Police Warn of Phone Scam Targeting Seniors

Merrimack Police are warning residents of a scam that's been making its rounds around town. 

According to police, they've received numerous complaints regarding solicitors posing as representatives from Senior Alert Care Company, and telling residents a family member has purchased a medical alert system on their behalf.

The caller tells its target that the cost to them is a dollar a day to cover a monitoring charge and to sign up, they just need to provide credit card number to establish an account.

This is a nationwide phone scam going on at this time along with many other similar phone scams, police say. They are urging residents not to give out their credit card information.

Police are asking residents to spread the word about this scam and to make sure any senior family members are aware that they may be targeted by one of these solicitors using any number of legitimate business names to try to trick people.

"To help our citizens with solicitors we recommend you call your phone company to block all calls from solicitors if possible," said Officer Rob Kelleher in a press release issued Thursday afternoon. "The Merrimack Police Department urges everyone to use caution when contacted by solicitors due to the increased number of phone scams recently. You should ask a lot of questions and get phone numbers for the business whom the solicitors are working for. Please contact the business to confirm the person whom you spoke with works for the business and that the business is legitimate."

Merrimack Police are always willing to take questions regarding this scam or any solicitation to check if it is legitimate. They can be reached at 424-3774.