logged more than 400,000, yes 400,000 consumer complaints related to covid-19 and stimulus payments,\u201d reported Chuck Harwood, Director of the FTC\u2019s Northwest Regional Office. \u201cMore than two-thirds of those complaints involve fraud or identity theft. These scams have cost consumers almost $380 million.\u201d \u00a0There are even scams that offer relief, upfront fee required, to those who have been scammed and a new scam has surfaced around surveys.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, for example, we\u2019re hearing of people across the country who are getting emails and texts out of the blue asking you to complete a limited-time survey about the Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca vaccine in exchange for a \u2018free reward,\u2019 provided that they give their bank account or credit card number to pay for shipping of this reward,\u201d Harwood explained. \u201cIf you get an email or a text about a vaccine survey and offering a free reward, just stop. It\u2019s a scam. No legitimate surveys ask for your credit card or bank account number to pay for a \u2018free reward.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the quest for basic necessities, driving unsuspecting consumers into the grasp of scammers.\u00a0 Beth Hayes, Consumer Protection Staff Attorney, Montana Legal Services Association, highlighted the impact of scams on \u201cfolks already living so close to edge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayes said her client base typically share a low-income status, but that\u2019s only the starting point. \u201cWe are representing survivors of domestic violence, senior citizens, veterans, Native Americans, folks with disabilities, folks with limited English proficiency.\u201d For scammers, Hayes observed, \u201cthese are the kind of folks, especially when something like a stimulus payment is on the way, are prime targets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The arrival of stimulus checks won\u2019t resolve struggle to maintain housing, for example. Housing instability is ratcheted up when scams suck dollars out of family budgets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pandemic has created what we refer to in the housing industry as urban refugees,\u201d agreed Hanna Tester, Housing Network Manager, NeighborWorks Montana. People who could no longer afford mortgage or rental payments and seek lower rent often in rural areas have created on-ramp for scams. \u201cCounselors are reporting an influx of fake Craigslist ads,\u201d Tester noted. \u201cThose who don\u2019t actually own a property but will advertise a property and then collect a security deposit for first and last month\u2019s rent \u2014 but there\u2019s actually no property available. So that\u2019s the biggest scam we\u2019ve seen plaguing the housing market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rural Native American communities and reservations have also experienced an increase in scams.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndian Country was once immune because of its isolation; if somebody wanted to come and steal or defraud people in Indian Country, they physically had to come onto a reservation,\u201d explained Shawn Spruce, Programs Consultant, First Nations Development Institute. \u201cNow our Native communities are literally just a swipe away on the iPhone from bad actors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, too, there are more Native Americans with enough assets to make scamming a worthwhile venture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot money that\u2019s gone into Indian County within the last 10 to 12 years or so,\u201d Spruce noted. \u201cIn the Cobell<\/em> lawsuit that was settled in 2009 for $3.4 billion, now $1.4 billion of that was paid directly to plaintiffs. And then there\u2019s $2 billion that was set aside to repurchase fractionated land interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

The landmark Cobell<\/em> suit was brought against the U.S. Department of Interior for restitution on behalf of Native Americans who could prove they were adversely affected by that agency\u2019s mismanagement and theft of Native American royalties for mineral and oil leases, and right of ways over their property.<\/p>\n

Panelists agreed that consumer education is the key to reducing the likelihood of a scam being effective. Chuck Munson, an attorney with the Montana Department of Consumer Protection, recounted the story of a retired widow who had met a man online on a dating website who claimed to be a successful contractor.\u201d When he asked for funds to resolve some licensing issues, her bank grew suspicious over the size of the request and called a local Adult Protective Services office \u00a0who then called the Office of Consumer Protection. \u201cWe were all able to investigate and confirm, it was a scam and the requested transaction ended up being cancelled\u2026. She was heartbroken\u2026. but she\u2019s also very grateful to have been educated.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2019, Munson said his office logged over 6,100 calls and was \u201cour busiest year on record.\u201d\u00a0 Even though the number of calls decreased in 2020, a year when the public was fully aware of the pandemic, \u201cit was still our third busiest year.\u201d<\/p>\n

One irony is that recent immigrants, particularly refugees, appear to be less susceptible to phone scams than their American neighbors.\u00a0 \u201cOne of our clients\u2019 biggest barriers, which is language, has actually been a benefit to these situations,\u201d said Heather Molloy of Soft Landing, a nonprofit which works with immigrants and refugees.\u00a0 Montana\u2019s four main refugee resettlement populations hail from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Iraq, and Syria, none of which are English-speaking countries.\u00a0 \u201cNone of our clients \u2013 knock on wood \u2013 have given money to anybody, but they definitely all get phone calls and text messages from scammers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Johnson, Chief of Staff, FTC\u2019s Division of Consumer and Business Education, said he understands that when people are facing difficult times and may have been caught up in a scam, reporting to the FTC is not a major concern. \u201cReporting these scams to the FTC is really important \u2026 reports allow us to get ahead of the curve when we\u2019re able to learn about a new and emerging scam in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Khalil Abdullah, Ethnic Media Services For a family in Billings, Montana, a personal apocalypse rode into their lives over the telephone.\u00a0 The voice was indistinct, but the circumstances were clear. Her grandson was in jail; didn\u2019t want his parents to know just yet \u2013 sort that out later \u2013 but desperately in need of…<\/p>\n

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