It starts with a robocall claiming the person on the other end has won a free cruise, or with someone calling an unsuspecting senior citizen pretending to be a grandchild.

Before these victims know what hit them, they’re out thousands of dollars, left wondering whether they’re going to see that money again. 

Waterloo Deputy Police Chief Jeff Prosise knows too well about the scams making victims out of local residents.

From January 2017 to present, more than $32,000 in losses from various phone and internet scams has been reported to the Waterloo Police Department. The department works diligently to investigate and recover the missing funds but Prosise is tired of seeing people in the community become victims.

“I think it’s good that we’re putting it out there. I hate to see people becoming victims like this,” he said. 

In total, Prosise said the $32,000 lost comes from four different scams. One is a sweepstakes scam where the person believes they have won some sort of prize. 

According to the caller, which is sometimes an automated message, the winner must send money for taxes before claiming the prize. 

The Federal Trade Commission warns that paying to collect a prize is a sure sign of a scam. Five residents fell into this trap for a total of $23,225, Prosise recalled.

A second scam reported in the past year involved the classified ads website Craigslist, which allows for help wanted, for sale and other types of posts. Prosise said the person being scammed will have a posting for an item they wish to sell.

The scammer, posing as an interested buyer, will give the seller a fake check or fake money order for the item. A total of three Waterloo residents lost $5,290 from such a scam.

In a Craigslist report on how to avoid scams, it states to never accept cashier/certified checks or money orders in any transaction.

“Banks cash fakes, then hold you responsible,” the report reads.

Prosise said, while a few have succumbed to these scams, he has also had a lot of residents display caution.

“We have had several who come in and say, ‘Hey, I received a check and never cashed it,” he said.

The third scam Prosise mentioned centers on a specific demographic as its target. According to Prosise, the scam that he dubbed “the grandparent scam,” starts with someone calling a senior citizen to convince the elder that he is his grandchild. 

The scammer then tells his “grandparent” that he needs money to get bailed out of jail or to get out of some kind of trouble. For this scam, three Waterloo residents were scammed for a total of $2,200.

“They’ll call and say, ‘Grandma, do you know who this is?’ And the person will respond, ‘Emily?’ And they’ll say, ‘Yeah, it’s me. I need money,’” Prosise explained. “The scammers call younger people, too, but they just hang up because it’s like, ‘Grandpa, what the heck are you talking about?’”

The fourth and final scam cost one resident $1,600, and is what Prosise refers to as a “medical bill scam.” Prosise said the victim receives a call explaining they will be arrested if they don’t pay overdue medical bills.

Similar to this, a scam that has received nationwide attention involves a person pretending to be with the Internal Revenue Service and telling the victim they owe money for taxes. The IRS states that it will not:

• Call to demand immediate payment

• Demand someone pay taxes and not allow the amount to be questioned

• Require taxes be paid a certain way, such as with a prepaid debit card

• Ask for debit or credit card numbers over the phone

• Threaten to bring in law enforcement to arrest the person for not paying

In addition to helping residents stay vigilant in avoiding scams, the WPD also sent officer Dave Midkiff to a training seminar on how to investigate these scams, such as locating IP addresses and sending out subpoenas. 

The training also provided Midkiff with four tips for avoiding scams involving a sale or purchase:

• Never deal with someone who refuses to meet in person

• Never deal with someone who won’t talk on the phone

• Never deal with someone who won’t pay cash

•Never deal with someone who wants to pay in advance 

To aid the seniors in the community in avoiding scams, WPD officer Scott Spencer continues to lead a Senior Police Academy in the fall. 

He also has started a program in which he goes to the senior living facilities in the area to share his knowledge of avoiding scams. In order to provide the service, Spencer received 40 hours of training.

“We thought, ‘There’s a population we can hit right away and get the word out there,’” Prosise said of the senior population.

In the end, Prosise said there’s no guarantee the person scammed will get his money back, emphasizing the importance of learning how to avoid these schemes in the first place.