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Jed Boal ReportingSpanish-speaking Utahns beware. Con artists on the telephone continue to target Latino members of our community. This scam is a variation on a con that's duped people across the country.
Anytime the phone rings and someone on the other end of the line tells you a desperate tale and then asks for money, an alarm should go off in your mind.
Make sure you know what's going on, or you could be victimized to the tune of thousands of dollars.
One man here in Salt Lake got a call like that, then called us to investigate.
Jose Bernardo Fanjul is a naturalized citizen originally from Venezuela and a high school teacher. Yesterday, con artists called him not once, but twice, trying to squeeze him for a few thousand dollars. The first time, the caller asked for his wife by name and called himself a coyote, the nickname for people runners.
Jose Bernardo Fanjul, target of scam: "He's speaking Spanish of course. He says ‘I'm the coyote, we are on the other side of the border.'"
The caller said one of Fanjul's wife's relatives was trying to cross into the US, but he knew that wasn't true since she is Anglo.
Jose Bernardo Fanjul told the caller, "I think you have the wrong number."' He said, "I was totally surprised, because this doesn't make sense."
Latino students at school had actually told Fanjul about these calls.
Here's how the con works: The caller picks Latino surnames in the phonebook and starts dialing. He asks if someone speaks Spanish and then starts the pitch. In this case, he tells the potential victim he is the coyote, and that he has a relative across the border, trying to enter the US. The potential victim must wire two thousand dollars to get the relative into the country.
Jose Bernardo Fanjul: "This person will call, and say we have somebody here, a member of your family. You get so excited; you jump on and say ‘yeah, my mom or dad is coming!'"
The con artist even called back 15 minutes later and asked for Jose Bernardo but hung up quickly. He suspects the culprits and any victims may be undocumented immigrants.
Jose Bernardo Fanjul: "There are these people among their own circle and community trying to rip them off."
The Utah Division of Consumer Protection put out an alert a month ago warning Utah Latinos about a similar scam with a charity pitch. In that case investigators tracked the calls to a pre-paid cell phone which cannot be traced.
If those who are ripped off are undocumented aliens, it's not likely they would report it to police.
Fanjul says many people cross the border this time of year to spend time with families during the holidays, so it's not out of the question that people might fall for it.
