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AARP launches anti-scam effort
How to arm yourself
against identity theft,
investment fraud and
other financial scams is
the focus of two “Scam
Jam” sessions on Tuesday
in Hilo.
The free morning and
evening sessions are open
to the public and are
co-sponsored by AARP,
the state Office of the
Securities Commissioner,
the
Better
Business
Bureau of Hawaii and
the state Department of
the Attorney General (see
sidebar for time, place and
registration info).
AARP Hawaii State
President Gerry Silva said
most people are more
susceptible to falling prey
to scam artists than they
realize.
“With just a few simple
pieces of information like
a credit card number and
a password, they’re able to
assume the lives of their
victims without us realiz-
ing it — until the damage
is done,” he said.
Lisa Nakao, operations
director for BBB Hawaii,
said the Federal Trade
Commission reported
that in 2014, govern-
ment agencies reported
1.5 million fraud-related
complaints nationwide,
with 5,957 of those filed
by Hawaii residents.
“People lost $1.7 billion
total in 2014 (nationally),”
she said.
Jackie Boland, AARP’s
community
outreach
director, said part of the
two-hour seminars will
be spent on “persuasion
tactics that con artists use
to get people to part with
their money.”
“We worked with the
FBI and sifted through
about 500 tapes to fig-
ure out what the key tac-
tics that con artists used,
and those tactics were
put into this piece of this
presentation called ‘The
Con Artist’s Playbook,’”
she said. “We talk about
the tactics and we give
the audience a chance to
see the tactic used and see
if they can identify what
persuasion technique is
being used.”
Boland said AARP par-
ticipated in a recent state-
wide teleforum on scams
with about 1,000 callers,
“and a lot of the questions
came from the east side
of the Big Island. People
were talking about the
Microsoft scam.”
Boland said the scam
includes someone call-
ing, saying they’re from
Microsoft and they can
fix computer crashes by
directing the victim to a
website where they take
control of the victim’s
computer,
download
personal information,
plant a virus on the com-
puter, and then charge
the victim to remove the
virus.
“We are telling peo-
ple to never allow some-
body calling you access
to your computer and
never give somebody
on the phone your per-
sonal information,” she
said. “They may claim
to be from a respected
institution, but you need
to then call them back
on another number that
you know, not a number
that they’re giving you
on the phone.”
Theresa Kong Kee,
investor education spe-
cialist from the state
Office of the Securities
Commissioner, said FBI
figures from 2013 indi-
cate that Ponzi schemes
“are the number-one
investment fraud in
Hawaii.” Those schemes
usually start by offer-
ing investors unusually
high returns, and the
operators pay investors
from capital from new
investors, rather from
profits earned by the
business.
Examples include for-
mer Maui accountant
Lloyd Kimura, who was
sentenced to 11 years in
prison for a 24-year-long
Ponzi scheme that bilked
investors of an estimat-
ed $20 million, and
Roberta “Buddy” Wong,
a Hilo woman who was
sentenced to federal
probation in 2013 for a
decade-long scheme pros-
ecutors said netted about
$475,000.
“We probably have close
to 90, 100 cases right
now statewide. These
types of frauds, when you
wipe out people’s life sav-
ings, it’s really hard to
recoup the money,” Kong
Kee said. “If you’re hit by
a credit card scam or bad
check, those are smaller
amounts.”
Kong Kee advises
those who have invest-
ments through a broker
to “check to see if the
person’s registered” to sell
securities.
“If you think you’re a
victim, report it and do
it as soon as you can, and
we can help you through
the process. Don’t wait,”
she said.
She said people can
search brokercheck.com
to get information about a
broker or investment com-
pany from the Financial
Industry
Regulatory
Authority, or FINRA.
That advice was echoed
by John Kai, president
of Pinnacle Investment
Group in Hilo.
“I suggest that peo-
ple, before they come
see me, Google us,” Kai
said. “Google ‘Pinnacle
Investment
Group,’
Google ‘John Kai’ and see
what you come up with.
If you have any questions
as it relates to what you
found or any concerns,
bring them to me when
we get together.
“You can also do a check
on your broker through
FINRA’s Broker Check.
The only challenge with
that is that FINRA does
not update (regularly).
It’s a regulatory body. …
That’s why I say Google
first. Google is in real
time.’”
Angela Kaiwikuamoo-
hoihou, a crime preven-
tion specialist for the state
Attorney General’s office,
said her presentation will
focus on identity theft and
charity fraud.
She said advance fee
fraud, where scammers
ask for money upfront
with a promise of a prize,
money, goods or services
for a fee — the victims
never see their money
or hear from the scam-
mers again — is a pop-
ular scheme among con
artists. Also on the rise
are rental fraud schemes,
where an overly attrac-
tive “rental” opportunity
is put online.
“There are fake appli-
cations that are posted
on Craigslist,” she said.
“People apply for them;
they supply their personal
information. No one gets
back to them. And some-
one has all that personal
information.”
Kaiwikuamoohoihou
also noted charity scams,
such as the one in which
four national cancer
charities, The Cancer
Fund of America, Cancer
Support Services, The
Children’s Cancer Fund
of America and The
Breast Cancer Society,
are accused of swin-
dling donors nationwide,
including Hawaii, out of
millions of dollars.
Concluded
Boland:
“Because we have so many
partners working on it,
we’re pretty much cover-
ing the depth and breadth
of fraud and scams.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@
hawaiitribune-herald.com.
BY JOHN BURNETT
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2015 | WEST HAWAII TODAY
2C
This postcard was part of an “advance fee” and information fraud scheme.
Those who called the number were asked to pay $4.95 to activate a bogus
“reward” card and to provide a credit card number to do so.
HAWAII POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Scam Jam sessions on Tuesday
• 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.: Hilo Naniloa Hotel Polynesian
Room. Online registration: aarp.cvent.com/morn-
ingscamjam6-16
• 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.: Hawaii ADRC Training Room,
1055 Kinoole St. Online registration: aarp.cvent.com/
pauhanascamjam6-16
• Or call toll-free 877-926-8300 to register for
either session.
• AARP Fraud Watch Network: aarp.org/
FraudWatchNetwork.
• Office of the Securities Commissioner Scam Line:
877-447-2267
• Attorney General’s Charity Registry: ag.hawaii.
gov/tax
