Pennsylvania is allowing elderly to be prey for financial scammers | Editorial

Pleading guilty to financial fraud didn’t stop Gloria Byars from supervising the finances of about 100 vulnerable people. She easily became a state-appointed financial guardian in Pennsylvania because the state has such low standards, it doesn’t even require a criminal background check for those who manage the finances of people too incapacitated to take care of themselves.

If Pennsylvania’s government cared enough to require a criminal background check, it would have learned that Byars pleaded guilty in 2005 to defrauding several people in Virginia in a check-cashing scam. She served about two years in federal prison.

Her conviction should have ended hopes for a career in finance  — but not in Pennsylvania, where the courts unwittingly appointed her to oversee the financial survival of scores of incapacitated people. In at least three cases, it didn’t work out very well.

Families of former clients told staff writer Julie Shaw a number of horror stories, including  that Byars hired her husband’s company to clean out the Fox Chase home of a couple in their 80s. She charged them $11,000.

She transferred a 73-year-old  woman from her home in Kensington to a Delaware County nursing home where no one could speak the same languages she did — Vietnamese and Chinese. The woman became isolated and depressed.

Byars failed to pay the bills of a 79-year-old retired Philadelphia cop suffering from dementia. His Wyncote home went into foreclosure.

After learning about these irregularities, Orphans’ Court judges not only removed her from these three clients but from about 100 more in Philadelphia and Montgomery and Delaware Counties.

But taking one financial guardian out of the mix is hardly enough to protect Pennsylvania’s disabled and skyrocketing elderly populations from financial abuse. According to the 2010 census, there were 2.7 million people over 60 in Pennsylvania. The Department of Aging estimates their numbers will reach 3.6 million in just two years. That means Pennsylvania will be dealing with even more people suffering from age-related disabilities, including dementia, making them especially vulnerable to fraud.

The state has long known it must protect them but hasn’t done much. In 2013, a rigorous study by the Philadelphia-based Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of the Elderly (CARIE) recommended training and monitoring financial guardians. In 2014, the state Supreme Court made similar recommendations.

Diane Menio, director of CARIE, wisely suggests the state certify guardians, using a group like the Center for Guardianship Certification. CGC requires financial training, an exam, and continuing education for guardians. Applicants have to submit to criminal background checks. CGC certifies financial guardians in several states as well as Northampton County because judges there apparently care that people under their protection are in fact protected.

It shouldn’t be hard to find the center. It’s in Harrisburg.

The courts or legislature can require certification for financial guardians. Or, county courts, like Northampton’s, can create their own rules if they’re sick of waiting for statewide leaders to do their jobs.

Gov. Wolf, the legislature, and Supreme Court have an obligation to protect our parents, our relatives, and, eventually, us.   This is easy.

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Pennsylvania is allowing elderly to be prey for financial scammers | Editorial

Florida woman accused of scam against Boulder County elderly woman facing 16 felony charges

Marina Scotti

A Florida woman accused of ripping off thousands of dollars from an elderly Boulder County woman through a magazine subscription scheme is facing 16 felony charges.

An arrest warrant sworn out against 48-year-old Marina Thelma Scotti sought a single felony theft from an at-risk adult charge.

However, online court records indicate that the Boulder County District Attorney's Office actually expanded the charges to 16, including felony theft, 11 counts of class 3 felony at-risk criminal exploitation and four counts of class 5 felony at-risk criminal exploitation.

The most serious charges, class 3 felonies, each carry a presumptive sentence of four to 12 years in prison.

A Boulder County Sheriff's Office investigation alleges Scotti and another woman — who has not been charged — accepted more than $25,000 in checks from the alleged victim for magazine subscriptions that were never mailed out.

The alleged victim, an 89-year-old woman who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, told a friend that Scotti and the other woman threatened the victim with arrest if she didn't continue paying money.

Scotti remained in custody on Thursday on a $20,000 bond. She is due in court at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 16.

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Florida woman accused of scam against Boulder County elderly woman facing 16 felony charges

Bank teller foils scam attempt on seniors

Disreputable individuals were sent back to the gutter after attempting to bilk an elderly couple out of their money.

Sicamous RCMP Cpl. Wade Fisher credits an alert bank teller for having prevented the couple from being bilked for more than $1,000.

“The client told the teller that she needed to make a large cash withdrawal to pay for the services of a gutter cleaner who had done some extra work,” reports Fisher.

The bank contacted the police and, in the course of their investigation, Fisher said it was learned the couple had agreed to pay $150 to have their gutters cleaned. When it came time to pay, however, the gutter cleaner claimed to have done some extra work, and therefore the bill would be substantially higher.

The gutter cleaner asked that the bill be paid in cash.

“The gutter cleaners were questioned by police about their questionable business practices and their apparent targeting of an elderly couple,” said Fisher.

“Residents are encouraged to get a written estimate before engaging the services of any contractor, especially one making unsolicited offers to perform work.”

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Bank teller foils scam attempt on seniors

FED: Man Schemed Elderly With Reverse Mortgages

(CHICAGO) — A Chicago businessman has been arraigned on federal fraud charges for his alleged role in a scheme to bilk elderly homeowners out of millions of dollars.

Federal prosecutors say Mark Steven Diamond, a mortgage loan originator with offices in Chicago and Calumet City, engaged in a home repair and loan fraud scheme that targeted elderly homeowners and lenders. According to the indictment, Diamond fraudulently caused lenders to make reverse-mortgage loans to homeowners who either did not sign up for the loans or did so unwittingly after Diamond intentionally misrepresented the terms. They say Diamond fraudulently pocketed the loan checks by causing title company representatives, including a co-schemer, to provide the checks to Diamond rather than the homeowners. The indictment seeks forfeiture of $7 million from Diamond.

Diamond, 60, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment this week to seven counts of wire fraud.

According to the indictment, Diamond targeted his victims, who ranged in age from 62 to 97, based on the equity in their homes and their relative lack of financial sophistication. If a victim’s relative questioned Diamond on the need for a reverse mortgage, prosecutors say Diamond would schedule a time to visit the victim’s home when he knew the relative would not be there.

Also charged in the indictment is Cynthia Wallace, 47, of Chicago. Prosecutors say Wallace solicited homeowners to have home repairs performed by Diamond, knowing that Diamond would not actually perform the work. They say Wallace also posed as a representative of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to fraudulently obtain money from victims.

Wallace has pleaded not guilty to nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of falsely pretending to be an employee of the United States.

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FED: Man Schemed Elderly With Reverse Mortgages

Fake "love scam" drains 92-year-old man's savings

It’s called the “Fake Love Scam,” and it’s heartbreaking: Younger people woo and even marry elderly victims -- then strip them of everything they have, CBS Chicago reported.

The scam is a legal nightmare for victims and their families.

Aloysius Mack, 92, has been diagnosed by a psychiatrist as having dementia. That psychiatrist filed a legal document saying Mack is “partially incapable of making personal and financial decisions” -- decisions like those he made with Sophie Miller.

“I think she was stalking me and she came out of nowhere,” recalled Mack, who met Miller at a suburban McDonald’s.

“She came over and sat across the table from me,” Mack said. “She seemed honest to me at the beginning.”

In the end, the Cook County Public guardian charged that Miller targeted Mack because of his disabilities, in a scam his office calls “The Fake Love Scam.”

“People fake that they’re in love with people,” says Cook County Public Guardian Robert Harris.
“They marry them and scam them out of their money.”

 Last March, Miller brought Mack to Chicago City Hall to get married and then dropped him off alone at his home.

The marriage creates legal hurdles for attorneys now trying to undo both it and the financial damage Miller allegedly orchestrated.

The public guardian’s office alleged in court filings that Miller got Mack to pay $80,000 for a now-shuttered laundromat business. Mack also bought her a $40,000 van and put her on his bank accounts totaling about $335,000. She also got him to change his will so she would inherit Mack’s home in Schaumburg, in northeastern Illinois, valued at $260,000.

“She scammed me,” Mack said. “And the worst thing of all she stole my hard-earned life savings.”

In another case, 79-year old Benita Manalo, who has severe dementia, married her caretaker, Phil Cantillas, who is 28-years her junior. Shortly after the marriage the public guardian charged in a petition that Cantillas “began to funnel thousands of dollars belonging to Manalo to his bank account in the Philippines” and to friends in the U.S.

Altogether, the Public Guardian charged Cantillas either “spent, wired, mailed or gifted” more than $65,000 of her money.

Cantillas denied any wrongdoing but settled the case by agreeing to have judgment entered against him for the money. He could not be reached for comment.

The public guardian said the so-called “fake love” or “marriage scam” is a growing problem.

“Baby Boomers, as we get older, we’re going to see more of these types of cases,” Harris said.

“These things are really serious because they will take all of their money and will leave them sitting in the living room in their underwear ... they’ll be gone in the wind.”

Now, Mack’s family is trying to pick up the pieces.

“He just did whatever she said. He said he was vulnerable, he said I was a sitting duck and he fell for everything she said,” Mack’s great-niece Nancy Hunter said. “He was so lonely and that’s the bottom line.”

Mack’s great-niece was appointed his guardian this week and a protection order was entered prohibiting Miller from contacting him. The Public Guardian’s Office was able to get back $40,000 of the $80,000 he paid for the laundromat.

Now attorneys are trying to get the marriage annulled so they can undo all the legal documents Mack signed tying his finances to her. Miller could not be reached for comment.

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Fake "love scam" drains 92-year-old man's savings

Consulting Group Called a Scam on Elderly

MARTINEZ, Calif. (CN) - A self-described consulting group preys on elders in a "patently unlawful" estate-planning scam, a married couple claim in a class action in Contra Costa County Superior Court.

 Dennis and Helen Clements, an "extremely unsophisticated elderly couple" who were "duped into paying an unlawful fee for unlawful services," claim that Barron Ross Corporation deceptively and predatorily sells estate planning services to elders in violation of the California's Consumer Legal Remedies Act.

 The Clements say Barron Ross, of San Ramon, is not authorized "to charge plaintiffs and other California elders hefty sums for what are patently unlawful services."

 The company tells its targets the estate planning will be provided by James Walker, an attorney who was disbarred in 2010, according to the April 18 lawsuit.

 Walker is not a party to the lawsuit. The second defendant is Edwin D. Griffin, of San Leandro, who "is or has been president and CEO of Barron Ross" and was its registered agent, according to the complaint.

 Barron Ross gets its clients from a "sucker list" provided by Walker, who compiled the list of people who responded to a radio ad for Walker's estate planning services, the Clements say. They say they responded to the ad and dealt with Walker in 1999.

 Fifteen years later, they say, a Barron Ross representative cold-called them, and persuaded them that unless they took the estate planning steps she recommended, they could lose everything to Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program.

 The Clements say they signed a Barron Ross marketing agreement and paid $10,800 because they were "successfully scared" into thinking that "the government would take everything they had, including their home, if they needed to go into a nursing home."

 Too late, they say, they realized that Barron Ross's marketing agreements "are simply vehicles which use distortion and misrepresentation of Medi-Cal to justify an unconscionable fee."

 To top it off, the couple say, Barron Ross refused to refund their money, and the marketing agreements' arbitration clause contains an unlawful damage limitation by which Barron Ross representatives "actively attempt to foreclose their elderly victims' efforts to get justice."

 The company's long game is to gain access to their targets' financial information and then dispatch affiliates to the targets' homes to sell them "inappropriate insurance products," according to the complaint." The affiliates then share the commissions with Barron Ross, the Clements say.

 They seek an injunction, restitution, actual and exemplary damages and attorneys' fees.

 They are represented by Kimberly Swierenga, with Majors & Fox in San Diego.

 Barron Ross did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment Wednesday afternoon.

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Consulting Group Called a Scam on Elderly

Man allegedly scams elderly woman on home sale, then drops her off at homeless shelter

Kyle Pam

A man accused of selling an elderly woman’s home to a straw buyer and keeping nearly all the profits for himself was arraigned Thursday in Boston Municipal Court, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. 

Kyle Pam, 27, is charged with larceny over $250 from an elderly person, perjury, embezzlement by a fiduciary, and money laundering, authorities said. 

The 68-year-old Mattapan woman and her brother came into contact with Pam when he offered to sell the Sanford Street family home they had inherited, which was in need of renovations but valued at $250,000, according to the DA’s office. There were unpaid taxes and utilities for the property. The two siblings appointed Pam as the personal representative of the estate in February.

Pam allegedly sold the home for $140,000 in April and provided documentation stating that he had transferred the deeds to a buyer, authorities said. A later investigation revealed that Pam knew the woman who had reportedly bought the property, and that she immediately sold it to another, prearranged buyer for $232,000, according to the DA’s office. The woman, who The Boston Globe identified as Pam’s girlfriend, then allegedly transferred more than $117,000 back to Pam.

This left the 68-year-old woman, who had been living in the home prior to the closing, without a home or money to purchase a new one. Pam allegedly dropped her off at the Pine Street Inn homeless shelter. 

Investigators do not believe the second buyer is responsible for any wrongdoing in purchasing the home from Pam’s girlfriend.

Authorities said the ongoing investigation has recovered more than $80,000 from Pam.

Pam’s bail was set at $10,000, and he was ordered to stay away from the two former homeowners, according to the DA’s office.

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Man allegedly scams elderly woman on home sale, then drops her off at homeless shelter

Man behind bars for allegedly scamming elderly couple

A man has been booked into Morgan County Jail on charges of theft by deception and financial exploitation of an elderly person, after promising to do repair work on a home and not doing so.

On June 22, 2015, a Decatur couple filed a theft and fraud report against William Robert Payne. Payne, through Patriot Roofing, had accepted $4,500 to do roofing work. The work was never done and Payne did not return the money.

On October 15, Payne was found in Huntsville and taken back to Decatur. His bond is $10,000.

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Man behind bars for allegedly scamming elderly couple