December 27, 2024 • 41 mins
Morgan White Fills In On NightSide with Dan Rea:
It’s nice to travel with confidence, whether it’s just to another state or an entirely different country. Morgan talked with former Newton Police Lieutenant Bruce Apotheker about personal safety and how to master the art of situational awareness.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
It’s nice to travel with confidence, whether it’s just to another state or an entirely different country. Morgan talked with former Newton Police Lieutenant Bruce Apotheker about personal safety and how to master the art of situational awareness.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's night Side with Dan Ray. I'm going easy Boston's
new radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'll renumber three of Nightside without Dan Ray. I'm Morgan
Morgan White Junior. Been a part of the WBZ landscape,
oh my goodness, going back to nineteen ninety five, ninety six.
And I've been lucky enough to fill in for Dan
all this week Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, last Night, Thursday, Tonight, Friday,
(00:28):
and I have my own show on Saturday that begins
tomorrow at ten o'clock for the last time, I am
pushed to nine o'clock beginning the first show of the year,
and as well, I'll be here next Monday and Tuesday
for Dan. So I have a lot of time in
front of this microphone. And I met this gentleman, No Goodree,
(00:52):
fifteen sixteen years ago. He worked for the City of Newton.
I always emphasize that Newton is a city, not a town,
not a hamlet, not a community, a city and we're gosh, dar,
I'm proud of that designation. And he was the head
(01:13):
of the police department in the City of Newton, and periodically,
even though he retired about two years ago, I still
call upon him to come on the radio when there's
a subject I feel he can address. So please welcome
Lieutenant Bruce Apothecar Hi Bruce, Hi Morgan.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I am fine? And are you comfortable people still calling
you lieutenant even though you retired a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
You know, it's interesting many people do call me that.
Even when I was working in I was a lieutenant.
I used to tell people just you know, if they
were a suborder of mine, I would say, you know,
just call me by my first name, Bruce, and some people,
you know, I feel comfortable by that name lieutenant. Some
people call me lt. But in the end, uh, I'm
(02:09):
just a regular guy. Uh, a boy from Rushbury and
Georgester to make it pretty good. But I want to
wish everybody before we start. I wanted with everybody happy, uh,
New Year, Merry Christmas, happy Hanukah and uh. I always
like to start up by saying the real heroes up
there are the ones in uniform, police, fire, first responders,
(02:32):
truly doctor and you know even people who were the uniform,
someone in the custodial staff. You know, people that are
always helping others, and so I always say they're out
there for us. And it's nice if we can always
be there for them.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
You say LT for lieutenant. Uh, that was the way
that a couple of the police under Lieutenant Van Buren
on Lauren Order referred to her. And Benjamin Brett, his character,
used to always call her LT. So maybe that's where
(03:08):
they got it.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Well, it's interesting, you know. I go back to like
nineteen eighty three, and I can remember when I was
first a rookie going into the station and the lieutenant
who will be in charge of the ship, people are
calling him Lou. So I thought that was his name, Lou.
But you learned mighty quickly. And I know, I don't
(03:30):
know if I'll fight it at Hotma Store, but I
know some people in Newton will call their lieutenant Lootie.
So just different variations. But in the end, it's all
the same, and we all worked for the common goal
of helping others.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And I'm glad you mentioned nineteen eighty three. In nineteen
eighty three, the bad guys, the criminals, the thieves out
there had not thought of making a duplicate copy of
your mortgage and making it look like on paper that
(04:05):
you sold your house that wasn't on somebody's mind in
nineteen eighty three that came along, and I'm thinking mid
to late nineties to the beginning of the two thousands.
But that's just another way that the bad guys trying
to find a way to steal from you without putting
(04:25):
a gun to your head. And one of the reasons
I want you tonight, I want you to talk about
some of the scams and con artists and circumstances where
Joe and Jane Citizen have their property taken from them.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Well, you know, someone's more likely than not to have
the house broken that the taking property. When I first
got on the job, chest at a mall, and I
believe the Braintream all was the too highest areas of
stolen cars, stolen vehicles, and I can remember there's probably
maybe once a shift the chests in the mall. You
(05:08):
take a report of a stolen car, and and you know,
things evolved. Car alims. It's just you know, there's video
out there and it's just a whole really of different things,
but it's the same thing like with the mortgage scams
and all that. Things were always evolving. I think what
the legislature should do, and I'm surprised they haven't done
it yet. Somehow try to work on the front end
(05:31):
of that, and so someone just can't file a title
without you know, maybe showing proper identification or certain things
that would ward off anything like a title being stolen.
But you know what, there's and we've talked about this
on many occasions. Just when you think you've seen it all,
(05:54):
there's always another scam out there, and we all remember
it all seems sosided. You know, years ago, remember the
Nigerian scams where a prince would email you and say,
you know he needs money. You give him a ten
thousand dollars, he'll he promised he's going to give you
(06:14):
a millionaire return. So there's just something I can remember
over the years, having so of the supermarkets and Newton
would contact us and say that, you know, we have
someone who's been here for less a couple of days.
They an elderly person and they're requesting money orders, you know,
(06:36):
ten thousand dollars, fifteen thousand dollars and they're going to
send it to somebody. So we would work with them,
and I can remember one particular woman that you know,
we spoke to the family and they were aware that
she was, you know, being scammed out and what did
she do the next day She went back and she
did another money order. So yeah, it's a it's a
(06:58):
tough thing out there, but you know, very fortunate. I
always said working in Middlesex County U D. A. Ryan
Middlesex DA Ryan does a fantastic job. Goes around the
different senior centers, goes around to different cities and towns
within Middlesex County and makes a lot of people, a
lot of seniors aware of these scams. And by working
(07:21):
again on the front end the police and the prosecution,
I won't have to deal with it on the back end.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I have a break roughly about sixty seconds away, and
I'm going to open up the phone line six four
ten thirty eight eight eight nine to nineteen thirty. If
you have been scammed, or even if you have heard
of a scam, somebody in your office the old we've
(07:51):
kidnapped your grandchild and unless we get X amount of dollars,
you'll never see them again. Meanwhile, your grandchild's at home
watching NFL football. If you want to speak to any
of those scams, call in. I guarantee you the lieutenant
(08:12):
will have heard of any scam you can mention, and
by mentioning them, you're helping all the people listening to
Nightside right now be more aware of what to look
out for, what not to do, to just have their
life go much more smoothly and simply. So give us
(08:34):
a call. Six point seven two five four ten thirty
eight eight eight nine two nineteen thirty. This is Nightside.
I'm Morgan filling in for Dan Ray. I've got Lieutenant
Pruss Apothecar, former lieutenant in the City of Newton, and
he's here with me to help you at home. Time
and temperature ten point fifteen thirty five degrees.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Now back to Ray live from the Window World Nightside
Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Dan is off tonight. He'll be off Monday and Tuesday,
returning on Wednesday. To this microphone here at Nightside. My
name Morgan White Jr. Periodically they call me into filling
for Dan when Dan is off, and I do the
best I can. I have a huge drolodex of great guests.
(09:29):
I try to repeat them every two or three months
because they represent stories and comments to help you. Right now,
I've got Lieutenant Bruce Hypotheca and Bruce, can you speak
to the scam that I mentioned before where somebody will
call you and say they've got your child or grandchild hostage,
(09:56):
and a lot of people panic and do what this
mysterious caller says, and they send thousands to wherever they're
told to get the safety of the kid back.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yep, absolutely, yeah. I actually had it happened to me
one night. I was in my home and the phone
ring and it said the uh, I forget we're in Georgia,
but Georgia police apartment, and they said that my daughter
was arrested and that I needed to send some money
to help bail her out. And knowing that my daughter
(10:33):
was in the next one sleeping, I uh, you know,
I actually you know, I said to the guy, you
get the wrong one, brother, But uh, in all honesty,
that does happen. That was a common one, uh a
few years ago where somebody would call up all of
a sudden, a h A younger boye would get on
(10:55):
the phone and say like grandma, grandpa and you know
then whoever was was the grandmother and grandfather of someone.
They would say like you know, Mary, is that you
and then presson would get back on the phone, say yes,
we have Mary. He's under arrest, and you know, we
don't want it to be held in these conditions. So if
you want to, you know, she arned five thousand, ten
(11:17):
thousand dollars to bill them up. And I can remember
one day there was a woman who got a phone
call saying that her husband was involved in a crash
and they had gone out of the car. You know,
the people that she was talking to to exchange papers,
and they put them in the trunk of the car
and now they're driving around with them. Unless she gives
(11:37):
them thousands of dollars, they were going to have them.
So she called her husband's cell phone and he always
answers the cell phone, but he didn't answer he that day,
and she tried them through up the day, and finally
she gave money to these people and then they called
back saying they wanted more and lo and behold, her
(11:59):
husband calls her on the other line is says, you know, honey,
how are you know I got to uh turn my
uh ringer on. So if you are want to these
scammers and you send out thousands of phone calls a day,
all it takes is one person for them to have
hit the lottery, right, So you know, you never give
(12:21):
any money.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Always contact the police department always.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
And and you know something, there are a lot of
people listening right now that have elderly parents. And this
isn't you know, accrus with elderly people, but it seems
like that's who they pray on. But you know, have
these conversations with them. And I you know, I'll say
it ten times and I've said it before. You gotta
work on the front end. So whether it's an elderly
parent that shouldn't be driving a vehicle, whether it's an
(12:50):
elderly parent that may be starting to wane in the memory. Uh,
and cognitively, you know, you just want to have these
conversations with them and say, listen, you know, if you
get these phone calls, don't do anything. If you get
any emails, don't do anything. Never give out your information.
If somebody says it with a bank and they need
your bank social security and your bank number, you know,
(13:12):
tell them to call you first, to call the police,
just to verify it.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Everybody panics when they hear these three letters I R S.
The I R S does not call you. They communicate
with paper correspondents. That's their first extension to you. So
if someone's calling and saying, I'm with the I R S.
My name is Agent Jones. You need to do X,
(13:42):
Y and Z because you O A, B and C
B scam Alert, you're being scammed. Yep.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Absolutely, But again, when you phone thousands of people today,
all they're hoping for is that one person.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, yeah, and it makes it worth.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
While, yep.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
And it's very difficult to track down a lot of
the people. A lot of times they may be operating
out of another country and you know, people sending money
orders to doing other ways of getting them the funds
that they're requesting. So never ever give it out. And
that's why again I go back to d a Ryan
and she's working on the front of this for many years,
going to the senior set, is talking to different people,
(14:26):
having people in the banking industry show up and talk
at some of these seminars. But don't ever give anything.
That's that's the rule. Don't ever give anything out, money,
your information, any any sort of something that's private to you.
And because again they'll, uh, they'll just take advantage of
(14:48):
it and they'll run with it. And the next thing
you know you're thousands of dollars.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Ninety Sure it's a ripoff. Let me go to West Roxbury.
Take Catherine who was called in to speak to you,
Lieutenant Bruce of Africa.
Speaker 5 (15:05):
Catherine, Hello, Hi, Hi'm Morgan. I really love your show.
First of all, thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
And you're describing what happened to me. This was probably
at least four or five months ago, and a lawyer
called and said that he had my grandson and that
my grandson was involved in an auto accident with a
pregnant woman and he was going to be kept overnight
(15:33):
in jail unless I sent seven thousand dollars, and because
I was not going to do that immediately, I knew
not to, but it scared me half to death. And
then they put the voice on, which all young people
sound the same to me anyway, and he sounded just
like my grandson. But I still didn't do anything. And
(15:57):
then I and they said, oh, don't call Oh the
young boy said, don't call my mother. Don't whatever you do,
don't call her, which is what I was going to
do my daughter. But finally when they hung up, I
called my other grandson and he immediately said, it's a scam,
don't do anything. And I didn't know who to call
(16:20):
to tell that it had happened. Now that you said,
call the police. If it ever happens again, which it hasn't,
I will do that. But I did call back. The
man gave me his phone number, the lawyer, and I
called back and he answered, and I said, are you
really lying? And he hung right up on me, and
(16:42):
that was the end of it.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Ruce, Well, consider yourself lucky, but that has happened. You know,
you want the loan in that And I'm sure there
are other people that that phone call was made that
day that actually probably gave him some money.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
Oh two days I saw the same thing on the
news in the evening and mine was seven thousand. On
the news they it went up to nine thousand. I
don't know if it was the same man, but it
was the same scam, and the woman gave it to them.
(17:20):
They came to it was a young girl. She came
to her house and picked up the money and they
got away with it. But I think they did catch
the girl. But yeah, it was very frightening, and I'm
so glad I called my other grandson. I had to
do something. I just couldn't. I couldn't let it go.
(17:45):
I wasn't no way was I going to give them
seven thousand, I said, do you expect me to go
with seven thousand dollars I pocketbook or my pocket.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
You should not give them seven cents. You should not
get them again.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
Never you work hard for your money, That's right. No, no,
I would now never fall for anything like that. But
I should have had the rest number, and I should
have called the police. At least they would have had
his number, you know, and it was fresh enough so
that he answered my phone call, so chances are he
(18:23):
would have answered the police. So now that I know that,
and I hope I never get another one, but if
I do, it's good to know exactly what to do.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Catherine, Thank you for sharing. Thank you for sharing that story.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Thank you, Catherine. I'm glad that you never ended up
by giving him any money.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
Happy New Year to you, Okay, Happy New Year to
you too.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Both Happy.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
And Bruce. Go back two four ten years. You're sitting
at your desk and Catherine called you that this has happened.
What do you, as the representative of the police in Newton,
what do you do when she gives you the number.
(19:12):
Who's someone that's trying to pull this scam.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Well, what we would do is we would have an
officer speak to her. We would have an officer look
up that phone number. You can get any information on it.
See most likely it's probably a throwaway phone. Sometimes they
can go over the internet and they can put in
any number they want. That's why when someone calls up,
think with me, I saw you know what the George
of police departments. They can make it look like it's
(19:37):
anybody you can. You know how many times a day
do we all get these stam phone calls? And they
can be on thet they can put it in any
phone number they want. There was a while a few
years ago, I must have got three or four phone
calls within an owl. It was my phone number calling me.
I recognize that number. But yeah, again, just when you
(20:00):
think that you can then you've seen them all as
another one. But again, they could be a million different scams.
But you never give out your information. You never give
in any money never. So no matter how, no matter
how do you scam changes by not giving out any
personal information, I'll giving out any money. They're going to
(20:21):
go on to the next call and that's what you want.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
You want them not to pester you, but go away
and try someone else and hopefully they'll be smart enough
not to fall for it. I've got a news hit
to take and when we come back from the news,
we have Maryland and Watertown. So Maryland, be patient. We'll
get to you quite shortly. Here on Night Side. Well,
(20:44):
the time is ten thirty thirty five degrees.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
It's Night Side with Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
We're in the middle of exposing scams. I've got former
Lieutenant Bruce apothecar Arm with me. He was a lieutenant
in the city of Newton. He was there. Did you
say eighteen years of service? Bruce?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Uh, thirty nine thirty nine.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Oh, I don't know where I get eighteen thirty nine
years of service. And we're talking about some of the
more often used scams, carns, hustles that are out there.
And let's go to Watertown and speak to Maryland. Maryland,
thank you for calling. Welcome to Night's Side.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Hey, I don't have an exciting story to tell you,
but I had to call because this is my two
favorite people. So I had to call and I respected
you as a lieutenant, but I you know, I know
you was Bruce, and I don't know how many Maryland
Jane Bruce, but this is Marylynd Potito de Vienni and
(21:58):
I lot.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
I know you.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
I didn't know how many Maryland or knew. But anyway,
I got a call a couple of years ago and
it was a young man and it was a voice
I would say probably about sixteen. But like you, Bruce,
my phone number came up. I thought that was a
little strange. And he said, he says, Grandma, I was,
you know, I was, I was raised or anything in
(22:25):
my car and I got stopped and and I'm at
the police station, and I don't want my mother and
father to know. Could just send me some money? And
I said, uh gee, I don't think I would send
it all the way to Long Island, New York. I said,
thanks for the call. My grandson. My grandson was out
of college at that time, and I knew, you know,
(22:47):
it was a young boys, and you know, I knew
it was a scam. But I have to tell you
I didn't call a police because I didn't figure they
could do anything. Is that isn't is that right?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
What could have been done?
Speaker 2 (22:59):
You know?
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Well?
Speaker 3 (23:01):
And all that's who auty. You know, if they attempted
h then is the chances of finding someone's probably very slim.
But you know, we do like to know though, because
see what trends are going on out there, because then
you can educate the public by notifying us, uh the police.
Now I was there, but by notifying the police, they
(23:22):
can put out, you know, a local advisories.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
So if yeah, yeah, that's that's that's what it is.
I should have I should have done that. I should
have done that. But anyway, but no, it's always a
pleasure of seeing you at all the events and Newton
and this is my favorite, one of my favorite programs.
I wish you were on more ROF and I listened
to you all the time.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Let me just say, Morgan Maryland is a true h
a true local hero. She's a community uh activist. You
see her everywhere and you might I don't know, Maryland,
you want to say what you do for our work?
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Absolutely I had Morgan, I have to tell you. He
brought it up. I wasn't going to say. I was
an elected governors council of for thirty two towns and
cities from AYR to Boston for twenty five years and
I got defeated after twenty five years in September. Yeah,
(24:26):
and you know, I didn't fight the lies. I took
the high road. And you know when I saw those
commercials with those governor candidates for New Hampshire, you know,
each calling each other a liar, I couldn't do it.
And so my friends are angry. I said, they said
you should have bought those lives, and I said, I
(24:48):
just couldn't do it. So that's the new politics today,
and it's said, it's said, you.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Know, it's not new in mudslinging and purposely lying about
something in regards to your opponent is elections and elections
and elections old. But let me ask you this. Are
you is this a two year term or a four
(25:14):
year term.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
It's a two year term. And I've been elected twenty
five years and I've had twenty three opponents through the years.
I have the most active from Brookline and Newton and
you know all of them, and so there's always someone
that's active and you know is going to run. And
so I'm proud of the I made a lot of
(25:36):
changes and I promised that. So I'm proud of that.
But like I said, you know, my friends are angry
because she ran on abortion, and we don't vote on abortion.
We vote on people, you know, parole board, appel, a
tax board. We vote on judges, clerk, magistrates. So you know,
I took the high road and that's it. But Broce,
(25:57):
you are so kind.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
To even think of me.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
But I see Bruce everywhere and I live in watter Town.
But my rusa Newton. When my mother she was a
Danucci and when she came from Italy, her family lived
in Newton, and my cousin was Joe Denucci, the estate editor.
So I have a special feeling. And my mother's oldest
brother was one of the originators Bruce of the Saint
(26:22):
Maria Common. And that's been going on what for eighty
eight years or something, And you know, I'm there every
July walking the streets and it's you know, we walk
up the statue. It was a wonderful thing we have.
They have a wonderful carnival. It's just isn't a Bruce.
Isn't it great that the younger people have kept it up?
Speaker 3 (26:43):
You know, really, you know, it was King's the lot
over the years.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Oh yeah, Maryland, I want you to register to run
again in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Focus, you know, focus on your focus, on your highs,
focus on your highs, and you'll get that job back again.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
All right, Well, you're very kind and Morgan. I wish
you were on more often. Your your shows are so
interesting and this is the first time I've got in,
but I had to talk to both of you. And
Bruce is the most loved in Newton. And yes he
is still called lieutenant, but he let me call him Bruce, right, Bruce, absolutely, Marylyn.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
I'm in the middle of eight days of shows out
of nine Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and
I'm gonna I'm gonna be whipped to come next Tuesday,
but I'm gonna make it to the finish line. I promise.
I'm going to do the best.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Great great, Well, I'm listening, okay, and stay healthy you
and Bruce and Bruce. How wonderful that we celebrated Christmas
in Honka the same day you said it wasn't that
wonderful this year?
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Yep, yep. I think the last one was in the
nineteen nineties, No, two thousand and five.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Yeah, but I got to tell you. This was my
twenty fifth Honka celebration in the state House and I
went in with the governor and I was wanted to speak.
It's a wonderful, wonderful celebration.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Mary Maryland. No one I can vote for you living
in Newton in twenty twenty six. You got my vote.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
Well I will see, but listen. I hope you have
a healthy, happy new Year, both your families too. And
I'm going to keep listening and I'll see you soon.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
And Bruce, I know.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Maryland. Best yea to you for twenty twenty five. Bye bye,
call Emily and Norwood. You're next here at night Side.
Welcome You've got Lieutenant Bruce of Potter.
Speaker 6 (29:12):
I nice to talk to you. I I first called
about the topic about the scams. I am unemployed currently,
but I was working for the elderly. And I have
to tell you I've worked from Needham, Newton, Chesna Hill, Westwood, Norwood,
(29:39):
lots of different towns. But this is a very heartfelt
and with all of our families. I'm currently I just
turned my birthday was Christmas forty four. But thank you
and uh, I have to say it's a very big,
(30:01):
widespread issue with these scams and they get you coming,
going up, down and sideways. And I just wanted to say,
the more exposure about it and the more we talked
about it, and exactly what was being said about anybody younger,
(30:22):
you know, if you work for somebody, if you have
a neighbor, if you have family members, just like email,
phone calls, it's something that it can be very tricked
about and trips up on. My mom has fell prey
(30:46):
to it, a lot of family members, a lot of
my ex clients that I used to work for. Emails
is a big thing, phone calls. And also I wanted
to introduct to Bruce that I have a married last name,
(31:09):
but my former name with Downing, so Hugh Downing and
Leo Downing, I know my uncle my father yep, yep.
So I just wanted to stay hi and just reaching
(31:29):
out and thank you for being an advocate for this topic.
And that's kind of It's it's a very the more
exposure even in the mail, like it came up about
the I R s like they'll only reach out to
you and the male, but like females and phone calls
(31:54):
and especially the elderly or target like and it's just
it's really upsetting to see people lose their life savings
thinking somebody is being taken advantage of and or held
hostage or in jail and they're losing everything.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
So very very set Also is that so many people,
so many elderly and even you younger people, when they
have been scammed, they don't tell anybody because they're embarrassed
of what happened. And so the true statistics we can
never get because of the people that will never even
(32:40):
come forward and make that information known to us. But again,
you know, you are an advocate. It's everybody's going to
be an advocate for somebody else, especially you know, those
who we know that a potential scam victim. We just
got to talk to them. You talked about you know,
like na, this time of year, there are a lot
(33:03):
of people, you know, there's nothing worse than loneliness and
someone and helplessness. And this time of year, you know,
the holiday season, it's nice to reach out to someone.
If you have an elderly neighbor, you might want to
check in on them during a snowstorm. Just want to
be able to have that sort of contact with them
that they know that they're not alone. And that's the
(33:25):
biggest thing of all because you know, we always talk
about protecting our property, but first and foremost, we have
to protect ourselves and each other. And if we don't
protect others, you know, property is one thing again and
scams one thing, but we got to make sure that
we're staying connected to people that have no connection to others.
(33:46):
And there's nothing more important than that. You know, many
times they do statistics and a lot of people think
that suicide rate this time of year is among the
highest during the holidays. It's actually not. The University of
Pennsylvania did a study a couple of years back and actually, uh,
December is of all the months, it's the Uh it's
the lowest month of suicides. They say Jules the first.
(34:07):
But again, helplessness, loneliness, it's just, uh, it's just something
that people need, that connection and if we can give
it to them, and you know, part of it advising
them about these scams, having them contact you, contact the police,
that will go a long way and uh stemming uh
the tide of all these scams.
Speaker 6 (34:31):
And I think that's a good point to be made.
Is like you can live next door or across the
street from somebody. But that's like the outreach. It's on
you and it's on all of us.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Is the like, Emily, are you still there? I don't
know what is cutting out calls? That's a thing a
time this has happened. Well, anyone else who wants to
call in. I've got maybe eight minutes left with Lieutenant
Bruce Apothecar here on night side and time in temperature
(35:12):
ten forty eight thirty five degrees.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Life Sight Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Lieutenant Bruce Hypotheca is here, and he and I have
done radio good Grief forever, and I honestly can't tell
you if this is your fourteenth or twenty fourth appearance
with me, Bruce. One of those numbers is close one
of them.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
And let's just hope the uh, the numbers that I
played tonight on the Mega Megas will be the winner.
So me and you'll go on vacation.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
No no, no, no no, I've got the winning numbers.
I've got the I've got the winners, and then you
and I will go on vacation and buy property for
five hundred and fifty million dollars something as an island
or a chunk of land would be for sale. You know,
(36:13):
we'll be the Kings.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
I was selling the clerk tonight as I was playing
my numbers. You know, it gives you a few minutes
to dream. That's the you know, the chance of winning.
We know what the chances are, but at least it
gives you a few minutes to dream. And nothing better
than that.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
I know they say you have one and three hundred
and thirty million chants. No, I have a one on
one chance me and luck.
Speaker 6 (36:42):
No.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
I always wondered, well they if somebody came in there
to the lottery headquarters and gave them the three hundred
and something million dollars to cover every number, would they
take it? Or do as every number have to go
through the machine.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
I'm sure somebody tried to play every number. I don't
know how long it would take for that machine to
spit out the ticket with one to one two three
four five six one two three four five seven one
two three four five eight whatever.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
I don't know if it could be done.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Yeah, I don't think though.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Every Tuesday and every Friday, Yeah, before before we go
off down dream Land Lane, is there another scam that
we haven't touched on just with the final three minutes
of having it before go before I have to go
to news.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Well, you know there's always you know, it doesn't happen often,
but it does happen. You'll have somebody knocking your door.
They'll say there with the city water department, the city
sore h with one of the utilities, and they need
to check something in your basement and is you know,
you go in and you take them down the basement. Meanwhile,
someone else comes into the home. Off they were with
(37:59):
two to begin with, one stays upstairs and then when
they leave, next thing you know, you've had some property
that was stolen. But again, let anybody in your house.
Never comes to your house and comes to your door
and they want to get in, has to see their identification.
And then if they were the city water to pope,
(38:20):
contact the city water, contact the police, debout and say
there's someone here that is claimed to be a city worker.
It won't take the Office of more than a couple
of minutes to get there and can verify if the
story is correct. And meanwhile, if you tell them they're
gonna you're gonna contact the police before you open the door.
And you look and you see them running down the streets.
(38:41):
Good chances a scam.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
There's another scam that starts the same way. They pull
up to your house and the signage on the truck
says paving or or tree trimming service ever, and they
claim they just did your neighbor's house around the corner.
(39:05):
They've got extra material and they thought maybe with the
look of your property, you might need some paving in
your driveway. That is a scam. Don't fall for it.
You call when you want the people to trim your bushes,
you call when you want paving.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Right because all they'll do is, oh, yeah, there's certain
names are the people that go around and do that.
But what happens, uh, you just say, you know, say
they'll love extra you know, asphalt and all they really don't.
They they're basically painting your driveway with the I can't
remember the word now, the seiler. So they're just sealing
(39:49):
your driveway and it's basically painting it. And you wrote
five hundred thousand, two thousand.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
Dollars right because they I'll give you a bonus deal
right now because I'm here and I've got the stuff
on my truck. Don't fall for that, but people do
want people fall for that.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
What people need to do is everybody's pretty well educated
now about going on the internet. You go on and
you type in current scams, how I'm how, how am
I going to be scammed? You do your own homework
and there's a plethora of information out there that will
help protect you and you won't be surprised by anything.
(40:34):
And again, let your family, your neighbors, friends know. He goes,
you know, you saw, you know, maybe you want to
go on the incident. Let me just say about a
new scam I saw out there, because eventually you'll get
that phone call, and if you already know it's out there,
you won't be surprised and you can just hang up
(40:54):
on them.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Bruce May twenty twenty five. I tell this to everybody
I meet, be your best year ever. You deserve it.
Speaker 3 (41:03):
So to you, my friend and Trauba people are getting
out there in uniform. God bless you make it home
safe tonight, and good night everybody.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Lieutenant Brusa Poskar, thanks for being here with me on
night's side. One more hour ago, we're going to talk
about breakfast cereals with Topherrellis. After these messages and news.
Time and temperature ten fifty eight thirty five degrees
It's night Side with Dan Ray. I'm going easy Boston's
new radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'll renumber three of Nightside without Dan Ray. I'm Morgan
Morgan White Junior. Been a part of the WBZ landscape,
oh my goodness, going back to nineteen ninety five, ninety six.
And I've been lucky enough to fill in for Dan
all this week Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, last Night, Thursday, Tonight, Friday,
(00:28):
and I have my own show on Saturday that begins
tomorrow at ten o'clock for the last time, I am
pushed to nine o'clock beginning the first show of the year,
and as well, I'll be here next Monday and Tuesday
for Dan. So I have a lot of time in
front of this microphone. And I met this gentleman, No Goodree,
(00:52):
fifteen sixteen years ago. He worked for the City of Newton.
I always emphasize that Newton is a city, not a town,
not a hamlet, not a community, a city and we're gosh, dar,
I'm proud of that designation. And he was the head
(01:13):
of the police department in the City of Newton, and periodically,
even though he retired about two years ago, I still
call upon him to come on the radio when there's
a subject I feel he can address. So please welcome
Lieutenant Bruce Apothecar Hi Bruce, Hi Morgan.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I am fine? And are you comfortable people still calling
you lieutenant even though you retired a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
You know, it's interesting many people do call me that.
Even when I was working in I was a lieutenant.
I used to tell people just you know, if they
were a suborder of mine, I would say, you know,
just call me by my first name, Bruce, and some people,
you know, I feel comfortable by that name lieutenant. Some
people call me lt. But in the end, uh, I'm
(02:09):
just a regular guy. Uh, a boy from Rushbury and
Georgester to make it pretty good. But I want to
wish everybody before we start. I wanted with everybody happy, uh,
New Year, Merry Christmas, happy Hanukah and uh. I always
like to start up by saying the real heroes up
there are the ones in uniform, police, fire, first responders,
(02:32):
truly doctor and you know even people who were the uniform,
someone in the custodial staff. You know, people that are
always helping others, and so I always say they're out
there for us. And it's nice if we can always
be there for them.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
You say LT for lieutenant. Uh, that was the way
that a couple of the police under Lieutenant Van Buren
on Lauren Order referred to her. And Benjamin Brett, his character,
used to always call her LT. So maybe that's where
(03:08):
they got it.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Well, it's interesting, you know. I go back to like
nineteen eighty three, and I can remember when I was
first a rookie going into the station and the lieutenant
who will be in charge of the ship, people are
calling him Lou. So I thought that was his name, Lou.
But you learned mighty quickly. And I know, I don't
(03:30):
know if I'll fight it at Hotma Store, but I
know some people in Newton will call their lieutenant Lootie.
So just different variations. But in the end, it's all
the same, and we all worked for the common goal
of helping others.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And I'm glad you mentioned nineteen eighty three. In nineteen
eighty three, the bad guys, the criminals, the thieves out
there had not thought of making a duplicate copy of
your mortgage and making it look like on paper that
(04:05):
you sold your house that wasn't on somebody's mind in
nineteen eighty three that came along, and I'm thinking mid
to late nineties to the beginning of the two thousands.
But that's just another way that the bad guys trying
to find a way to steal from you without putting
(04:25):
a gun to your head. And one of the reasons
I want you tonight, I want you to talk about
some of the scams and con artists and circumstances where
Joe and Jane Citizen have their property taken from them.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Well, you know, someone's more likely than not to have
the house broken that the taking property. When I first
got on the job, chest at a mall, and I
believe the Braintream all was the too highest areas of
stolen cars, stolen vehicles, and I can remember there's probably
maybe once a shift the chests in the mall. You
(05:08):
take a report of a stolen car, and and you know,
things evolved. Car alims. It's just you know, there's video
out there and it's just a whole really of different things,
but it's the same thing like with the mortgage scams
and all that. Things were always evolving. I think what
the legislature should do, and I'm surprised they haven't done
it yet. Somehow try to work on the front end
(05:31):
of that, and so someone just can't file a title
without you know, maybe showing proper identification or certain things
that would ward off anything like a title being stolen.
But you know what, there's and we've talked about this
on many occasions. Just when you think you've seen it all,
(05:54):
there's always another scam out there, and we all remember
it all seems sosided. You know, years ago, remember the
Nigerian scams where a prince would email you and say,
you know he needs money. You give him a ten
thousand dollars, he'll he promised he's going to give you
(06:14):
a millionaire return. So there's just something I can remember
over the years, having so of the supermarkets and Newton
would contact us and say that, you know, we have
someone who's been here for less a couple of days.
They an elderly person and they're requesting money orders, you know,
(06:36):
ten thousand dollars, fifteen thousand dollars and they're going to
send it to somebody. So we would work with them,
and I can remember one particular woman that you know,
we spoke to the family and they were aware that
she was, you know, being scammed out and what did
she do the next day She went back and she
did another money order. So yeah, it's a it's a
(06:58):
tough thing out there, but you know, very fortunate. I
always said working in Middlesex County U D. A. Ryan
Middlesex DA Ryan does a fantastic job. Goes around the
different senior centers, goes around to different cities and towns
within Middlesex County and makes a lot of people, a
lot of seniors aware of these scams. And by working
(07:21):
again on the front end the police and the prosecution,
I won't have to deal with it on the back end.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I have a break roughly about sixty seconds away, and
I'm going to open up the phone line six four
ten thirty eight eight eight nine to nineteen thirty. If
you have been scammed, or even if you have heard
of a scam, somebody in your office the old we've
(07:51):
kidnapped your grandchild and unless we get X amount of dollars,
you'll never see them again. Meanwhile, your grandchild's at home
watching NFL football. If you want to speak to any
of those scams, call in. I guarantee you the lieutenant
(08:12):
will have heard of any scam you can mention, and
by mentioning them, you're helping all the people listening to
Nightside right now be more aware of what to look
out for, what not to do, to just have their
life go much more smoothly and simply. So give us
(08:34):
a call. Six point seven two five four ten thirty
eight eight eight nine two nineteen thirty. This is Nightside.
I'm Morgan filling in for Dan Ray. I've got Lieutenant
Pruss Apothecar, former lieutenant in the City of Newton, and
he's here with me to help you at home. Time
and temperature ten point fifteen thirty five degrees.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Now back to Ray live from the Window World Nightside
Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Dan is off tonight. He'll be off Monday and Tuesday,
returning on Wednesday. To this microphone here at Nightside. My
name Morgan White Jr. Periodically they call me into filling
for Dan when Dan is off, and I do the
best I can. I have a huge drolodex of great guests.
(09:29):
I try to repeat them every two or three months
because they represent stories and comments to help you. Right now,
I've got Lieutenant Bruce Hypotheca and Bruce, can you speak
to the scam that I mentioned before where somebody will
call you and say they've got your child or grandchild hostage,
(09:56):
and a lot of people panic and do what this
mysterious caller says, and they send thousands to wherever they're
told to get the safety of the kid back.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yep, absolutely, yeah. I actually had it happened to me
one night. I was in my home and the phone
ring and it said the uh, I forget we're in Georgia,
but Georgia police apartment, and they said that my daughter
was arrested and that I needed to send some money
to help bail her out. And knowing that my daughter
(10:33):
was in the next one sleeping, I uh, you know,
I actually you know, I said to the guy, you
get the wrong one, brother, But uh, in all honesty,
that does happen. That was a common one, uh a
few years ago where somebody would call up all of
a sudden, a h A younger boye would get on
(10:55):
the phone and say like grandma, grandpa and you know
then whoever was was the grandmother and grandfather of someone.
They would say like you know, Mary, is that you
and then presson would get back on the phone, say yes,
we have Mary. He's under arrest, and you know, we
don't want it to be held in these conditions. So if
you want to, you know, she arned five thousand, ten
(11:17):
thousand dollars to bill them up. And I can remember
one day there was a woman who got a phone
call saying that her husband was involved in a crash
and they had gone out of the car. You know,
the people that she was talking to to exchange papers,
and they put them in the trunk of the car
and now they're driving around with them. Unless she gives
(11:37):
them thousands of dollars, they were going to have them.
So she called her husband's cell phone and he always
answers the cell phone, but he didn't answer he that day,
and she tried them through up the day, and finally
she gave money to these people and then they called
back saying they wanted more and lo and behold, her
(11:59):
husband calls her on the other line is says, you know, honey,
how are you know I got to uh turn my
uh ringer on. So if you are want to these
scammers and you send out thousands of phone calls a day,
all it takes is one person for them to have
hit the lottery, right, So you know, you never give
(12:21):
any money.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Always contact the police department always.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
And and you know something, there are a lot of
people listening right now that have elderly parents. And this
isn't you know, accrus with elderly people, but it seems
like that's who they pray on. But you know, have
these conversations with them. And I you know, I'll say
it ten times and I've said it before. You gotta
work on the front end. So whether it's an elderly
parent that shouldn't be driving a vehicle, whether it's an
(12:50):
elderly parent that may be starting to wane in the memory. Uh,
and cognitively, you know, you just want to have these
conversations with them and say, listen, you know, if you
get these phone calls, don't do anything. If you get
any emails, don't do anything. Never give out your information.
If somebody says it with a bank and they need
your bank social security and your bank number, you know,
(13:12):
tell them to call you first, to call the police,
just to verify it.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Everybody panics when they hear these three letters I R S.
The I R S does not call you. They communicate
with paper correspondents. That's their first extension to you. So
if someone's calling and saying, I'm with the I R S.
My name is Agent Jones. You need to do X,
(13:42):
Y and Z because you O A, B and C
B scam Alert, you're being scammed. Yep.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Absolutely, But again, when you phone thousands of people today,
all they're hoping for is that one person.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, yeah, and it makes it worth.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
While, yep.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
And it's very difficult to track down a lot of
the people. A lot of times they may be operating
out of another country and you know, people sending money
orders to doing other ways of getting them the funds
that they're requesting. So never ever give it out. And
that's why again I go back to d a Ryan
and she's working on the front of this for many years,
going to the senior set, is talking to different people,
(14:26):
having people in the banking industry show up and talk
at some of these seminars. But don't ever give anything.
That's that's the rule. Don't ever give anything out, money,
your information, any any sort of something that's private to you.
And because again they'll, uh, they'll just take advantage of
(14:48):
it and they'll run with it. And the next thing
you know you're thousands of dollars.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Ninety Sure it's a ripoff. Let me go to West Roxbury.
Take Catherine who was called in to speak to you,
Lieutenant Bruce of Africa.
Speaker 5 (15:05):
Catherine, Hello, Hi, Hi'm Morgan. I really love your show.
First of all, thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
And you're describing what happened to me. This was probably
at least four or five months ago, and a lawyer
called and said that he had my grandson and that
my grandson was involved in an auto accident with a
pregnant woman and he was going to be kept overnight
(15:33):
in jail unless I sent seven thousand dollars, and because
I was not going to do that immediately, I knew
not to, but it scared me half to death. And
then they put the voice on, which all young people
sound the same to me anyway, and he sounded just
like my grandson. But I still didn't do anything. And
(15:57):
then I and they said, oh, don't call Oh the
young boy said, don't call my mother. Don't whatever you do,
don't call her, which is what I was going to
do my daughter. But finally when they hung up, I
called my other grandson and he immediately said, it's a scam,
don't do anything. And I didn't know who to call
(16:20):
to tell that it had happened. Now that you said,
call the police. If it ever happens again, which it hasn't,
I will do that. But I did call back. The
man gave me his phone number, the lawyer, and I
called back and he answered, and I said, are you
really lying? And he hung right up on me, and
(16:42):
that was the end of it.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Ruce, Well, consider yourself lucky, but that has happened. You know,
you want the loan in that And I'm sure there
are other people that that phone call was made that
day that actually probably gave him some money.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
Oh two days I saw the same thing on the
news in the evening and mine was seven thousand. On
the news they it went up to nine thousand. I
don't know if it was the same man, but it
was the same scam, and the woman gave it to them.
(17:20):
They came to it was a young girl. She came
to her house and picked up the money and they
got away with it. But I think they did catch
the girl. But yeah, it was very frightening, and I'm
so glad I called my other grandson. I had to
do something. I just couldn't. I couldn't let it go.
(17:45):
I wasn't no way was I going to give them
seven thousand, I said, do you expect me to go
with seven thousand dollars I pocketbook or my pocket.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
You should not give them seven cents. You should not
get them again.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
Never you work hard for your money, That's right. No, no,
I would now never fall for anything like that. But
I should have had the rest number, and I should
have called the police. At least they would have had
his number, you know, and it was fresh enough so
that he answered my phone call, so chances are he
(18:23):
would have answered the police. So now that I know that,
and I hope I never get another one, but if
I do, it's good to know exactly what to do.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Catherine, Thank you for sharing. Thank you for sharing that story.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Thank you, Catherine. I'm glad that you never ended up
by giving him any money.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
Happy New Year to you, Okay, Happy New Year to
you too.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Both Happy.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
And Bruce. Go back two four ten years. You're sitting
at your desk and Catherine called you that this has happened.
What do you, as the representative of the police in Newton,
what do you do when she gives you the number.
(19:12):
Who's someone that's trying to pull this scam.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Well, what we would do is we would have an
officer speak to her. We would have an officer look
up that phone number. You can get any information on it.
See most likely it's probably a throwaway phone. Sometimes they
can go over the internet and they can put in
any number they want. That's why when someone calls up,
think with me, I saw you know what the George
of police departments. They can make it look like it's
(19:37):
anybody you can. You know how many times a day
do we all get these stam phone calls? And they
can be on thet they can put it in any
phone number they want. There was a while a few
years ago, I must have got three or four phone
calls within an owl. It was my phone number calling me.
I recognize that number. But yeah, again, just when you
(20:00):
think that you can then you've seen them all as
another one. But again, they could be a million different scams.
But you never give out your information. You never give
in any money never. So no matter how, no matter
how do you scam changes by not giving out any
personal information, I'll giving out any money. They're going to
(20:21):
go on to the next call and that's what you want.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
You want them not to pester you, but go away
and try someone else and hopefully they'll be smart enough
not to fall for it. I've got a news hit
to take and when we come back from the news,
we have Maryland and Watertown. So Maryland, be patient. We'll
get to you quite shortly. Here on Night Side. Well,
(20:44):
the time is ten thirty thirty five degrees.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
It's Night Side with Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
We're in the middle of exposing scams. I've got former
Lieutenant Bruce apothecar Arm with me. He was a lieutenant
in the city of Newton. He was there. Did you
say eighteen years of service? Bruce?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Uh, thirty nine thirty nine.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Oh, I don't know where I get eighteen thirty nine
years of service. And we're talking about some of the
more often used scams, carns, hustles that are out there.
And let's go to Watertown and speak to Maryland. Maryland,
thank you for calling. Welcome to Night's Side.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Hey, I don't have an exciting story to tell you,
but I had to call because this is my two
favorite people. So I had to call and I respected
you as a lieutenant, but I you know, I know
you was Bruce, and I don't know how many Maryland
Jane Bruce, but this is Marylynd Potito de Vienni and
(21:58):
I lot.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
I know you.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
I didn't know how many Maryland or knew. But anyway,
I got a call a couple of years ago and
it was a young man and it was a voice
I would say probably about sixteen. But like you, Bruce,
my phone number came up. I thought that was a
little strange. And he said, he says, Grandma, I was,
you know, I was, I was raised or anything in
(22:25):
my car and I got stopped and and I'm at
the police station, and I don't want my mother and
father to know. Could just send me some money? And
I said, uh gee, I don't think I would send
it all the way to Long Island, New York. I said,
thanks for the call. My grandson. My grandson was out
of college at that time, and I knew, you know,
(22:47):
it was a young boys, and you know, I knew
it was a scam. But I have to tell you
I didn't call a police because I didn't figure they
could do anything. Is that isn't is that right?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
What could have been done?
Speaker 2 (22:59):
You know?
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Well?
Speaker 3 (23:01):
And all that's who auty. You know, if they attempted
h then is the chances of finding someone's probably very slim.
But you know, we do like to know though, because
see what trends are going on out there, because then
you can educate the public by notifying us, uh the police.
Now I was there, but by notifying the police, they
(23:22):
can put out, you know, a local advisories.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
So if yeah, yeah, that's that's that's what it is.
I should have I should have done that. I should
have done that. But anyway, but no, it's always a
pleasure of seeing you at all the events and Newton
and this is my favorite, one of my favorite programs.
I wish you were on more ROF and I listened
to you all the time.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Let me just say, Morgan Maryland is a true h
a true local hero. She's a community uh activist. You
see her everywhere and you might I don't know, Maryland,
you want to say what you do for our work?
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Absolutely I had Morgan, I have to tell you. He
brought it up. I wasn't going to say. I was
an elected governors council of for thirty two towns and
cities from AYR to Boston for twenty five years and
I got defeated after twenty five years in September. Yeah,
(24:26):
and you know, I didn't fight the lies. I took
the high road. And you know when I saw those
commercials with those governor candidates for New Hampshire, you know,
each calling each other a liar, I couldn't do it.
And so my friends are angry. I said, they said
you should have bought those lives, and I said, I
(24:48):
just couldn't do it. So that's the new politics today,
and it's said, it's said, you.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Know, it's not new in mudslinging and purposely lying about
something in regards to your opponent is elections and elections
and elections old. But let me ask you this. Are
you is this a two year term or a four
(25:14):
year term.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
It's a two year term. And I've been elected twenty
five years and I've had twenty three opponents through the years.
I have the most active from Brookline and Newton and
you know all of them, and so there's always someone
that's active and you know is going to run. And
so I'm proud of the I made a lot of
(25:36):
changes and I promised that. So I'm proud of that.
But like I said, you know, my friends are angry
because she ran on abortion, and we don't vote on abortion.
We vote on people, you know, parole board, appel, a
tax board. We vote on judges, clerk, magistrates. So you know,
I took the high road and that's it. But Broce,
(25:57):
you are so kind.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
To even think of me.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
But I see Bruce everywhere and I live in watter Town.
But my rusa Newton. When my mother she was a
Danucci and when she came from Italy, her family lived
in Newton, and my cousin was Joe Denucci, the estate editor.
So I have a special feeling. And my mother's oldest
brother was one of the originators Bruce of the Saint
(26:22):
Maria Common. And that's been going on what for eighty
eight years or something, And you know, I'm there every
July walking the streets and it's you know, we walk
up the statue. It was a wonderful thing we have.
They have a wonderful carnival. It's just isn't a Bruce.
Isn't it great that the younger people have kept it up?
Speaker 3 (26:43):
You know, really, you know, it was King's the lot
over the years.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Oh yeah, Maryland, I want you to register to run
again in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Focus, you know, focus on your focus, on your highs,
focus on your highs, and you'll get that job back again.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
All right, Well, you're very kind and Morgan. I wish
you were on more often. Your your shows are so
interesting and this is the first time I've got in,
but I had to talk to both of you. And
Bruce is the most loved in Newton. And yes he
is still called lieutenant, but he let me call him Bruce, right, Bruce, absolutely, Marylyn.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
I'm in the middle of eight days of shows out
of nine Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and
I'm gonna I'm gonna be whipped to come next Tuesday,
but I'm gonna make it to the finish line. I promise.
I'm going to do the best.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Great great, Well, I'm listening, okay, and stay healthy you
and Bruce and Bruce. How wonderful that we celebrated Christmas
in Honka the same day you said it wasn't that
wonderful this year?
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Yep, yep. I think the last one was in the
nineteen nineties, No, two thousand and five.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Yeah, but I got to tell you. This was my
twenty fifth Honka celebration in the state House and I
went in with the governor and I was wanted to speak.
It's a wonderful, wonderful celebration.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Mary Maryland. No one I can vote for you living
in Newton in twenty twenty six. You got my vote.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
Well I will see, but listen. I hope you have
a healthy, happy new Year, both your families too. And
I'm going to keep listening and I'll see you soon.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
And Bruce, I know.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Maryland. Best yea to you for twenty twenty five. Bye bye,
call Emily and Norwood. You're next here at night Side.
Welcome You've got Lieutenant Bruce of Potter.
Speaker 6 (29:12):
I nice to talk to you. I I first called
about the topic about the scams. I am unemployed currently,
but I was working for the elderly. And I have
to tell you I've worked from Needham, Newton, Chesna Hill, Westwood, Norwood,
(29:39):
lots of different towns. But this is a very heartfelt
and with all of our families. I'm currently I just
turned my birthday was Christmas forty four. But thank you
and uh, I have to say it's a very big,
(30:01):
widespread issue with these scams and they get you coming,
going up, down and sideways. And I just wanted to say,
the more exposure about it and the more we talked
about it, and exactly what was being said about anybody younger,
(30:22):
you know, if you work for somebody, if you have
a neighbor, if you have family members, just like email,
phone calls, it's something that it can be very tricked
about and trips up on. My mom has fell prey
(30:46):
to it, a lot of family members, a lot of
my ex clients that I used to work for. Emails
is a big thing, phone calls. And also I wanted
to introduct to Bruce that I have a married last name,
(31:09):
but my former name with Downing, so Hugh Downing and
Leo Downing, I know my uncle my father yep, yep.
So I just wanted to stay hi and just reaching
(31:29):
out and thank you for being an advocate for this topic.
And that's kind of It's it's a very the more
exposure even in the mail, like it came up about
the I R s like they'll only reach out to
you and the male, but like females and phone calls
(31:54):
and especially the elderly or target like and it's just
it's really upsetting to see people lose their life savings
thinking somebody is being taken advantage of and or held
hostage or in jail and they're losing everything.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
So very very set Also is that so many people,
so many elderly and even you younger people, when they
have been scammed, they don't tell anybody because they're embarrassed
of what happened. And so the true statistics we can
never get because of the people that will never even
(32:40):
come forward and make that information known to us. But again,
you know, you are an advocate. It's everybody's going to
be an advocate for somebody else, especially you know, those
who we know that a potential scam victim. We just
got to talk to them. You talked about you know,
like na, this time of year, there are a lot
(33:03):
of people, you know, there's nothing worse than loneliness and
someone and helplessness. And this time of year, you know,
the holiday season, it's nice to reach out to someone.
If you have an elderly neighbor, you might want to
check in on them during a snowstorm. Just want to
be able to have that sort of contact with them
that they know that they're not alone. And that's the
(33:25):
biggest thing of all because you know, we always talk
about protecting our property, but first and foremost, we have
to protect ourselves and each other. And if we don't
protect others, you know, property is one thing again and
scams one thing, but we got to make sure that
we're staying connected to people that have no connection to others.
(33:46):
And there's nothing more important than that. You know, many
times they do statistics and a lot of people think
that suicide rate this time of year is among the
highest during the holidays. It's actually not. The University of
Pennsylvania did a study a couple of years back and actually, uh,
December is of all the months, it's the Uh it's
the lowest month of suicides. They say Jules the first.
(34:07):
But again, helplessness, loneliness, it's just, uh, it's just something
that people need, that connection and if we can give
it to them, and you know, part of it advising
them about these scams, having them contact you, contact the police,
that will go a long way and uh stemming uh
the tide of all these scams.
Speaker 6 (34:31):
And I think that's a good point to be made.
Is like you can live next door or across the
street from somebody. But that's like the outreach. It's on
you and it's on all of us.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Is the like, Emily, are you still there? I don't
know what is cutting out calls? That's a thing a
time this has happened. Well, anyone else who wants to
call in. I've got maybe eight minutes left with Lieutenant
Bruce Apothecar here on night side and time in temperature
(35:12):
ten forty eight thirty five degrees.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Life Sight Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Lieutenant Bruce Hypotheca is here, and he and I have
done radio good Grief forever, and I honestly can't tell
you if this is your fourteenth or twenty fourth appearance
with me, Bruce. One of those numbers is close one
of them.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
And let's just hope the uh, the numbers that I
played tonight on the Mega Megas will be the winner.
So me and you'll go on vacation.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
No no, no, no no, I've got the winning numbers.
I've got the I've got the winners, and then you
and I will go on vacation and buy property for
five hundred and fifty million dollars something as an island
or a chunk of land would be for sale. You know,
(36:13):
we'll be the Kings.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
I was selling the clerk tonight as I was playing
my numbers. You know, it gives you a few minutes
to dream. That's the you know, the chance of winning.
We know what the chances are, but at least it
gives you a few minutes to dream. And nothing better
than that.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
I know they say you have one and three hundred
and thirty million chants. No, I have a one on
one chance me and luck.
Speaker 6 (36:42):
No.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
I always wondered, well they if somebody came in there
to the lottery headquarters and gave them the three hundred
and something million dollars to cover every number, would they
take it? Or do as every number have to go
through the machine.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
I'm sure somebody tried to play every number. I don't
know how long it would take for that machine to
spit out the ticket with one to one two three
four five six one two three four five seven one
two three four five eight whatever.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
I don't know if it could be done.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Yeah, I don't think though.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Every Tuesday and every Friday, Yeah, before before we go
off down dream Land Lane, is there another scam that
we haven't touched on just with the final three minutes
of having it before go before I have to go
to news.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Well, you know there's always you know, it doesn't happen often,
but it does happen. You'll have somebody knocking your door.
They'll say there with the city water department, the city
sore h with one of the utilities, and they need
to check something in your basement and is you know,
you go in and you take them down the basement. Meanwhile,
someone else comes into the home. Off they were with
(37:59):
two to begin with, one stays upstairs and then when
they leave, next thing you know, you've had some property
that was stolen. But again, let anybody in your house.
Never comes to your house and comes to your door
and they want to get in, has to see their identification.
And then if they were the city water to pope,
(38:20):
contact the city water, contact the police, debout and say
there's someone here that is claimed to be a city worker.
It won't take the Office of more than a couple
of minutes to get there and can verify if the
story is correct. And meanwhile, if you tell them they're
gonna you're gonna contact the police before you open the door.
And you look and you see them running down the streets.
(38:41):
Good chances a scam.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
There's another scam that starts the same way. They pull
up to your house and the signage on the truck
says paving or or tree trimming service ever, and they
claim they just did your neighbor's house around the corner.
(39:05):
They've got extra material and they thought maybe with the
look of your property, you might need some paving in
your driveway. That is a scam. Don't fall for it.
You call when you want the people to trim your bushes,
you call when you want paving.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Right because all they'll do is, oh, yeah, there's certain
names are the people that go around and do that.
But what happens, uh, you just say, you know, say
they'll love extra you know, asphalt and all they really don't.
They they're basically painting your driveway with the I can't
remember the word now, the seiler. So they're just sealing
(39:49):
your driveway and it's basically painting it. And you wrote
five hundred thousand, two thousand.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
Dollars right because they I'll give you a bonus deal
right now because I'm here and I've got the stuff
on my truck. Don't fall for that, but people do
want people fall for that.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
What people need to do is everybody's pretty well educated
now about going on the internet. You go on and
you type in current scams, how I'm how, how am
I going to be scammed? You do your own homework
and there's a plethora of information out there that will
help protect you and you won't be surprised by anything.
(40:34):
And again, let your family, your neighbors, friends know. He goes,
you know, you saw, you know, maybe you want to
go on the incident. Let me just say about a
new scam I saw out there, because eventually you'll get
that phone call, and if you already know it's out there,
you won't be surprised and you can just hang up
(40:54):
on them.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Bruce May twenty twenty five. I tell this to everybody
I meet, be your best year ever. You deserve it.
Speaker 3 (41:03):
So to you, my friend and Trauba people are getting
out there in uniform. God bless you make it home
safe tonight, and good night everybody.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Lieutenant Brusa Poskar, thanks for being here with me on
night's side. One more hour ago, we're going to talk
about breakfast cereals with Topherrellis. After these messages and news.
Time and temperature ten fifty eight thirty five degrees
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