JACKSON WOMAN ALERTS AUTHORITIES TO FLIMFLAM

JACKSON -- A man in a telephone prize scam from Canada is trying to get $3,100 from an elderly woman.

A person identifying himself as Ray Parks has been calling the Jackson resident at her home since Wednesday, telling her that she has won $1 million from the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, said Cape Girardeau County sheriff's detective David James. But to receive her prize, the caller told her she must send $3,100 via Western Union to pay for various costs.

Instead, the woman contacted Jackson police and the sheriff's department, James said."We've been monitoring her calls but haven't gotten any results yet," James said.

Along with contacting the FBI, the sheriff's department informed Canadian police in Montreal, where a task force called Project COLT investigates telemarketing scams, the detective said."In these type of scams you have to have other police jurisdictions that are willing to help," he said.

The caller had told the woman to send the money to a Denise Britton, who he said was the company's attorney in Montreal, James said. After receiving the money, Parks said a man named Jeff Burris and two police officers would arrive at her house with $1 million.

To keep contact with the caller, James sent him a money order for $3.10."That made them think it was a mistake," he said.

Since then, Parks called the woman four times on Thursday night and again on Friday."He said they were at the Detroit airport ready to come, but they just needed the money," James said.

Such scams are prevalent, and family members are encouraged to look closely at elderly relatives' finances to avoid such problems, James said."It has become a sort of organized crime in the non-traditional sense," he said.

Scams involving callers posing as part of law enforcement associations have made numerous false solicitations by phone to elderly residents, said Grace Hoover, vice-chairwoman of the Triad/SALT Council, which links the elderly with law enforcement.

The best advice for handling such calls is to hang up, Hoover said."A lot of our senior residents were brought up in a time when it was not polite to hang up," she said. "But you don't have to say anything. Just hang up."