SALINA -- A Town of Salina man is among the first of thousands of scam victims to receive compensation checks from a federal lawsuit against MoneyGram.
Arthur Little tells CNY Central's Jim Kenyon that he was surprised to receive a check for $775. Little says he lost $3,600 to a so-called "grandparent scam". Little says he received a call from someone posing as his grandson in December 2008. The person on the other end of the phone claimed he was in trouble with authorities in Calgary, Canada and needed to Little to wire $3,600 immediately. Little wired the money via MoneyGram and never heard back from the scam artist.
Meanwhile in October, 2009 the Federal Trade Commission announced that MoneyGram had agreed to pay out $18 million to settle a lawsuit. The FTC took MoneyGram to court claiming it allowed its money transfer system to be used by fraudulent telemarketers and other con artists.
FTC spokesman Mitchell Katz confirms to CNY Central that the first of 34,000 checks were sent out recently as part of the settlement. The average amount being paid to scam victims is $520.
Here's how Little was eligible to receive one of those checks. When he first realized he had been scammed, he called to report it to the Liverpool Police Department. Officer Sean Pierce took the report and contacted the Onondaga County District Attorney's and State Attorney General's offices. By doing so, Little was put on a victim's list which qualified him for the settlement.
Pierce says the lesson learned is that when elderly people are the victim of scams, they shouldn't feel embarrassed to call police.
Last month, Jim Kenyon exposed how the "grandparent scam" was targeting the elderly in Central New York.
For more information about the MoneyGram settlement visit www.ftc.gov.
In response to the settlement, MoneyGram said it agreed to maker "certain enhancements" to its consumer anti-fraud program to further combat consumer fraud perpetrated by criminals who use MoneyGram's services illegally."
For MoneyGram's response to the settlement: http://www.moneygram.com/MGICorp/PressReleaseNews/index.htm
