New York’s Staten Island. After five years of living at the New Lane community run by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), Tina Watson said on Friday that she has witnessed numerous neighbors become victims of frauds.
Watson, the head of the complex’s tenant association, and a number of other residents joined a group of local politicians on Friday to urge further action and to warn about potential scams, especially those that target electronic benefit transfers (EBT).
“It’s unfortunate because a lot of them rely on that for their daily sustenance,” Watson added. Elderly people are particularly at risk. Scammers exploit people.
Watson claimed that although she has not personally fallen victim to a scam, many of her neighbors have experienced financial crimes or had money taken from their EBT accounts.
EBT programs on smartphones, which older people frequently find difficult to use, have made them a prime target for potential scammers.
According to James Clinton, a spokesman for District Attorney Michael McMahon, victims of crimes against EBT often fail to disclose them since they can usually recover the money through a drawn-out process.
He noted that although the office has not been informed of a comparable issue at NYCHA’s Cassidy-Lafayette housing complex in New Brighton, it is possible that the crime is occurring there as well due to underreporting.
In an effort to stop the scammers, McMahon, State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton (D-North Shore/South Brooklyn), Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks (D-North Shore), and Representative Nicole Mallitoakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn) held a press conference at the New Lane complex on Friday to increase community awareness and demand more law enforcement action.
In order to better assist investigators in identifying the locations of scams, Hanks encouraged seniors at New Lane to try to keep track of their purchasing habits.
According to Scarcella-Spanton, the Albany Legislature is considering methods to potentially stiffen penalties for offenders who prey on the elderly.
According to her, crimes against elderly ought to be punished more severely. We will examine legislation to stop that in the upcoming year.
We encourage anyone who has been a victim to call the RCDA’s scam hotline at [email protected] or 718-556-7226 and submit a police report to their local station.
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