Con Ed scam calls proliferating

From CBS 2:

Con Edison issued a warning Wednesday about con artists who claim to represent the public utility, and CBS2 has discovered several small business owners that have already become victims.

As CBS2’s Magdalena Doris reported, Con Ed said it gets 15 to 20 calls about such scams every day. In one recent occasion, the crooks snagged $1,000, and when CBS2’s Doris called to confront the scammers, they weren’t too happy.

Illegal alien phone scammers bilked the elderly

From the NY Times:

“Who would expect that someone will call and claim to be your family member?” said Capt. Stefan Komar, the executive officer of the 94th Precinct in Greenpoint, who speaks Polish. “Just the chutzpah of this crime makes it unlikely.”

The 73-year-old woman was not the only victim in the neighborhood. At least four other elderly people gave out money, men and women, losing amounts from $5,000 to $20,000. Each time, the scheme was the same. The only variable was whether the caller introduced himself as a grandson, nephew or some other family member.

“You couldn’t miss him — he had a long fake fur jacket and a hat,” said Joseph Notwicz, a Polish-speaking detective assigned to the case, who made the arrest. According to the police, the suspect, Waldemar Kordecki, 29, turned out to be an illegal immigrant, using a fraudulent green card, Social Security card and credit cards, as well as a fake Maryland driver’s license.

“But he was very cooperative,” Detective Notwicz said. “He even showed us another building where he got the money, so we went inside and I spoke to the Polish lady who was too embarrassed to make a police report earlier.”

While in police custody, Mr. Kordecki received a text message from his accomplice asking him to meet in a bar in Jackson Heights, Queens, the police said.

“There were his pictures in the phone so we knew what he looked like,” said Detective Notwicz, who a short time later arrested Piotr Łakatosz, 29, also an illegal Polish immigrant who the police said was making the phone calls.

Immigrant family swindled by con artist

From the Times Ledger:

A family of Korean immigrants who live in Bayside fear they may be split apart after a broker whom they paid to handle their green card applications failed to follow the proper procedures.

Joanne Lee, 17, who will be a senior this fall at Flushing’s Townsend Harris High School, said her family is concerned that she; her sister, Hayoung, 15,and their mother, Yoojung Choi Lee, could be deported after U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services denied their applications for green cards.

A broker whom the family paid $16,000 to handle the filings did not include all of the necessary documents, Joanne Lee said.

“She assured us all the proceedings were legal,” said Lee, who is an honor roll student. “But she was a fraud. She filed the wrong papers.”

Lee’s father, Bong Chang Lee, and brother, Jason, 5, would be allowed to stay in the United States. The mother and daughters first moved from South Korea to Queens in 2000 to find treatment for Hayoung Lee, who suffers from a form of epilepsy, but the father, who is a manager at a food plant in Rockland County, arrived shortly thereafter and applied for a green card separately. The couple’s son was born in the United States.

Chuck goes after spam callers

From 1010WINS/AP:

Americans increasingly are receiving calls with a computerized voice saying, "This is the final notice. The factory warranty on your vehicle is about to expire,'' or something similar, several times a day on their cell or land lines. The calls come even if a person has signed up for the national "do not call'' registry.

Now, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York wants a federal investigation into the "robo-dialer harassment.''

"Not only are these calls a nuisance, but they tie up land lines and can eat up a user's cell phone minutes, possibly leading to a higher cell phone bill due to overage charges,'' said Schumer, D-N.Y.

Meanwhile, officials in 40 states are investigating the companies behind the car-warranty calls.