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becca65 Asked October 2017

A woman is stealing money from elderly using fraudulent excuses to procure money. Can we go to the police?

I live in a senior citizens housing building. I am 65 y/o. There is a 54 y/o woman in our building that is making up excuses that have caused a few (possibly more) residents to loan her money. To each person who has loaned her money, she is now refusing to pay it back. From me she borrowed $100, supposedly because her dog was sick. I gave her $100 cash. The first time I asked for it back as she had already not adhered to the agreed way she was to pay it back, she wrote me a nasty letter, but detailed in writing how she was supposed to pay me back. (So, I have a letter from her stating that she owes me money). It goes on and on. She is also borrowing much larger sums from others in our building with various reasons she needs to borrow the money. A few people have loaned her larger sums and she refuses to pay it back. We are all elderly, above the age of 65 and 70 or older. What can we do to get our money back. She is obviously a thief/scammer and talented at finding ways to extract money from people who thought they should help her in her time of need. (tongue in cheek). Help us.  Does this fall under elder abuse laws.  Can we go to the police?  Should I tell my local Agency for the Aging (I am a customer of theirs).

gladimhere Oct 2017
Adult Protective Services? Definitely the management company. And yes, the police.

GardenArtist Oct 2017
As Blannie notes, this is a longstanding pattern. She's a predator, preying on seniors.

And she probably has a history that's documented somewhere in some locality's police files.

I would contact your local police though. If you don't and complain to another law enforcement or state agency, probably the first question asked is whether or not the police have been contacted.

You could notify the local Aging agency, but I don't believe it has any authority to arrest or evict her, so I'm not sure what it could accomplish w/o investigatory power.

And the management of the complex should be notified, asked to review her lease and find justification to evict her.

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blannie Oct 2017
I would contact the management company of the senior building you live in. She should be kicked out in my opinion if she doesn't repay all of you (and quit asking for more). I doubt the police will do much. Be sure to google her to see if you find out any information about her. Feel free to private message her info to me and I will google her every way I know how. I agree that this is probably a longstanding pattern with her. The best you can hope for is to get her out of your building and away from a large group of targets.

Midkid58 Oct 2017
This is theft, plain and simple. Call the police. At the very least that may scare her a little, however, the chances she just started doing this when she moved into your complex makes me think she's been around the block with this gig.

jjariz Oct 2017
file a claim in small claims court

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