Iowa Insurance Division warns against fraud

Your “Iowa nice” isn’t so nice when you’ve kept a person on the other end of the phone to find out weeks later your bank statement is incorrect, or the stranger you invited into your home has convinced you your investments were in jeopardy when they were not in jeopardy until you opened your front door.

Fraud strips more than 7 million Americans of nearly $3 billion a year, according to the Iowa Insurance Division, which supervises insurance and investment business transacted in the state.

That’s why Craig Goettsch, Iowa Insurance Division Education and Budget director, and Al Perales, Iowa Attorney General’s office investigator, have been making an effort over the last two years or so to educate Iowans about fraud and ways to prevent it.

At a luncheon Thursday at the Supertel Inn and Conference Center, they shared with Creston residents ways to question suspicious people and, more pressingly, prevent losing thousands of dollars, personal information and hours of time to fraudalent activity.

“Anybody can be a victim of fraud,” Perales said. “Scammers understand human nature. We would all like a lucky day, right? We would all like help with our problems.”

However, of those 7 million Americans who are victims of fraud, Iowans more than age 60 are the likeliest target.

A retired woman walked into Perales’ office Tuesday in tears, Perales said. She was feeling lonely one day and began corresponding with a gentleman over the internet who promised her a future with him. Thinking she would see him in person in their new life together, she gave him $30,000. That was $30,000 lost.

Loneliness, Perales said, is one the reasons the older demographic is a usual culprit to fraud. He also said older Iowans tend to have the time and money after a life of working hard, they usually have a home phone and will pick it up, and they tend to be more trusting and slower to become angry with others.

Approximately 24 percent of residents in Creston are more than 60 years old, according to the United States Consensus Bureau 2014 community survey.

“Sometimes we can recover money,” Goettsch said. “But, a lot of times, the money is gone.”

The Iowa Insurance Division scrutinizes and oversees insurance and investment-related undertaking within the state and reports cases to the county attorney, U.S. attorney and general attorney’s offices. Educating the public is one of its fraud-prevention measures.

At the luncheon, Goettsch highlighted the common types of fraud schemes, including the Ponzie scheme, which promises high financial returns or dividends not available through traditional frameworks; investment fraud, which uses false or fraudulent claims to solicit investments or loans, or providing for the purchase, use or trade of forged or counterfeit securities; and Internet fraud, which uses Internet services or software with Internet access to defraud victims or to otherwise take advantage of them.

Goettsch and Perales also gave general advice to the audience.

“It’s OK to not pick up the phone,” Perales said, adding that just answering the phone can provide scammers with an active phone number and name for future schemes.

In a slideshow presentation, Goettsch offered a set of questions one can ask before entering an investment deal with a stranger, and Perales walked through the psychological tactics scammers use to “hook” someone into making hasty decisions.

“Our goal is to get out of Des Moines and make people aware that we are here as a resource,” Goettsch said. “So, if you have a problem with an insurance product or insurance seller or investment product or investment seller, call our office. It’s a toll-free number or you can go on our website and fill out a complaint sheet. We want to hear from people. That’s what a lot of our message is.”

Seniors with concerns about possible fraud involving Medicare or financial investments, or for more information, can call these agencies or visit these websites:

Iowa Insurance Division: 877-955-1212

Iowa Attorney General's office: 888-777-4590 or www.IowaAttorneyGeneral.gov

Senior Health Insurance Information Program, or SHIIP: 800-351-4664 or TheRightCallIowa.gov

Iowa Department on Aging: 800-532-3213 or www.IowaAging.gov

Better Business Bureau: 800-222-1600 or Iowa.BBB.org