The letters started out innocently enough, just asking for a bit of cash to help provide for homeless dogs. Just $5.

Soon, though, it was more. And it wasn't just letters, there were phone calls that would ring in at any hour of the day or night for months. And it wasn't for dogs anymore. The letters promised wealth and opportunity. This was no game of chance, this was a sure thing. Thousands. A million even. All you have to do is send in the one-time $39.99 processing fee…

That first $5 set off a wave of offers, and an ocean of frustration for one elderly Bigfork couple, the Smiths, whose names have been changed in this story to protect their privacy.

After Mr. Smith, who is in his 80s, started responding to a few offers, the number of propositions started to increase greatly, according to his wife. Eventually, he was writing checks for hundreds of dollars and talking at length to the scammers when they called the couple's home. The situation came to a head when the checks ran over $1,000 and the activity couldn't occur without his wife's notice.

"They've got him hook, line and sinker," Mrs. Smith said.

The larger sums of money set off an uncomfortable family confrontation with the couple's children becoming involved to run interference in their parents' mail.

Their daughter, Susan, spoke to the Eagle from her home in California, where her father's mail is sent so she can screen it before forwarding it back to their Bigfork Post Office box.

"It's been extremely frustrating," Susan said. "When I was there visiting and dad was getting his mail at his mailbox, he would spend three or four hours poring over those letters."

Scammers pay special attention to 'suckers'

No one is safe from an occasional junk solicitation or scam attempt, but it only takes one reply to set off a terrible chain reaction, as happened to the Smiths.

"They create a 'sucker list,'" said Michelle Truax, the supervisor at the Montana Office of Consumer Protection. "As soon as somebody has a hit, the offers just increase."

Truax said that groups of scammers sell these 'sucker lists' to one another as a source of income and a sharing of potential targets.

"As a friend or family member, if you see lots of these things in the mail, you have to intervene," Truax said.

Though her office can rarely catch the perpetrators — thanks to elaborate uses of fake phone numbers and plenty of mobility — Truax said she has called a few of the scam artists back to speak with them.

"Scammers are extremely charming. I have been flattered until I tell them I work for the attorney general's office," she said. "Their job is to flatter you and separate you from your money."

"Granny Scam" targets elderly

The name makes no bones about the targets for some scammers, who go straight for the pocketbooks of the elderly.

"It was unbelievable," said Bigfork resident Brian Anderson, whose mother was targeted by a phone call from Canada just last week.

Anderson said the caller identified himself as Anderson's son and pled for his "granny" to send $3,500 to Calgary because he'd been in a car wreck and been arrested.

After telling the caller he'd have to call back later, Anderson's mother called him and he and his wife were there when the Canadian con artist called back.

"My wife picked up and obviously, it wasn't our son," Anderson said.

Though he reported the attempt to the local sheriff's department and the Montana Department of Justice, there wasn't much that could be done since no one can trace the calls.

"We put a phone block over here so there won't be any more telemarketers," Anderson said.

"It's a shame they're preying on old people," he said. "I'd heard about stuff like this, but this one directly affected my family and really hit home."

'Phishing' scam goes for account numbers

Reports of a 'phishing' scam going on across Flathead Valley surfaced last week involving Mountain West Bank.

An Alltel cell phone customer, who has no account with the bank, reported receiving a text message from 877-364-3811@izr.com, purportedly representing Mountain West Bank, according the Kalispell Daily Inter Lake. The message read: "Please call us immediately at 1-877-364-3811 regarding recent restrictions placed on your account. Thank you."

A similar message was sent out last Wednesday claiming to be from Montana Credit Union, the Western News in Libby reported. That message claimed the recipient's bank card or personal identification number had been deactivated and supplied a Montana phone number to call to re-activate the card, the Inter Lake reported.

Brad Buls, Mountain West vice president and commercial loan officer, told the Inter Lake that the bank had already notified the FBI.

"Phishing" is an attempt to gain personal information like passwords or account numbers, often while posing as a legitimate institution. The scammers use the information to access a customer's actual account.

"The bottom line is do not give out your personal information to anyone unknown to you," Mountain West Bank cautioned in a prepared statement last Monday.

Protect yourself

Because scammers often perpetrate their crimes from beyond Montana — or even the country's — borders, there is little that law enforcement can do to bring them to justice. That means the best thing to do is to educate people about the threat, Truax said.

"It has to be through education that we can prevent this, otherwise it will just continue," she said.

Truax said to never respond to claims of foreign lottery winnings, sweepstakes offers and a wide variety of other, sometimes obvious offers. She also cautioned against less clear schemes, like those that encourage people to donate to bogus charities.

"If you want to give money to charity, don't send it to an organization soliciting through the mail," she said.

Truax also advised signing up for the Do Not Call Registry and opting out of pre-screened mail offers like credit cards and insurance. Though much of people's personal information is public record and can be obtained legally, Truax said that signing up for promotions or give-a-ways at big box stores or in malls is often a bad idea, as those names and phone numbers are corralled and sold and could end up in the hands of unsavory characters.

Scammers prey on the elderly and try to tug on people's heart strings and with the difficult economy, that's only likely to increase.

"Times are tough for everybody, including scammers," she said. "They're going to be working harder and getting more creative to keep their income."

And it's not just the scammers who are affected.

"If you're in an economically strapped time, you want it to be true. Everybody could use $4,000, but you'll wind up losing it," Truax said.

Montana hot spot for ID theft

Western Montana is actually a hotspot for ID theft, with six towns that have been among the 10 fastest growing theft spots in America.

According to a study released in late 2007 by ID Analytics, an identity risk management company, Montana, North Dakota and Illinois were home to the fastest-growing number of cases.

Bozeman, Missoula, Whitefish, Lolo, Hamilton and Bigfork were all listed.

That came as no surprise to Zan Deery with the Better Business Bureau in Spokane.

"Montana's got a lot of space. A lot of people who carry out these types of activities love these types of places," she said.

Deery also pointed to the growing number of call centers sprouting up in Montana, which are sometimes wrapped up in scandalous activity.

"Some call centers actually operate under different guises than they actually say they do," she said.

Young people not immune

Deery also said that the days of elderly people being the ones to fall for these cons could be coming to an end.

According to an annual report put out by the Federal Trade Commission, Deery said people in the 20-29 year old bracket are rapidly becoming the most scammed.

"The reality is that people are checking more," she said. "They are being wary because they know there's a lot of questionable stuff going on.

"Seniors are finally battening down the hatches to take control of this," she said. "And not just seniors, but their caretakers and adult children are calling in."

Deery said that so far 2009 has seen a deluge of fraudulent and disengenuous activity and that everyone needs to remain vigilant.

"It is more neccessary than ever to make sure you're working with someone legitimate," she said.

In the last six months of 2008 alone, the Office of Consumer Protection fielded 1,023 phone calls from people suspicious of fraudulent activity, Truax said.

"It costs scammers very little to send out a bulk mailing," she said. "They just need a few people to bite on it and it's very lucrative."