Scammers keep calling

A Coeur d’Alene woman said Tuesday she was threatened after refusing to pay $5,000 up front to claim $10 million and telling the caller she knew it was a scam.

Gloria Stuart said the caller said he was with Publishers Clearing House and initially sounded convincing as he outlined her winnings, which included a Mercedes Benz of the color of her choice.

Stuart wasn’t buying it.

“I knew better,” she said.

The Coeur d’Alene resident was one of four who called The Press Tuesday to report scam calls after The Press published a story recounting a woman’s dealings with a persistent caller who insisted she won $21 million but had to pay $35,000 in taxes before she could have it.

Stuart said the calls started Friday and continued through Monday. The first man was so insistent that she claim her prize money and pay the taxes, she asked to speak to his supervisor.

A few days later, she did indeed get a call from an alleged supervisor, “Andy.” He, too, insisted she had to pay the taxes “immediately” or she would forfeit millions.

“I told him I don’t have any money,” Stuart said.

Andy asked her about money in her bank account. Or perhaps she could take a loan out on her car.

“I told him absolutely not,” she said.

Monday, they called again. Stuart stood firm and refused to pay the $5,000

“Why on earth would you do anything like that?” the man asked. “You couldn’t use $10 million?”

The man went on about how he was a Christian and she could trust him.

“I know this is a scam,” Stuart said.

Asked how she knew, she said she had called Publishers Clearing House and was told they never ask for money up front to claim a prize.

At that point the man began using profanities and threatening Stuart, saying her car might be damaged.

“That’s when I hung up,” she said.

Stuart called Coeur d’Alene police, which in turn told her to report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission.

“The FTC and its law enforcement partners enforce a variety of laws,” its website states. “Your report makes a difference and can help law enforcers spot problems.”

Alice Williams of Coeur d’Alene said she recently received two calls on different days, with the caller saying she had won $5.5 million in a Publishers Clearing House contest, but needed to pay some fees.

There was one problem.

“I never entered it,” Williams said.

Like Stuart, she said the caller sounded legitimate.

“I knew it was a scam from day one. They didn’t fool me,” she said.

Williams said she gets “all kinds of scam calls.” If she doesn’t recognize the number, she generally doesn’t pick up.

“I’m very careful about what I answer and what I don’t,” she said.

And also like Stuart, she worries others might fall for it.

“They pick on us old people,” she said.

According to the PCH website, "If you receive a telephone call from someone claiming you have won a sweepstakes prize and are asked to send money — STOP — you have not heard from a legitimate sweepstakes company. At Publishers Clearing House we do not notify our contest winners by phone."

Jean Hjort of Coeur d’Alene said two scam calls recently came their way. The first on Monday was allegedly her grandson calling to say he was in a wreck, was injured, at a police station and needed money to get out of jail.

She hung up and called her grandson’s mother. Soon, the grandson called her. He was fine.

Tuesday morning, she received two calls regarding her bank account.

A caller said "the bank was going to take our money and we would never touch it again,” she said.

The caller said she had to take care of some fees and other costs to keep her bank account.

Hjort refused and hung up.

Another 85-year-old Coeur d’Alene woman said she was called Tuesday afternoon by someone claiming to be with Medicare, and he needed the number off her Medicare card, as they had mailed out new ones.

He also asked her to spell her name.

The woman gave him the card number and spelled her name, but then becomes suspicious when the man continued asking if she had any aches and pains “to be sure she was getting all the benefits” she was entitled to receive.

When the woman insisted she was fine, the man “kept insisting I have some pains.”

“I was really getting ticked off,” she said, and she hung up.

According to Medicare.gov,

• To help protect against identity theft, Medicare has mailed new Medicare cards to people with Medicare. Your new card has a new Medicare Number that’s unique to you, instead of your Social Security Number.
• Don’t share your Medicare Number or other personal information with anyone who contacts you by phone, email, or by approaching you in person, unless you’ve given them permission in advance.
• Medicare, or someone representing Medicare, will only call and ask for personal information in these situations:
• A Medicare health or drug plan can call you if you’re already a member of the plan. The agent who helped you join can also call you.
• A customer service representative from 1-800-MEDICARE can call you if you’ve called and left a message or a representative said that someone would call you back.
• Only give personal information like your Medicare Number to doctors, insurers acting on your behalf, or trusted people in the community who work with Medicare.

If someone calls you and asks for your Medicare Number or other personal information, hang up and call us at 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). TTY: 1-877-486-2048.

If you suspect identity theft, or feel like you gave your personal information to someone you shouldn't have, contact the Federal Trade Commission.

Stuart, by the way, got the last word with her caller.

“I told him God wanted him to get an honest job,” she said.