After the family of a Blue Earth County man who had fallen victim to scam calls started blocking phone numbers, a cab driver showed up at his door.
A scammer hired the taxi to go to the man’s house, county adult protection worker Kristie Pittman recounted Wednesday.
The scammer then asked the taxi driver to put the resident on the phone. The taxi driver could hear the scammer instructing the resident to go to a store to get $1,500 in gift cards.
“That is how creative they get. That is how determined they are,” Pittman said of scammers during a presentation educating seniors on how to identify and avoid common scams.
The taxi driver knew gift card demands are a common scam tactic and ended the call.
“If anybody ever asks you to go purchase a gift card it’s a scam,” Pittman told seniors who attended the class at the Vine Adult Community Center.
Other common red flags of a scam, attendees learned, include being contacted unexpectedly, being asked to send money, a check or money order in order to receive a prize, and being threatened or coerced to send money or personal information.
Mankato Department of Public Safety Detective Tiffany Blaschko and Blue Earth County Attorney Pat McDermott co-led the class, and they had two common pieces of advice: take a moment to think before giving personal…
