Putting a stop to scam artists depends on victims' reports

Consumers lose millions of dollars a year to crooks who gain their confidence, then cunningly persuade them to hand over money. No hard numbers on the losses exist because, experts estimate, fewer than 1 in 10 such crimes ever are reported.

A nationally recognized leader in the war against confidence crime is Detective Dennis Marlock, a 26-year veteran of the Milwaukee Police Department.

Marlock has helped coordinate efforts of crime fighters, banks and merchants locally and nationally to fight confidence crime. But attitudes toward such fraud still are too lax to put a dent in the caseload, he said.

From a tattered, mustard-colored couch in a stark waiting room of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, Marlock regaled Journal Sentinel reporter Joel Dresang with stories of his long pursuit of con artists. Q: How pervasive are confidence crimes? A: Fraud is definitely the most prevalent, least understood, most profitable and least feared crime in our society. Some experts on the topic predict that at least once in our lifetimes, each of us will be taken in on some sort of scam.

What stinks is it's been going on for so long. Yet, we fail to take it seriously. Q: Why's that? A: We've almost turned confidence criminals into folk heroes with movies like "The Sting." They're portrayed as Huckleberry Finns who skip school and break a few rules but never really hurt anybody. Their exploits are made to look like adventures because of their cunning and their inventiveness.

So people assume that if con artists are intelligent, witty and cunning, then their victims must be greedy, gullible, brain-dead or all the above.

Couple that with the fact that most people in our society absolutely have convinced themselves that they are somehow immune to fraud, that they're too smart for that. So they never have their guard up.

And when they are taken, they think, "I'm not going to report this because all my friends will think I'm greedy, gullible or brain-dead."

They'd rather suffer the consequences than report the crime. And from the confidence criminal's viewpoint, if people don't report, police aren't going to investigate. Q: How do you change attitudes toward confidence crimes, which typically are non- violent, when so many people are concerned about violence?

A: Survey and research projects on crime show that it's an inverted problem. People tend to worry more about things that are least likely to happen to them.

They're worried about being murdered and being the victims of armed robbery. Those crimes occur, but they are least likely to happen to most citizens.

Against senior citizens, for instance, purse-snatching is the leading offense, followed by fraud, which is quickly becoming No. 1. But these are the crimes they least worry about.

So we try to get out into the community and try to convince people that no one absolutely no one is immune to fraud. Q: Are there general warning signs that should tell us we're in the midst of a con artist? A: If someone insists that you make an immediate decision about your finances, you can rest assured you've got a scam in progress. Any worthwhile investment need not be jumped into today. It can be researched, and you can take time to think about it.

Every scam that a confidence criminal pulls is based on one belief. Confidence criminals have told me that every one of their victims was definitely smart enough to see through their scam if allowed time to think. Their job is to not allow the victims time enough to think. Marlock

Also, they do all the talking. They don't want you to think. They don't want you to ask questions. And, they'll always seem to be nice. They're almost too charming. It almost becomes a form of brainwash. Q: What can we do to protect ourselves from confidence crimes? A: It's impossible to educate the public as to how each and every scam works. Besides, it's not needed if they know the basics.

First, you have to know yourself. You have to know your weaknesses and whether you're susceptible to certain approaches or intimidations. Then you have to be vigilant and think ahead of time. For instance: What will you do if you get a phone call from someone who seems to know a lot about you? Q: How important is it to report these crimes and to press charges? A: If there's ever to be any hope of controlling fraud, people first have to report it.

By reporting, you're at least giving us a chance to clear the crime. More importantly, you're letting us know that we have a problem in our community, and you're going to help your neigh Leg 1 ends here bor from falling into those same scam artists because we're going to contact the news media.

The news media are real helpful in getting the word out, and con artists are very attuned to the news. They know when it's time to get out of town. Q: What about the fear that reporting a crime may invite retribution from the criminal? A: That is the biggest fear among the elderly. We try to assure them that these criminals aren't going to go back to kill them.