Attorney General's News Release

June 13, 2006

Nixon, Missouri seniors team up to tackle scam junk mailers

Joplin, Mo. — Seniors from across southwest Missouri were in Joplin today, helping Attorney General Jay Nixon expose con artists who target Missourians using the mail. In an operation dubbed Senior Sting 2006, more than 300 volunteer seniors kept all of their mail solicitations - or junk mail - during the month of May and submitted it to the Attorney General's Office.

Ann Frost (left), Southwest District secretary for the Family and Community Education organization, and Katherine Anglen, the group's Jasper County president, open potential fraud mail at the Joplin Senior Citizens Center. Photo credit, Joplin Globe/T. Rob Brown.

The volunteers met at the Joplin Senior Center to help sort through the mail that's been collected over the last month. Nixon's Consumer Protection Division will be looking for fraudulent offers of lottery winnings, charity solicitations, magazine subscriptions and other attempts to mislead or defraud Missourians through their mailboxes.

“The scam artists know that Missouri has one of the toughest No Call programs in the country,” Nixon said. “Spam filters are also getting tougher. So the crooks are relying more heavily on the mail to try to separate people from their money.”

Nixon says he'll take legal action against companies or people found to be violating Missouri's consumer protection laws.

The Attorney General is holding events in eight other Missouri cities where senior volunteers will sort through the large volume of mail and send it to Nixon's investigators.

Missourians who receive suspicious offers in the mail can contact the Attorney General's Office through its Web site, www.ago.mo.gov, or by calling the Consumer Protection Hotline toll-free at 1-800-392-8222.

Partnering with Nixon for Senior Sting 2006 are AARP Missouri, Accion Social Communitaria in St. Louis, Clergy Coalition of St. Louis, Concerned Clergy Coalition of Kansas City, Guadalupe Centers of Kansas City, Jewish Community Center of St. Louis, Missouri Association of Area Agencies on Aging, Missouri Association for Family and Community Education, Missouri Retired Teachers Association and NAACP, Springfield branch.

Links

Read the Joplin Globe story on Senior Sting 2006

Read the Joplin Daily story on Senior Sting 2006

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to the Press Secretary.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818