More than 100 people have faced felony charges for scamming Ohioans since the Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Unit formed three years ago, and 64 have been convicted so far. These crimes target honest, trusting people — many of them elderly — and often take more time than local law enforcement agencies can invest without assistance.
Take a crew making the rounds recently in Ross, Pickaway, and Hocking counties. They impersonated lawyers, judges, and even Attorney General Mike DeWine while stealing about $400,000 from six victims since 2011.
Some victims were told one of the scammers was expecting big money from a pending lawsuit, and by assisting him with legal fees, they would receive sizeable interest on their investment. Others were told they were beneficiaries of an estate and would inherit millions after paying some fees. The con artists split their collections, sometimes accepting heroin from their co-conspirators as payment for their role in the scam.
Collaboration is key
Thanks to the work of Economic Crimes Unit investigators and the Ross and Pickaway county sheriffs’ offices, the seven suspects were charged in March with engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, theft from an elderly person, telecommunications fraud, and conspiracy. Two Attorney General’s Office staff members will serve as special assistant prosecutors in the case.
“It’s unbelievable the lies these scammers told, including impersonating me as part of their elaborate fraudulent scheme,” Attorney General DeWine said after the indictments. “To prey on the elderly is despicable.
“This is exactly why I created our Economic Crimes Unit — to investigate the worst scammers and hold them accountable,” he said. “Just like in this case, we want to help local law enforcement anywhere our assistance
is needed.”
Call on economic crime experts
Five attorneys and four investigators staff the unit, which Attorney General DeWine formed in 2011 within the Consumer Protection Section. They’ve worked with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors’ offices around the state on cases involving complex financial schemes, VoIP phones, computer-assisted fraud, and home improvement scams, to name a few. They can assist with or take the lead on both investigations and prosecutions, whatever local authorities request.
In the unit’s biggest case to date, 18 people pleaded guilty in an Ohio-based telemarketing scam that bilked more than $2 million from thousands of victims in 41 states over a five-year period.
In another case, a group stole more than $130,000 from elderly homeowners in four counties by convincing them to write additional checks when, contrary to their claims, they had already cashed the residents’ first checks. All six pleaded guilty earlier this year, including two who have already served time for a similar hoax.
For assistance
Law enforcement agencies and prosecutors’ offices interested in the Economic Crimes Unit’s help investigating and/or prosecuting scams — or simply looking for a second opinion on a local situation — should email
EconomicCrimes@OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov or call 614-466-8831.