How to Report a Scam or Fraud

No matter how hard we try, the vast majority of us will eventually become victims of a scam or fraud.  Our downfall could be identity theft, a con artist, overly aggressive debt collectors, internet or phone extortion, phishing emails or other types of crimes.  Whenever something like this happens to you, it is important to contact authorities and help them fight these crooks.

Scammers are Criminals

First, it is important to understand that these types of behaviors are illegal and the people committing these crimes can be fined or sent to prison for cheating you.  In many cases, the phone calls and emails originate in other countries.  Whether the criminals are in the U.S. or another country, they can still sometimes be caught and punished.

Second, you should recognize the fact that these scammers and con artists are well-trained.  They know who you are and how to get information from you.  They are experts at tricking you into sending them money or giving you the information they need to steal money from you.  Everyone needs to be constantly vigilant and learn how to protect themselves from scams and fraud.

Finally, you should not be embarrassed if you become a victim of one of these crimes.  Often there is nothing you can do to prevent them.  The internet is full of identifying information about millions of Americans.  Facts about you have often been obtained illegally by scammers who use sophisticated means to hack into computers and steal information.  It is not your fault.  You should never be too embarrassed to report any fraudulent use of your identity.

If you do become a victim of a scam or fraud, it is extremely important to notify law enforcement, so these criminals can be hunted down and stopped.

How to Report a Scam or Fraud

When to Contact Local Police, the District Attorney or your State Attorney General

If the fraud was committed by someone locally, such as a dishonest contractor, a door-to-door sales person, or a local business, contact your community police department, your county district attorney, and your state's attorney general.  File a complaint and provide them with as much specific information as you can.  In addition, you may want to file your complaint with the FTC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Postal Inspector, or the Internet Crime Complaint Center.  Their information is listed below.

You should also contact the local authorities, as well as your financial institution, if your credit or debit cards have been lost, stolen or used fraudulently.

If you are not satisfied with the results after you have reported one of these crimes, you may also want to contact the crime fighting reporter for a local television station.  They may be able to get more attention than you can on your own.

Federal Trade Commission
ftc.gov/complaint
(877) 382-4357

Use the FTC to report identity theft, overly-aggressive debt collectors and any situation in which you have been the victim of a fraud.  You may not hear back from them after filing your report.  However, the FTC compiles a database of scams and uses the information they collect to build cases against specific con artists. One person's complaints about a scammer might not make a difference.  Hundreds or thousands of complaints could result in a criminal investigation.  You are helping to protect others when you file a complaint, even if you never get your money returned or hear back from the FTC.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
consumerfinance.gov/complaint
(855) 411-2372

If you feel you have been deceived by someone promoting a financial product, such as a loan, bank service, credit report, debt collection, or credit card, contact the CFPB.  Your should also contact them if you believe a company or one of their employees stole your identity.  They will contact the company providing the service and give them 15 days to respond.  The CFPB tries to resolve complaints filed with them within 60 days.

Internet Crime Complaint Center
ic3.gov/complaint

If you are the victim of an internet crime, including investment fraud, sales scams, online auctions, internet extortion, hacking, phishing or scam emails, contact the IC3.  It is run by the FBI and they will forward your complaints to the appropriate agencies where it will be investigated and a case built against the offending parties. Again, you may never hear back.  However, your complaint will be combined with others in order to catch the perpetrators.

Postal Inspection Service
postalinspectors.uspis.gov
(877) 876-2455

If you receive any suspicious mail, including chain letter schemes, deceptive advertising, or phony lottery and sweepstakes letters, contact the Postal Inspectors.  The same is true if you believe that your mail has been stolen.  If you believe financial information was in your stolen mail, contact your financial institution, as well.

Put Yourself on the Do Not Call Registry
donotcall.gov
(888)382-1222

Another government run program designed to protect consumers is the Do Not Call Registry.  Once your phone numbers have been on the list for at least 31 days, you can report unwanted phone calls to the Registry.  They pool the complaints until they have enough to catch the violators.  However, the Do Not Call Registry will not protect you from receiving calls from legitimate charities, survey companies, debt collectors and political candidates and parties.  Unfortunately, you will have to use your own judgement to determine if they are who they say they are, or a scammer pretending to be calling from a legitimate business.  Consequently, you might want to avoid having long conversations with strangers, since it is difficult to know the difference between a legitimate charity asking for donations or information and a phony one.

Do not simply shrug off fraudulent behavior or scams.  Do not be too embarrassed to report crimes when you have been victimized.  By filing a complaint or, in some cases, several complaints with different government agencies, you could prevent the same crime from happening to someone else.

If you are interested in learning more about how to protect your retirement savings, where to live after you retire, common medical problems, Social Security, Medicare and more, use the tabs or pull down menu at the top of the page to find links to hundreds of additional articles.

Watch for my book, Retirement Awareness: 10 Steps to a Comfortable Retirement, which will be published by Griffin Publishing in 2018.

You are reading from the blog:  http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com

Photo credit:  morguefile.com

Friends and Family Prolong Your Life

Are you looking for a fun, easy way to live longer?  According to research done at the University of California in San Francisco, and reported in the AARP Bulletin, spending more time with your friends and family can increase your life expectancy.  This is especially true since the Covid pandemic, when many people stopped socializing and some of them have never returned to the amount of socialization they did before.

The researchers followed 1,600 adults who had an average age of 71 at the beginning of the study.  They took into consideration their socioeconomic status and their overall health.  Those people who self-identified as being lonely consistently died at a higher frequency over the six years of the study.  During that period of time, 23 percent of the lonely people died; only 14 percent of those who were satisfied with their level of companionship died.

How Retirees can Increase their Socialization

Since loneliness can contribute to early death, it is important we take steps to make sure we do not become too isolated as we age ... which is easy to do when we no longer go to a job.  Below are a few suggestions for increasing the time we spend around other people, particularly after we retire.

1.  If you have relatives nearby, make sure you reach out to them and try to spend time together.  Your adult children and grandchildren can immeasurably enrich your life.  If you are not retired yet, but have older relatives or siblings who live in your area, plan activities which include them.

2.   If you live in a mixed age community and no longer spend much time with your neighbors, make an effort to get to know them.  An occasional block party or neighborhood ice cream social benefits people of all ages.

3.   Find out if your community has a senior center.  They often have exercise classes, parties, dances and, sometimes, low-cost lunches which seniors can enjoy in the company of other people.

4.   Call your local community college to see if they offer classes for senior citizens.  Many colleges offer emeritus classes which are either free or very low cost.  Going to classes which you enjoy is a fun way to meet other people with similar interests.  Suggest a few of you go out to lunch or for coffee either before or after your classes so you can get to know each other better. 

5.    Make an effort to join a club, organization or place of worship.  Participating in these organizations can help you stay connected with other people.  The more involved you are, the better off you will be.  It is not enough to attend an occasional club meeting or church service.  Volunteer.  Join a committee.  Go to social events.  These experiences will enrich your life.

6.  Regularly speak with your friends and neighbors.  You may even want to set up a specific time every day, or several times a week, when you call and chat with a friend.  If one of you doesn't answer and there is no explanation for the absence, agree that you will contact family members, a neighbor, or local police so someone will do a "welfare check" on you.  It will bring you and your friends peace-of-mind if you all know that you are looking out for each other.

7.   Do not rebel against the idea of moving to an independent or assisted living facility.  While some people still have a negative image of these living arrangements, sometimes comparing them to old-style nursing homes, the truth is that most people thrive in these facilities.  Today's senior housing facilities have a wide variety of fun amenities and provide an excellent opportunity to socialize and make friends.

Remember:  Being sociable not only makes you happier and improves your outlook, but can prolong your life.  The more involved you are with other people on a regular basis, the better off you will be.

If you want to learn more about common health issues as we age, financial planning, where to retire, changing family relationships, Social Security, Medicare and more, use the tabs or pull down menu at the top of the page to find links to hundreds of additional helpful articles.

You are reading from the blog:  http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com

Photo credit:  morguefile.com

Your Pre-Retirement Checkup

If you are getting close to retirement, it is time to do a pre-retirement checkup.  You want to feel confident you will have enough retirement income to support yourself and your dependents; you also want to have a plan to make sure your money lasts the rest of your life.  While no one can guarantee your assets will last a lifetime, you do not want to retire until you feel fairly certain you will not outlive your money.

What is involved in a pre-retirement checkup?  How do you make sure you are ready to retire?

Organizing a Pre-Retirement Checkup

Of course, you should have been looking over your retirement plans throughout your working years, not just when you are about to retire.  The earlier you started planning, the more likely you are to have a satisfying retirement.  However, about five or six years before you think you will retire, you need to evaluate your plans more carefully.

Start with your annual Social Security benefit estimate.  How much income do you expect to receive at different potential ages?  Would you be better off if you postponed your retirement by a year or two, or even until age 70, in order to increase your income?  Remember, if you are married and have been the primary breadwinner, your spouse will also be affected by your decision.  The longer you wait to retire, the higher your income will be, as well as the income of your spouse.

Next, look at the size of your retirement savings account.  Many financial planners recommend retirees start by only withdrawing 3 percent a year, gradually increasing that amount by 0.03 percent a year, so they are sure their money will last the rest of their lives.  If you add that amount to your Social Security benefits, will you have enough income to maintain your current standard of living?

Do you have any other income which will supplement your Social Security and savings withdrawals?  For example, are you eligible to receive a pension in addition to Social Security or will you have a small income from a hobby, part-time job, rental property or other source?

Evaluate Your Living Expenses

Once you have a fairly good idea of how much income you will have, it is time to evaluate your current cost-of-living.  Are there expenses which you expect will be lower after you retire, including commuting costs, eating out, and buying work clothes?  Are there some expenses which you expect to be higher, such as taking trips or eating more meals at home?

If your estimated retirement cost-of-living far exceeds your future potential income, you may consider relocating to a less expensive area, getting a smaller home or taking other steps to reduce your expenses.  You may be able to make some of these adjustments before you retire and use the money you save while you are working to build up your retirement savings.

Talk to a Financial Planner

Even if you believe your retirement plans are in good shape, this is a good time to meet with a financial planner or investment advisor.  You want someone who will charge you an hourly fee to review your investments or a flat fee to manage your assets, and not someone who relies solely on commissions from the investments he sells you.  Ask the advisor to look over how your retirement assets are invested and recommend changes which could increase the growth of your assets over the remaining years before you retire.  Once you retire, you may want the financial planner to reallocate your assets in order to increase your income and reduce your risk.

In addition, a financial planner can help you determine how much more money you might need to put aside in savings during your remaining working years, what age you should begin to collect your Social Security, what changes you need to make to your lifestyle, and the tax ramifications of making withdrawals from your IRA or 401(k).  The financial planner can also help you decide if some of your current assets should be placed in a Roth IRA, to reduce your future taxes.

After going through all the numbers, first by yourself and then with a financial planner, you will feel much more confident about your retirement plans. Your goal is to be comfortable and confident when you stop working.

For an overview of retirement planning, watch for my book Retirement Awareness: 10 Steps to a Comfortable Retirement which will be published by Griffin Publishing in 2018.

If you are interested in learning more about financial planning, where to retire, common medical issues and changing family relationships, use the tabs or pull-down menu at the top of the page to find links to hundreds of additional articles.

You are reading from the blog:  http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com

Photo credit:  morguefile.com