We at the Kitsap Sun get frequent reports of scams. People —
sadly most of them elderly — call all too frequently to ask why we
don’t jump right on the Nigerian email
scam, the Lottery scam, the
stranded traveler scam and its sneaky relative, the
grandchild in trouble scam.
Here’s one that the editor was unfamiliar with. I’ll call it the
“blue card” scam. I learned about it while helping out reading
police reports last week. According to a BPD report from Aug. 15, a
city resident called to complain about repeated phone calls from
someone the man had pegged as a scammer from the get-go. Caller ID
indicated the originating location was Jamaica. The Bremerton
resident could even hear chickens in the background.
The caller told the man he had won a monetary prize. At one time
the prize was $2 million; another time it was $4 million. To claim
the prize, he was advised to go to a local drug store and buy a
“blue card.” The man was told to put amounts ranging from $150,000
to $400,000 on the card so the party offering the prize could
“process the winnings.”
The man told the caller where to go and he tried to block calls,
but they came anew from another number. The person calling said
they would show up at the house to collect the card and deliver the
money. The man was alarmed, because his address was listed in the
phone book.
The man was curious, so he went to a Walgreens store and asked
what the “blue card” was. He learned it is a prepaid credit card
that can be used (among other purposes) “to help people build
credit.” The clerk he spoke to said many elderly people were coming
in to buy these cards so they could get their winnings. In each
case, the clerk said, she advised the people that “this is a scam
and not to buy the cards,” at least for that purpose.
The BPD officer who took the man’s report advised that he use
caller ID to screen calls, and not answer any from numbers with
which he is not familiar.
How have you dealt with callers you know (or at least sense) are
scamming you?
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Josh Farley writes: 
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
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