You’ve probably heard that scammers defrauded Shelter Island School bus driver Heather Lee of her life savings. Perhaps you’ve already contributed to campaigns to help restore her financial health.
But Lee and the Shelter Island Police Department want you to know how it happened, be aware of evolving scam technology and not become another victim of fraud.
Lee appeared Thursday with members of the police department and the Shelter Island Lions Foundation in a briefing with local media aimed at raising awareness about scams, and preventing further damage.
Recently, Lee was the victim of an insidious scam that started with a seemingly helpful transaction but over time caused her serious financial harm. As a result, supporters are contributing to a GoFundMe campaign to replenish her lost savings.
SIPD Chief James J. Read Jr. said at Thursday’s meeting that it’s common for fraudsters to exploit fears. In this case, scammers convinced Lee that her money was not safe in her bank account.
“This is something that we deal with probably weekly or monthly,” SIPD Detective/Sergeant Jack H. Thilberg said. “This is a common story. So it’s not Heather’s story, that Heather did anything individually wrong.”
Thilberg said the scammers use sophisticated techniques to groom and manipulate their victims. “It’s psychological warfare. That’s how they get people to do things.”
While the SIPD investigates the fraud, the Shelter Island Lions Foundation is assisting Lee by providing critical support and another way for donors to give. The Foundation is accepting tax-deductible donations on her behalf, said Lions Treasurer Frank Vecchio.
“We’ll also help her manage the donations, should she ask for that help,” Vecchio said.
Send a check with “Heather Lee” in the memo line to the Shelter Island Lions Foundation at PO Box 760, Shelter Island, NY 11964, or donate via PayPal at www.shelterislandlions.org. One hundred percent of donated funds will go to the designated recipient, Vecchio said, as is the case with all Lions Club fundraising.
What if you’re being scammed?
Before delving into details, the police asked that we share some advice. If you feel you might be the target of a scam, experts say:
- Ask someone you trust for guidance before making any large purchase or financial decision
- Don’t be embarrassed to report if you shared personal information or suffered a financial loss; help is available
On the SIPD website, www.shelterislandtown.us/shelter-island-police-department, you can find numerous resources to help you determine whether something might be a scam. If you have any questions or concerns, call the department’s non-emergency number, 631-749-0600.
You can also download this pamphlet from the Federal Trade Commission on “How to Avoid a Scam.”
A caring community
After she realized she’d been victimized and sought police assistance, Lee said she was anxious about sharing her story. But Peggy DiSunno, the director of the Sweet Adelines chorus where Lee sings, encouraged her to tell members of the tight knit East End group.
“People said afterwards, ‘Oh, something similiar happened to me.'”
Lee said the positive feedback encouraged her, with support from friends, the SIPD and Lions Foundation, to use what happened to her to help others avoid scams. DiSunno set up the GoFundMe, and began to spread the word.
Through the GoFundMe page, scores of local donors collectively contributed over $30,000 as of Friday morning.
More importantly, as she overcame her embarassment, Lee reconnected with a wide network of people and organizations willing to provide the support — financial, as well as social and emotional — that she needs to heal.
“I’m walking on the street and people are asking ‘How are you doing.’ So I know this community is behind me,” Lee said, clearly moved by the efforts. “And why not put it out there? I know the scams are through the roof.”
Don’t rush to judgment
“From a police department perspective, we can’t thank Heather enough for stepping in now to share her story,” Read said.
The goal of Thursday’s media outreach: “Prevent somebody else from going down this path.” He noted that police officials don’t typically reveal personal details about fraud victims, who may be embarrassed at being taken in.
But in this case, “we need to get a message out.”
Lee said she does worry that some may dismiss her as “stupid because of what I did.”
But people shouldn’t rush to judgment, Read said. His department has worked with people of all ages and backgrounds who’ve been caught up in similar frauds.
“She’s sharing her story so other people can learn from it,” he said. “But don’t think, ‘I’m smarter than that.’ Everybody is super smart in hindsight.”
“Nobody wants to look at you that way,” Read said reassuringly. “We’re not looking at you that way.”
“I’m doing this for a learning experience, to help others,” Lee said. “To not to go down the same path that I did. Not to fall for what I did.”
Read said it was important that Lee share some of the details, so that people understand the hallmarks of manipulation and fraud.
“It’s not really that you did anything that somebody else wouldn’t,” Thilberg said. “It’s a common story that you got pulled into this trap.”
How it began
It started in July, Lee said, when a message popped up on her computer screen purportedly from Microsoft, notifying her of a critical problem that demanded immediate attention.
“A banner came up and I couldn’t get in or out of anything,” she said.
Unable to escape the page, she called the number provided. But, unfortunately, by doing so, she unknowingly became a target for criminals who defrauded her of her entire savings through months of psychological manipulation.
[Here’s a link to Microsoft’s response to pop-up scams.]
On the other end of the phone call was a man who led her to believe she’d reached a legitimate support team. Lee said she was relieved to speak with someone who could help her. In fact, the experience was so ordinary, she doesn’t recall specific details.
The man indicated that she’d been hacked. To investigate, he elicited further information and obtained the name of her bank. At some point he told her the hack may also involve her bank account. Then, he connected her to what he said was the fraud division at her bank.
There, another man offered further assistance. He said it appeared that someone had withdrawn $20,000 from her account. She recalls him mentioning it might be part of some “insider” scam, possibly having to do with gambling.
Chief Read said that Lee shared records of conversations she had with the scammers, including thousands of text messages. They show how the scammers skillfully manipulated her to trust only them, he said. As it turned out, no funds were missing from her account at that time. The only money she lost was money she later voluntarily turned over.
Withdrawing funds
To protect her bank funds, the scammers urged Lee have them “encrypted.” As mortifying as it is to admit it now, Lee said she was persuaded to withdraw cash from her account and send it via FedEx overnight express to California for processing.
“So when I got the money back, and they were going to put it back in my account, nobody could touch it and nobody could get into it,” she said.
“I should’ve known better than to send cash through the mail,” she said. “That’s the hindsight. If I look on it now it was, oh yeah, why did I do this? And, I shouldn’t have done that.”
But at the time, she considered these people trustworthy. She accepted their claim that her money was not safe in the bank. She believed they were providing legitimate assistance.
Read said that text records show the scammers created a sense of urgency, pressuring her to move quickly. They told her: “If you don’t act now, your money is going to be stolen.”
Through the summer, she made repeated withdrawals from her account. She followed the scammers’ instructions to avoid her local branch, instead stopping at locations throughout the East End.
‘They made you lie’
Thilberg said the scammers so thoroughly managed Lee that she followed their direction to tell a false story when asked by bank tellers about her multiple withdrawals.
“I remember you telling me, you’re an honest person, and you don’t lie,” Thilberg said. ‘They made you lie to the bank.”
She mentioned that she wanted to speak to her pastor or another trusted adviser, Lee said. But the scammers insisted that she not confide in anyone.
“They’d say ‘No, no! We want to catch the hackers and whoever you talk to might be one of the hackers.’ Which is why I had to keep my mouth shut, and not let anyone know what the heck I was doing.”
Thilberg said the scammers became “a virtual friend.” They’d text her regularly, asking how she was feeling, and follow up with phone calls.
Scammers use this kind of back-and-forth messaging to create trust, Read said. It gives their victims a sense of being part of an alliance. This strategy can be particularly effective given how isolated people are during the pandemic.
“Heather’s is not our worst case,” he said.
Gift cards
Sometimes the scammers would have Lee withdraw cash and purchase gift cards. Following their instructions, she’d read the card numbers to the scammers over the phone and tell them the PIN codes.
Convinced that she’d regain access to all the money once it was secure, she continued to comply until her funds were nearly depleted. At that point, the scammers promised they’d soon set up an appointment to meet her in person and hand over the encrypted funds.
Strange lags occurred, where she wouldn’t hear from them for long periods of time. But then one or another would reach out, with a fabricated story to explain the delay. Read said this is another tactic that actually can reinforce a sense of trust. The explanations — in this case, the scammer claimed he’d been in an accident — can evoke sympathy.
At last, she realized she was being had and went to the police.
During her presentation on Thursday, Lee said she’d known Chief Read and his family since she moved to Shelter Island over 30 years ago. She’s been a driver for Sunrise Transportation for decades and his children had been passengers on her school bus route. She regretted not reaching out sooner.
Following the money
Lee said the scammers directed her to specific retailers to buy gift cards, particularly CVS and Walgreens stores; large chains where she might not be known and draw attention. They even recommended which cards to purchase, including Nike and Target.
Thilberg said this is a common ploy. In years past, scammers would have victims mail them the gift cards.
“Now, as in Heather’s case, you just have to read the numbers and PIN and transmit that to somebody by voice or send an image,” Thilberg said. “You don’t need the physical cards. They’re in the store buying things with these card numbers sent to them by text.”
Read said major retailers, like Target, have sophisticated security systems that can link a card number to surveillence video of transactions at checkout counters.
Working with the retailers’ security teams investigators found videos of individuals using the card numbers that Lee had provided to the scammers, Thilberg said. They showed up in Target stores in California, Nevada and Texas. Mostly the individuals were purchasing electronics.
Unfortunately, in keeping with COVID-19 protocols, the people were wearing masks so police could not immediately identify them. They may be part of a fraud ring with the scammers who were calling Lee. Or, Read said, they may have purchased the card numbers.
It’s not unusual for a scam to have many layers. In another Island fraud case, Read said the handlers required a scam victim to receive a delivery that was probably part of a wholly different scam and send it on to another address.
“It makes it difficult for law enforcement (to track), if it’s forwarded three times before it get to its final destination.”
“This is not a couple of smart people in ‘Somewhereland’ developing this scheme,” Thilberg said. “There’s all these different pieces in an organized structure.”
Read said SIPD is working with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office to further pursue Lee’s case, possibly seeking subpoenas for additional information. Alternatively, SIPD may hand the case over to a federal agency.
“The sad part for Heather is we’re not going to get her money back,” Read said.
Instead, she’ll have to find satisfaction in assisting police in making an arrest and in helping to educate others so they don’t fall victim, Read said.
Be aware of evolving scam technology
“If you’ve gotta give money to get money, it’s a scam,” Lee said, quoting advice given to her by Chief Read.
The primary message, the SIPD says, is for residents to be aware of evolving scam technology. Here are some key points:
- Scammers are utilizing more advanced technology to make it more difficult to spot their deception
- Screening calls using caller ID may no longer work since scammers are using spoofing software which allows them to mimic the IDs of legitimate sources
- Government agencies and utility companies will NOT ask for payment in the form of pre-paid gift cards
- Caution and skepticism are the best defenses
- Visit a biller’s website to determine if you have any overdue bills
- Beware of e-mails that appear to be bills from a utility company that ask for personal information; this can lead to identity theft
It’s important to learn how to protect yourself from scams, the SIPD says (follow the links for details). Scammers have recently been posing as representatives of the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, New York State Department of Labor (unemployment), Publishers Clearinghouse, and utility companies, like PSEG.
Phone scammers posing as employees of these entities use false phone numbers that could appear on a caller ID to be legitimate. Sometimes they’ll use a recording of an organization’s customer service message to make them sound legitimate. They may threaten to cut off service unless a payment is made.
Most often, scammers demand payment via a pre-paid card that can be purchased at a local store. Sometimes they request payment to be made through a money transfer service such as Western Union or MoneyGram.
Legitimate federal and state agencies and corporations would never demand such types of payment or threaten service termination.
If a caller directs you to go to a local store to purchase pre-paid cards to pay your bill, it is likely a scam. If you receive a strange call and are in doubt, hang up and call the entity directly on its customer service line.
“We want people to come to us, if they have a question,” Read said. If they’re not comfortable talking with police officers, Read says they should seek guidance from a trusted adviser.
Setting a personal threshold for cash withdrawals can also be a good way to avoid being scammed, he said. If anyone asks for more, that can serve as a trigger to seek guidance.
“Just be careful,” Lee said. “It was a learning experience for me that I wish hadn’t happened. But hopefully others will learn too.”
