With mail fraud complaints up more than 25 percent nationwide this year, federal agents who investigate scams are hoping an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

        Today, those agents are bringing the message home to Cincinnati-area senior citizens — the target of many phone and mail scams — when they host a seminar in Delhi Township teaching them how to protect themselves from swindlers.

IF YOU GO

The Postal Inspection Service in Cincinnati will host a fraud awareness seminar at 11 a.m. today at the Delhi Township Senior Citizens Center, 647 Neeb Road. It includes a presentation and tips on how seniors can avoid being swindled by scam artists. For information, call the center at 451-3560.

        Representatives from the U.S. Postal Investigation Service and the Federal Trade Commission are doing the same types of seminars nationwide this week. They want to raise awareness among seniors and their families about fraudulent direct mail, telemarketing and other schemes.

        Esther Fries, 83, will be a guest speakers this morning, relaying her firsthand experiences with con artists who prey on the elderly.

        Ms. Fries is a religious woman who gladly gave part of her weekly tithe to a now closed Northside food bank.

        For more than five years, Ms. Fries wrote monthly checks ranging from $35 to $45 to the Ohio Community Emergency Food Center after receiving a letter from the operators soliciting donations.

        The silver-haired matriarch from Bevis was more than willing to help because she knows of Northside families who aren't getting enough food to eat. And any reservations she may have had about giving money to an organization she was not familiar with disappeared after she received a thank-you note, apparently signed by Reds shortstop Barry Larkin.

        “That made me think everything was OK because he (Mr. Larkin) was behind it,” Ms. Fries said. “Of course, he wasn't.”

        Early last year, Ms. Fries was shocked to discover that federal agents were investigating the food bank's operators for misappropriating money received as charitable donations.

        Steve Adkins, also known as Samuel Ashley Jr., later pleaded guilty in court to fraud charges in connection with the misappropriation of more than $1 million from the food bank, which he allegedly used to finance a lavish lifestyle, including gambling trips to Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, N.J.

        “I was pretty angry when I found out,” Ms. Fries said. “It just turns you against wanting to help people because you wonder if the money is going to help people or if the people you give it to are spending it on themselves.”

        Ms. Fries is one of millions who are duped every year by scams that target the elderly.

        Michael Egner, a Cincinnati postal inspector who works fraud cases, said raising awareness is key to fighting fraud.

        “The people who are running the fraudulent operations are all over the United States, and their victims are as close as a telephone call or letter,” Mr. Egner said. “That's why it's so difficult to police. But we do make arrests, and people do go to jail.”

        According to the Postal Inspection Service, mail fraud complaints so far this year are already up 27 percent over last year's pace. The agency responded to 66,000 mail fraud complaints in 2001, compared to 68,000 so far this year.

        Mr. Egner said the most common ploy by far used by scam artists against seniors and others is to notify them by mail or telephone that they've won a sweepstakes, lottery or other prize — but first they must pay a fee to collect.

        “If someone solicits you and tells you that you have won a prize, and they ask for payment in advance, whether it's a processing fee or whatever, that is the red flag that lets you know something isn't right,” Mr. Egner said.

        Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has introduced a bill aimed to protect older Americans from such crimes.

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