Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan is making crimes against seniors a high priority as rising unemployment and a crippled financial system push desperate individuals to target the elderly.

"There was a period last year of tremendous mail theft," said sheriff's investigator Don Roberts. "Unlocked mailboxes are a particularly attractive target for criminals. They're looking for bank and credit card statements, which contain a victim's account number. They're also are looking for credit card convenience checks that periodically get sent to cardholders ... those also give enterprising criminals the ability to make false identification and counterfeit checks and other official looking documents."

Roberts added that, 10 years ago, check forgery and credit card fraud were the most common financial crimes. He believes law enforcement today are still dealing with those, although they're also swamped with everything from identity theft to Internet fraud.

A recent trend detectives across the U.S. have been dealing with is known simply as the Grandparents Scam. In this scenario, a young male will call a senior citizen and claim to be their grandson. If the voice sounds unfamiliar to the victim, the con artist will have a cold.

"The suspect tells the victim that he has been involved in a traffic accident in another state and wants to borrow some money to pay for the repairs," Roberts explained. "If the victim agrees to provide the money, the suspect tells the victim to send it via Western Union or through Money Gram."

The sheriff's office knows of at least six times this year when the Grandparents Scam has been attempted on seniors in Amador County.

One problem for area detectives in determining how often the scam is being attempted in the foothills is that many times older victims don't always report financial crimes because they're either too embarrassed or are fearful that their relatives will think that they can no longer handle their financial affairs. The Federal Trade Commission recently estimated that 65 percent of identity theft victims don't report the crime against them to law enforcement.

Roberts is currently handling about 20 active cases involving scams or monetary crimes. His advice to locals is three-fold: "If you were scammed, report it. You might just give us that one piece of information that lets us solve a case or numerous cases. Also, trust your instincts - trust your gut."

Citizens who want to be informed about various scams and fraud attempts can pick up a free booklet at the sheriff's office entitled, "Preventing Crime: Protecting Yourself, Your Money and Your Property." If you've been the victim of a financial crime, or fear someone is attempting to defraud you of money, contact the Amador County Sheriff's Office at 223-6500.