President's Report

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Around noon one weekday an elderly resident of Tuscawilla

was shopping at the Walmart Neighborhood Market on Red

Bug Road. She paid with cash and proceeded to depart the

store. What she was not aware of was that she was being

watched by a middle-aged man. She entered her car and

slowly made her way out of the parking lot by way of the

apartments on Dodd Road. As she got to the exit her car

was blocked by another vehicle. The driver in the car was

the same man who was observing her in the store. She

began to panic when another car raced up behind her and

slammed on its brakes. A man got out and approached her

car window. He showed his badge and then ran up to the car

that was blocking the exit. That car sped off. The off-duty

policeman said he noticed her being watched in the store

and then being followed out to the parking lot. He happened

to be shopping but dropped everything anticipating that this

elderly lady was going to be a crime victim.

There are many ways we can become a crime victim from

having one’s purse stolen while shopping, having someone

taking your cash at an ATM machine, or being pick-pocketed

in a crowd. We all need to be aware of our surroundings and

realize that there are bad characters out there even in our

nice neighborhood stores.

On June 12 the Tuscawilla HOA invited Winter Springs

Police Captain Nick Romano to speak at our Membership

Meeting on safety. He gave us a practical and engaging

presentation focused on how residents can protect

themselves from fraud and scams. Not only do we need to

be careful when we are out shopping, but we need to be

careful when we respond to a phone call, text, or email.

I have a dear friend who lives in a retirement village in

South Florida. She was notified that she was the lucky

winner of a five-million-dollar jackpot or so she thought.

The correspondence looked genuine, and the lady on the phone was very

helpful. Of course, my friend had to pay a registration fee of thirty

thousand dollars. Once she did this, she only had to prepay part of the taxes which were another fifty thousand dollars. Now after a few

weeks she was notified that the final tax payment of three

hundred thousand dollars had to be paid, and the money

was all hers. Fortunately, after much arguing with her bank,

they stopped her, and she woke up minus eighty thousand

dollars. She now, along with a detective, shares her story to

other residents of retirement homes.

I want all of you to keep your money and not get fooled

by some very smart and not so smart criminals. Always

be conscious of your surroundings and the people around

you. Delete suspicious emails and texts. Use an answering

system on your phone. I want you to be safe as you enjoy

living here in Tuscawilla.

Dr. Kurt Miericke

THOA President

Publisher, Tuscawilla Today

Email: THOAws20@gmail.com