Jerry Hill Joins Belmont Police to Warn About Senior Fraud

As the old adage goes: If it sounds like too good to be true, it probably is.

That was the motto for the meeting in Belmont on Monday morning at the Twin Pines Senior & Community Center that was intended to spread awareness to senior citizens about the dangers of monetary fraud.

Assemblyman Jerry Hill, members of the Seniors Against Investment Fraud and Belmont Police Lt. Pat Halleran all reiterated that those who offer seniors an opportunity to get rich quick in return for an upfront payment are most likely criminals attempting to trick unsuspecting parties.

"This does happen in Belmont, right now," said Halleran.

According to Halleran, a Belmont resident was recently scammed out of more than $30,000 by a con artist calling from a foreign country pretending to be the victim's relative who needed a large sum of money in an emergency.

"That money is gone, they will never see it again," he said.

And though Halleran said the the victim lost an exorbitant amount in the referenced case, he also knew of another local resident who was taken advantage of in a similar scenario for about $6,000.

Halleran said he knew of five residents in Belmont who had been targeted by the scam, and the other three avoided being defrauded by calling police as soon as they had been contacted by the crooks.

Scammers are not frequently caught by the police departments protecting the potential victims, but police agencies can share information which may lead to the criminal's apprehension, said Halleran.

And at the very least, con artists tend to not target communities where attempted frauds are regularly reported to local police, said Halleran.

Hill, who briefly addressed the crowd of nearly 50 people, said he is sponsoring legislation which attempts to disallow mail that is intentionally misleading in its appearance, and can be used to defraud seniors.

Bill AB75 requires mail intended to appear as if it was sent from a government agency to clearly state it is not an official document on each page, so as to make it easier for people to recognize what may be a scam, said Hill.

Hill said the bill targets an illegal industry that hit close to home for him, as a scam artist recently attempted to defraud his step mother.

Luckily, his relative was too keen to fall victim to the trap. But all too often, others are not so lucky, he said.

"It is amazing what lengths these people will go to in order to get your money," said Hill.

But the meeting Monday in Belmont hopefully was successful in spreading awareness necessary to prevent some from being victimized, said Hill.

"This is a great way of letting people know how to protect themselves from fraud," he said.

"Remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch," said Hill, professing an iteration of the philosophy most likely to be effective in preventing fraud.

"The best defense is being skeptical," said Vic Lee, a member of the Seniors Against Investment Fraud.

Seniors afraid that they may have been targeted in a scam of any sort should contact the Belmont Police Department at 650-595-7400 and the Senior Against Investment Fraud, he said.