Kentucky lawyer Eric C. Conn went on the lam after pleading guilty to a Social Security disability fraud scheme in which he provided false medical documents and bribed an administrative law judge to get favorable rulings in disability cases.
Because of Conn’s activities and his guilty plea, more than 800 people lost their disability benefits. Now those people are being victimized once again—this time by a scam targeting them.
According to Ned Pillersdorf, an attorney representing more than 800 people in eastern Kentucky who lost their disability benefits due to Conn’s con, the scammers tell people they’re entitled to a $9,000 compensation fund. All they have to do, say the scammers, is to send $200 to a “federal reserve bank” in New York. If they fall for this, they are told that if they continue to send money, they’ll get $10,000 or maybe even $11,000 instead. If they don’t, they are threatened with lawsuits and investigation by the IRS.
Pillersdorf believes the scammers are using his Facebook page, where he posts updates about the case, to get information on Conn’s former clients.
“The reason they had some success is that they exploited the desperation of those in need by cleverly dangling nine thousand dollars with an impressive pack of lies mingled with some truth,” Pillersdorf wrote. “The truth was that they were able through social media, including these updates, to figure out who the former clients were. Also, some limited information could be derived by accessing the online federal court system and locating the names of the several hundred former Conn clients who have pending cases against the SSA in the federal courts.”
But, Pillersdorf says, the purpose of his Facebook page is to reassure the plaintiffs in the class action suit against Conn that they’re not alone and that there is a team of lawyers fighting on their behalf. “It’s also a way for me to explain to them what’s going on in this important case,” he said.
“I had some unbelievable conversations with those who were targeted in which I ended up standing up and shouting at them that it was all a scam,” Pillersdorf said. “I don’t know how many times I’ve told people ‘do not send money to receive money.’ It’s a scam.”
Pillersdorf encourages people who have received calls from the scammers to contact local police.
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