Senior citizens are increasingly being targeted by scam artists, recent reports from the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) show. According to their Facebook page, they are warning residents about the alarming rise of a tactic known as the 'Jewelry Switch Scam.'
In this scam, fraudsters pose as ordinary people who initiate a conversation with seniors, often pretending to need directions. To express "gratitude", they gift the victim with fake jewelry, simultaneously stealing the victim's actual jewelry without being detected.
In providing safety measures, the SMPD advises to always stay alert, avoid distractions, maintain personal space, resist engaging with strangers offering gifts, and be watchful for possible accomplices, to trying report suspicious incidents immediately.
