RVNA nurse stops a $5000 scam

            It’s difficult to detect a scam; it’s even more unusual to stop a scam as it is happening. On September 26, Margarita Garces- Shapiro, a visiting nurse from the Ridgefield Visiting Nurse Association was told by an elderly woman client who lives in Ridgefield that she needed to get to the bank as soon as possible to take out some money for a family emergency and someone was coming to pick it up.  She sounded distraught and Margarita sensed something suspicious.  Her client was upset and pleaded that she had to get money from the bank as soon as possible. 

Just the day before, Margarita had attended a program at the Weston Senior Center, sponsored by RVNA, with Donald McGran, Security Advisor of the Fairfield County Bank.  Mr. McGran, a retired Major of the Ridgefield Police Department, devotes himself to helping seniors understand and avoid scams.  His presentation: “Protecting Your Money from Scams” described the ways these scammers frighten and deceive seniors to obtain large sums of cash.

 “These senior scams are happening more and more.  Seniors, especially, need to know how to recognize a scam. Seniors tend to be trusting. Scammers are relentless.  They will go to people’s homes, pose as certified government couriers and take large sums of cash from unsuspecting seniors.”  

            Margarita says that “Don McGran’s presentation was so fresh in my mind that I decided to go to my client’s home to find out more about the urgency of getting to the bank. At first, she was reluctant to tell me and was unsure of the details.  While I was talking to her, the scammer called again and I actually spoke to him. I told him I knew his story was a scam, a much-used scam.  My client was told that her grandson had been in an accident and $5000 was needed for bail. “

Margarita called the family and the police and stopped the scam as it was happening.  “These scammers target the older generation who would never think that anyone could be so vile,” said Margarita.  “I am going to contact banks to suggest that bank tellers should be aware that when an older person seems upset and wants to withdraw a large sum of money,  the person may be  the victim of a scam.” Don McGran considers Margarita a heroine as well as a fine detective. “She not only saved her client $5000, but probably lots more, because once a scammer succeeds, it’s just the beginning of more and more demands for money.”

 Presentations like the one Margarita attended alerted her to the ways scammers target older people. The Ridgefield Visiting Nurse Association is actively doing everything they can to inform and protect people from scams.   Donald McGran’s presentation was one of several sponsored by RVNA. They are also working with Detective Knoche of the Ridgefield Police Department to identify and avoid future scams. Ridgefield Visiting Nurse Association is at 90 East Ridge, Ridgefield, CT 06877. Call 203-458-5555.or www.ridgefieldvna.org.