The man, carrying with some muffins, visited Mrs. Ruth Older in Portland, Oregon in the spring four years ago. Ruth was 75 years old at that time. Although having a slight problem with legs, she was still healthy so that she lived alone separated from her children after she had lost her husband. She was always ready to welcome a chat partner.
His name is Marvin Norby. He was a handsome, middle-aged guy, and kind to Ruth. Since he purchased a car that her grandson had for sale, he started coming to see her frequently.
One day he hesitatingly said to her.
"I want to sell my house in Tacoma, but I need funds to fix it up. Would you lend me some?"
She couldn't say "No", and loaned him $ 2,000. Later she testified at Senate Special Committee of Oregon State Congress in March 2000, "Marvin kept asking for more and more money and I kept giving him more money. I gave him almost $ 106,000 for 4 years."
Marvin Norby was a con artist who was defrauding the elderly in Oregon for 10 years. He had previously been convicted of the elder fraud cases in 1991 and was sentenced to 28 months in prison. Besides it, he defrauded the elderly one after another; in one case an 83-year-old woman of $ 8,000, in another case a 98-year-old woman of $ 43,000.
The detective of Portland Police Department who had arrested Norby said in testimony, "He always approached to the elderly living alone, made up some sort of emotional bond with them, and took advantage of it. It is a very simple gambit. But many were tricked."
In Wakayama prefecture, a 37-year-old nursing-care manager was arrested for fraud. He defrauded a 75-year-old woman of 750,000 yen taking advantage of his position, and later it was disclosed that he had killed her. That case was so cruel that it surprised Japanese society. Now the elder fraud is a social problem in Japan as well as In the U.S.
According to FBI, the damage of financial fraud targeting the elderly was estimated $ 40 billion across the nation in 2001. Each state has established the Elder Crimes Detective Department in its Police one by one.
Now Ruth seriously remembered the last words of her husband, "Everyone stalks your money. Do be cautious!"
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