Scams that Rob the Elderly

Journalist write many stories about many things.

In October of 2006 I focused on an elderly man in Arkansas City, Kansas who fell victim to a foreign lottery scam. The man, Walter Blevins, lost over $300,000 to people across the world. On Sept. 2 the Kansas City Star touched on his story and featured him on the front page.

Many have logged on and posted comments saying they believe that this type of thing happens because the elderly victims are greedy. For readers who may have seen the Star's article, the following is a synopsis of what happened to him and the trouble his daughter has gone through attempting to put an end to it all.

His daughter Cynthia, a friend of mine, discovered what was going on and immediatley attempted to put a stop to it.

She contacted the local police and then spoke with banks and merchants in the area, begging them not to sell her father any more money orders.

Her father was contacted via telephone repeatedly by scammers claiming he had won thousands of dollars.
"He was told that he only needs to pay taxes on the money and that it will be delivered to him," she said.
A man claiming his name was Dean Stockwell with the Canadian Postal Service began calling.

Stockwell claimed he was being held in Wichita by immigration at the Mid-Continent Airport until the rest of the taxes on the prize money had been paid and he requested that Walter go to the airport and pick him up. From there Stockwell claimed the pair would go to the bank and deposit the checks that immigration was supposedly holding."

Stockwell also indicated that Walter had previously paid in too much money and that all employees who were trying to scam him out of his money had been fired."

Cynthia contacted the local police and shared her father's story. They in turn contacted the Kansas Attorney General's office and told her they would take it from there. As time passed her father continued to send money.

Meanwhile Cynthia was running into brick walls trying to get something done, all the time Stockwell was keeping in touch with her dad, and her dad was still sending money.