[November 08, 2009]

Floral 'relay' scam a new one to the Pittsburgh area

Nov 07, 2009 (The Valley News-Dispatch - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Two Freeport floral shop owners said the telephone order sounded too good to be true. And it was.

The scam appears to be a new twist for the Pittsburgh region, a federal agent said.

Last week, someone called each shop to place an order for six $200 flower arrangements for a wedding.

The person on the phone asked for patience because they were relaying a message from a deaf person.

A legitimate service exists that enables deaf callers to type their requests and have a phone operator translate for the person being called. It's called the Pennsylvania Telecommunications Relay Service.

Heaven Scent Floral & Gift owner Shirley McEntire knows about legitimate "relay" messages.

"I've had relays before. This was so much different," she said. "And they said the wedding was on Monday. Monday!" she repeated with a chuckle.

"This was a red flag. If it was for a Saturday or even a Friday, it might have more probable. And then they said they'd pick up the order.

"How were they going to pick up six $200 orders of flowers and transport them?" she said from the Fifth Street business she has owned for 25 years. "It didn't make sense." The scam artists also called Freeport Floral & Gift, on High Street, owned and operated for many years by Gail Cooper.

"He said his name was 'Scott Parker,' and this was a relay call. He even gave me a Discover card number to pay for the six $200 arrangements.

"Then he asked for $900 from me for shipping," she said. "I knew it was a scam.

She also called Discover. "Just as I thought, it was a scam." When a stranger asks for money by telephone, mail or e-mail, nine times out of 10, it's a scam, said U.S. Postal Inspector Andrew Richards in Pittsburgh.

"This is a first with florists. They probably are calling them at random all over the country," said Richards, who serves with the Financial Crimes Task Force of Southwestern Pennsylvania. "It's more common for the scam to involve a laptop or other electronics." Even with police and agents warning people about scams, and hundreds of newspaper and TV stories being written and circulated, some area people are still falling for the bait of easy money.

Richards said this year a McKees Rocks man fell for a scam that eventually took him for $2 million. In other incidents, scams snagged $700,000 from a Latrobe resident and a Pittsburgh resident.

Richards said the criminals may claim to have local ties, but because of the ease in modern communications, they actually are running their operations from Canada, England, Holland or even Nigeria.

He said most scammers try one ruse. If it doesn't work, or if there is little success, they switch to another type of scam, like a lottery, and keep switching until they start having success.

"That's probably why the florists were called," Richards said. "Someone, somewhere 'bit.' And they figured they'd try others." Although most of these criminals don't usually target senior citizens, "many are a lot more susceptible because they are more trusting than younger people, who are by nature much more critical and suspicious," Richards said.

"A disproportionate number of senior citizens respond to these things," he said. "Some are outliving their savings, and some have one or even two jobs. No wonder they respond." Chuck Biedka can be reached at cbiedka@tribweb.com or 724-226-4711.

To see more of The Valley News-Dispatch or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/. Copyright (c) 2009, The Valley News-Dispatch, Tarentum, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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