CON'T LET THE SCAMMERS GET AWAY WITH IT

As the rest of us go about the business of making holidays happy for family and friends, a few scoundrels are figuring out ways to make money by preying on the elderly.

A Poplar Bluff woman was told she could win a lottery by reading account numbers off the bottom of her checks to a man on the telephone. Later, he said she could send him $400 to double her winnings.

He left her with 67 cents in her bank account.

Other con men and women are phoning victims to say they should call numbers in the 809 area code to find out about injured relatives or cash prizes.

As it turns out, the numbers are pay-per-call digits costing callers thousands of dollars.

And still others are preying on elderly black people, telling them they can get reparations for slavery by sending in their Social Security numbers. Of course, those numbers are used fraudulently to obtain credit cards.

The key is skepticism. Nobody wants to give you money for free. And if someone says a relative is in trouble and you have to call an unfamiliar area code, think twice about whether that could even be possible.

And if you make a mistake, don't be ashamed. Tell the police so others don't have to suffer. Maybe, by using a little horse sense and involving the police, we can shut down these scams.