FORT SMITH (KFSM)- A phone scam targeting the elderly has cropped up in the River Valley.
Gwen Allen said she got a call from a company posing as Life Alert, which is an alert system meant to protect seniors during a home emergency.
“I cried the other night because I got so upset with them,” Allen said.
Allen said she received 20 phone calls in February alone from the bogus company and each time the caller asked her for money. She said what makes it even more upsetting is that her father used the product himself.
5NEWS called the numbers that have been calling Allen, but they had been disconnected.
“I don't like people being hurt or taken advantage [of],” Allen said. “I do my best never to do that to anyone and to know that someone, like my father or a neighbor, could be taken of advantage this way, it really upsets me.”
Allen urges anyone who gets a call from a company posing as Life Alert to hang up.
Life Alert issued a statement on their website reminding customers that the company does not employ telemarketers or perform cold calls.