Nederland Police Chief Gary Porter listed current scams Thursday that are plaguing law-abiding citizens in the Greater Port Arthur and Mid County areas, and especially warned elderly people to watch out for criminal ploys.

Speaking at the Port Arthur Rotary Club, Porter, a law enforcement officer for 42 years, said that with Tax Day upon us this week, scam artists will especially target older Americans, either by posing over the phone as IRS representatives or by otherwise playing on their fears and emotions.

For example, he said one common ploy is for criminals to call people and tell them their they owe tax money and that they can settle their debts by purchasing gift cards or other instruments of value and sending them to the caller.

He said law-abiding citizens should know that the IRS will never make phone calls to them, but would contact them in other ways.

“So don’t talk to them or give them any information or give them personal information,” he said.

He said crooks also try to elicit sympathy or fear in other ways from the elderly. For example, sometimes they’ll call elderly people, posing as attorneys, and tell them their grandchild is in jail and they should send cash to the caller to get them out.

Other times, he said, they’ll pose over the phone as representatives from Entergy, and tell elderly people that their power will be turned off if they don’t send gift cards to the caller.

“You would be shocked how many people fall for this every day,” he said of the myriad scams.

He said Nederland police have had a “rash of calls” from people whose credit cards have been compromised, some in connection with rogue credit card readers that people attach to gasoline pumps or to bank machines.

He said sometimes criminals will break into pumps and insert the readers, then collect the information later through their computers. He said the best way to not get scammed at the gasoline pump is to pay the cashier inside.

Incidents of credit card or debit card abuse increased from 26 to 40 in Nederland in 2018, a recently released crime report said. Porter said he would try to educate the public about how to protect themselves.

Groves police have also encountered trouble with scam incidents related to gas stations there, one on Twin City Highway and another at 32^nd Street and Taft Avenue.

Porter also cautioned people not to leave banks showing envelopes or bank bags. He said some thieves will watch banks and follow people who seem to have money, then break into their cars if the driver stops for lunch. Fridays are big days for that crime, he said.