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Elderly Exploitation

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NJ: Elderly Siblings With 8th-Grade Educations Swindled In $500,000 Investment Scam NJ: Elderly Siblings With 8th-Grade Educations Swindled In $500,000 Investment Scam
NJ: Elderly Siblings With 8th-Grade Educations Swindled In $500,000 Investment Scam A former investment adviser swindled four elderly New Jersey customers out of $529,780 that he used for gambling, meals and car payments, state authorities said. Three of the victims conned by Mario E. Rivero, Jr. were elderly siblings who had eighth-grade educations, couldn't speak or read English and had "diminished capacity," Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said on Monday, March 14. Rivero -- who'd known the siblings for more than 10 years before becoming their financial professional -- told them and others that their money "would be invested in his mother's and fr…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
SCAM ALERT: ‘Gypsy’ Thieves Are Back, Con Elderly Glen Rock Couple Out Of $18,000 SCAM ALERT: ‘Gypsy’ Thieves Are Back, Con Elderly Glen Rock Couple Out Of $18,000
Scam ALERT: ‘Gypsy’ Thieves Are Back, Con Elderly Glen Rock Couple Out Of $18,000 SEEN IT? “Gypsy” scammers are out again, police warn, pointing to an elderly Glen Rock couple who came thisclose to losing $18,000. The con artists, also called “travelers,” move around the East Coast using scams and diversions to get into people’s pocketbooks. This time, a grifting group coincidentally came to the door of a couple who’d called a legitimate roofing company for help, Glen Rock Police Chief Dean Ackermann said. When the couple asked whether they were their contractors, they said they were. They then “proceeded to cover the entire roof with some sort of tar or rubberized as…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Hudson Con Man Sent To Federal Prison For Cheating Seniors Out Of $450,000 Hudson Con Man Sent To Federal Prison For Cheating Seniors Out Of $450,000
Hudson Con Man Sent To Federal Prison For Cheating Seniors Out Of $450,000 A Union City financial adviser is headed to federal prison for a plea-bargained 27 months for stealing more than $450,000 from mostly elderly, Spanish-speaking clients. Ramon Herrera, 37, persuaded unwitting more than three dozen clients to sign blank withdrawal slips, which he then filled out to pull cash from their accounts in the form of cashier’s checks, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Herrera then applied the checks to accounts that he and a family member controlled, she said. Herrera took a deal from the government -- pleading guilty to wire fraud -- rather than go to tr…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Clifton PD: Detectives Nab 'Grandson In Trouble' Scammer Who Cost Elderly Couple $17,000 Clifton PD: Detectives Nab 'Grandson In Trouble' Scammer Who Cost Elderly Couple $17,000
Clifton PD: Detectives Nab 'Grandson In Trouble' Scammer Who Cost Elderly Couple $17,000 An elderly couple was conned out of $17,000 by a Jersey City man who used the “grandson in trouble” scam to get them to send the money to a vacant Clifton address, said authorities who arrested him. Eliezer Velasquez, 21, may have had accomplices, Clifton Detective Lt. Robert Bracken said Thursday. The victims, who live in Maine, received a call last Thursday from someone posing as their grandson claiming that he’d been arrested and needed bail money immediately, Bracken said. Complying with his directions, they sent $8,500 via FedEx to the unoccupied Clifton home – then got another call a…

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by Jerry DeMarco