ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, December 8, 1995               TAG: 9512080073
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-4  EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: LAS VEGAS
SOURCE: Associated Press 
MEMO: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.

FBI ARRESTS 422 IN PHONE-SCAM CRACKDOWN RETIREES ACTED AS VOLUNTEER BAIT

Shady telemarketers across the country thought they had potential victims on the line for their latest scam. In reality, they were talking to retirees who had volunteered to be bait in an FBI crackdown.

The FBI began arresting 422 people in 15 states Thursday on suspicion of preying on the elderly through telephone sales scams.

The retirees had tape-recorded their conversations with the telemarketers, giving the FBI the evidence it needed.

``Those who would cheat the unknowing, those who would cheat the frail and unwary, should be put on notice,'' Attorney General Janet Reno said at a news conference here.

The two-year Operation Senior Sentinel had earlier yielded 114 arrests. Reno said illicit telephone pitches cost Americans, most of them elderly, some $40 billion a year.

Reno said the telemarketers used a variety of scams to con the elderly out of their money, in some cases promising future wealth or phony prizes. She said victims usually received five or more calls a day from high-pressure salespeople once they made their first purchase or contribution.

In one tape, a salesman tried to get $500 out of a 78-year-old woman by telling her the money was needed as a deposit to make sure she would get $50,000 cash she had supposedly won in a contest.

The woman cried as she told the caller she didn't have $500 to give him, and he assured her that he could take half the money if she had a credit card to charge it to.

``You have to understand I'm on your side, this is what I'm paid for,'' the man said.

In another case, a 92-year-old California woman - a real victim, not a volunteer taking part in the sting - lost $180,000 and then $5,250 more to a man who said he could recover some of her lost money.

``Unbelievably, one of the most vicious scams preyed on those who had been victimized already, charging substantial fees to try to recover money already lost but providing no meaningful assistance,'' Reno said. ``That must be a new level of brazenness.''

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