Boise BBB debuts new technology to track local scammers

Scammers want your money so bad that they've come up with some sophisticated ways of reeling you in.

Just ask "Marian" from Nampa. She said out-of-state swindlers duped her out of a puppy and her cash.

"(I found) a beautiful looking website, saying they do nothing but ship animals," she said. "So I thought, well that's a good business."

Correspondence began with emails - send money upfront and then get a puppy from Hawaii.

"They showed a picture of a man carrying a little kennel with the puppy, but it looked like it was in an airport and looked very legit," she said.

The con artists even called her on the phone. But when the puppy was "held up" in Arizona for insurance money, she knew something was wrong.

"I understood then it was a scam, so I said forget it and gave up," she said.

With so many people preying on others, the Better Business Bureau came up with something called ScamTracker to help out victims.

Dale Dixon, president of the BBB said when someone calls in a scam, the software at their offices tracks it, recording what type of scam, who was targeted, the zip code where the victim or potential victim lives, and how much money the bad guys tried to get.

There's a lot tracking to do.

Last year, residents reported 773 scams to the BBB - the total value: $338 million.

The BBB broke down the numbers even further and discovered four of the five most-targeted areas are in the Treasure Valley. (Check out the top Scams of 2011 >>>)

Boise's southeast neighborhood took the top spot with 66 reports in 2011.

Idaho Falls came in second place, with Meridian in third, and Boise's North End in fourth place.

West Boise rounded out the list, as the fifth reported most-scammed zip code in the state.

Southeast Boise residents said they're not surprised by the results.

"I've lived here for almost 10 years in this neighborhood and we've noticed we have a large number of door to door folks selling various things, cleaning supplies, car stuff, so it doesn't really surprise me, but I don't like to hear it," said Robert Fredericks.

"My reaction is be very careful," southeast Boise resident Elizabeth Crane said. "I'm very careful of rebates because if they're really pushy about the rebates, maybe there's something to it."

But Dixon said if you live in one of these targeted areas, you don't have to panic because it's pretty common for scammers to focus on densely-populated areas.

"So if you're in a more highly populated area, there's a better chance you're going to be contacted by a scam artist because they've gone through and identified those zip codes and said we know people live there," Dixon said.

Although statistics show the most likely victims are people of the younger generation, seniors like Marian aren't immune.

For her, it's been an eye-opening experience.

"And that's just unfortunate, because you know, that's how they get you is through your heart and not your head," she said.

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Additional Information

Snake River BBB

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