Showing posts with label common scams affecting senior citizens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label common scams affecting senior citizens. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Stop Scammers, Spot Fraud and Report It - Learn How!

It seems as though the older I get the more often I hear from a friend or neighbor who has been the victim of fraud.  The criminals who create these scams are ruthless.  They can seem friendly, charming and caring but, in reality, they do not hesitate to cheat their victims, even if their victim is a widow or someone living on a small fixed income.  Of course, one of the most famous cases of fraud was Bernie Madoff, who is thought to have committed the biggest financial fraud of all time.  Even though Bernie Madoff is now serving time in federal prison, cases of fraud still create financial hardship every day for ordinary people across the country.

The good news is that you do not have to resign yourself to being just one more hapless victim.  You can take action to make sure this never happens to you and, perhaps, help authorities shut down some of these scams so they do not harm other people.  Here are some of the things we all need to know.

Common Scams Targeting Senior Citizens

1.  Grandparent Scam - One of my closest friends fell victim to this scam. The way it works is that an imposter calls your home, pretending to be a grandchild in trouble. The "teen" is usually crying hysterically, so it is difficult to make out their voice.  They start the conversation by saying, "Grandma (or Grandpa)," after which many senior citizens will respond with the name of one of their grandchildren.  The scammer takes it from there, pretending to be that person.  In some cases, the scammer has already learned the name of your grandchildren and other details about your family from social media, before they ever call you, so they are even more convincing. In the case of my friend, she and her husband, a retired Sheriff's Deputy, wired $5,000 to another country to "rescue" one of their grandchildren.  In truth, her grandchild was here in the U.S., at work, not in any kind of trouble, and had never been in the country where they wired the money.  If my friend had taken just a few minutes to text their grandchild on his cell phone, or call his parents, they could have saved themselves from becoming victims.  However, like thousands of other victims, they were so distressed by the call, they rushed to "help" their grandchild as quickly as they could.  If this has happened to you, do not be ashamed.  These people are convincing.  If even a retired Sheriff's Deputy can become a victim of this type of crime, it is easy to see how anyone can fall for it.

2.  The IRS or Missed Jury Duty fines and Similar Scams - I have received these calls myself. The way they work is that a stranger calls and insists you owe money to the IRS, or you missed your assigned jury duty, or you failed to pay a utility bill, and you must pay a fine immediately or risk arrest or other penalties.  In real life, these agencies do not call people and threaten them.  If one of these agencies actually needs to contact you, they will first send you a letter.  On the rare occasions when one of these agencies or services does call, it is usually after they have already corresponded with you by mail or email.  Even if you do owe them money, they will never insist that you pay them within a few hours. They will never ask you to immediately wire them money or pay them in gift cards or other unusual ways. As a result, it is important that you never rush to send money to a stranger, no matter what government agency or private company they say they represent.  Call the agency or company at the direct number they list on your bill if you have a question and believe you may actually owe them money.

3.  Sweepstakes and Lottery Scams - Everyone hopes to win money, but what if someone claims you won a prize in a contest you don't even remember entering?  What if they say they will only send you the winnings if you first mail them a fee or payment of some kind?  Never give out personal information or credit card numbers over the phone or online to a stranger, even if they tell you they will send you a large prize in return.  Never rush to a store to buy gift cards or cashier's checks to pay for a prize.  In fact, never purchase gift cards to pay for any gift, prize or fee.  It almost always means they do not want to accept normal types of payments, which only happens when they are doing something dishonest.

4.  "Free Lunch" Investment Scams - If you live in a retirement community, you almost certainly have been sent countless offers of a free lunch at a local restaurant in return for listening to a sales pitch about annuities or other investment opportunities.  Often, this becomes a "hard sell" in which the presenter tells you that this is a "limited time" offer.  Never make major financial decisions in a hurry.  Always talk to a variety of legitimate investment advisors before investing your retirement savings with someone at one of these lunches, and check their references.  While many honest sales people do use these lunches in order to find new clients, it should be a red flag if they are too pushy and eager to force you to sign up and invest immediately with them.  Take your time.

5.  Romance Scams - One of the most heartbreaking types of scams are those in which a person pretends to care for you but, unfortunately, really just wants to trick you into giving them money.  This can happen in a variety of ways ... it could be people you already know, people you meet through a dating site, or someone who has reached out through other means of contact.  I have even seen people on sites like Twitter post that they are only there to "meet someone special."  The best advice is to never loan money to anyone, including family members, if you cannot afford to lose the money forever. If you cannot give it to them "for fun and for free," it is probably wise not to give it away at all.  In particular, do not loan money to people you do not know well, no matter how much they insist they love you, would never do anything to hurt you, etc.  Many older people, especially women, have lost thousands of dollars to unscrupulous people who claimed to be in love with them.  Often these scammers spend weeks or months gaining your confidence and then ask for a loan because of some "unexpected" problem, such as getting stranded in another country.  Do not be fooled.  These people are adept at playing the "long con", and they could be corresponding online with a dozen other people, or more, at the same time.  You do not want to be one more of their victims.

6.  Phony Charities - It is almost always best to limit your donations to organizations which you know. If you are unsure about them, there are online sites such as charitynavigator.org where you can verify which ones are legitimate.  In addition, you should know that it is unusual for most major charities to call your home and ask you to donate money to help orphans, police officers, firefighters or the sick, especially if you have never donated to that charity in the past.  If you are tempted to help one of these organizations, ask them to mail you an information packet. This will give you time to investigate the organization before making a final decision. Do not let a caller intimidate you into making a hasty decision over the phone. Anytime you feel pressured, hang up.

7.  Tech Department and Help Desk calls - No matter how often we have tried to stop it, my husband and I, as well as many of our friends, continue to get calls from strangers who say they are with with the tech department or help desk for Google, IBM, Dell, Apple or similar companies.  They always claim they are just calling to "help" us solve a problem we never knew we had.  Obviously, these callers must succeed in getting people to pay them for their non-existent "help" or they would not keep doing it.  Put a note next to all your phones: "Technology companies and computer companies will NOT call you unless you contacted them with a specific problem first."  The best thing you can do is just hang up on these people and block their phone numbers to make it harder for them to keep calling you.

8. Medicare Fraud - This can take many forms, including doctors who overcharge Medicare for treatments you did not receive, as well as people who steal your Medicare number and use it to obtain medical care in your name.  Both activities are illegal and, if you suspect someone has committed these crimes, it should be reported to the Social Security Administration and/or the Office of the Inspector General.

9. Identity Theft and Computer Hacking - A particularly frightening crime is that you could become the victim of identity theft or have your computer hacked and never realize it happened until it is too late.  These people can cheat you without ever personally contacting you.  Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself from this type of crime, too.  The best way is to make your online identity as invisible as possible.  You can start by  a book such as:  "200+ Ways to Protect Your Privacy: Simple Ways to Prevent Hacks and Protect Your Privacy - On and Offline." Follow their suggestions and you will make it much more difficult for someone who is trying to secretly steal your information.

Common Scams Targeting Veterans

In addition to the scams mentioned above, veterans face their own unique types of scams.  These include: offers of cash now in exchange for turning over your future benefits to someone else; offers to help you change your investments in order to qualify for higher government benefits; phony charities which promise to help veterans; and ID theft by people who pretend to work for the VA and request your Social Security number or other personal information.  If you have a question about calls you have received, contact the Department of Veteran's Affairs directly to make sure anyone who contacts you is offering a legitimate service.

More Ways to Protect Yourself from Scams

Register your phones with the Do Not Call List:

https://www.donotcall.gov

If you receive a questionable phone call on your mobile phone, you can easily block the number so they cannot keep calling you from that number.  They may keep trying, using a different phone number each time they call, but eventually they will run out of numbers and the calls will stop. Contact your phone carrier for your land line to find out how to block these calls on your home phone.

Check out charities at:

www.give.org
http://charitycheck101.org
charitynavigator.org

Investigate financial advisors at:

https://brokercheck.finra.org or (800) 289-9999
http://www.nasaa.org-us

Report Scams and Questionable Phone Calls to the Authorities

Whether you have become a victim of a scam or just believe someone was trying to cheat you, report these incidents to your local police or Sheriff's Department, as well as your state Attorney General's office and the Better Business Bureau.  In addition, depending on the incident, you may also want to report it to one of the following agencies:

Securities and Exchange Commission:  https://www.sec.gov

Mail Fraud: https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/investigations/MailFraud/MailFraud.aspx
(626) 304-7164

Medicare Fraud:  Call (800) MEDICARE or (800) 633-4227

Federal Trade Commission: 

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov
(877) FTC-HELP
(877) 382-4357

Do Not Be Embarrassed if you are the Victim of Fraud

The people who plan and implement these scams are very sophisticated.  They believe that if they try over and over again with enough people, they only need to defraud a few of them in order to make it financially worthwhile to them.  They practice their approach over and over again.  Because of their persistence, there is no shame in falling victim to these thieves.  They can be very charming and convincing.

In addition, the people who cheat you out of your money may actually be relatives or trusted friends.  Before you hand a friend a credit card or loan them money, ask yourself if you can afford to take a loss.  If not, make whatever excuse you need in order to avoid giving them access to your funds.  It may strain a relationship, but not as much as it would if they cheated you.

Do not be embarrassed to report what happened to you.  The money you lose is rarely recovered, especially if it is a phone scam that originated overseas, but if these people are allowed to keep up their behavior, they may repeatedly cheat you out of money or they may scam other people.  Reporting them to authorities is the best way to protect yourself and others.

If you are interested in learning more about financial planning, Social Security, Medicare, where to retire in the US and abroad, common medical problems 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: Google Images

Saturday, February 4, 2012

If Grandkids Call for Money - Grandparent Scam

Would your grandkids call you
if they were in trouble?
Last weekend a close friend of mine received a terrifying call from her grandson, who lives in another state.  He had rear-ended a car containing tourists from another country, and he had a sealed bottle of vodka in the car when it happened.  He was in a heap of trouble.

My friend asked her grandson details about what had happened.  He told her he had hired an attorney, and he was at the courthouse with his lawyer trying to get everything sorted out.  My friend asked to speak to her grandson's attorney.  The attorney explained what was happening, the charges he was facing, and what the judge felt her grandson should do in order to reimburse the people he had rear-ended for their out-of-pocket expenses.

After talking with the attorney, my friend got back on the phone with her grandson, and asked what she could do to help.  He told her he needed $4000 to be sent to the tourists, to cover their expenses.  Then the charges would be dropped.  He had not been drinking the vodka, and he had passed the sobriety test.  He just needed to cover the expenses.  He was very upset and embarrassed.  He begged her not to tell other members of the family, including his parents.  After discussing the situation more with the lawyer and the prosecuting attorney, to be certain that the charges would be dropped, my friend discussed the situation with her husband.  Then, she and her husband went to her bank, removed $4000, took it to a Western Union office, and had the money wired to the "victims," who were now back home in the Dominican Republic.

The entire incident was part of the well-known GRANDPARENT SCAM!

My friend lost her entire $4000, despite the fact that both she and her husband had read about money transfer scams in our local newspaper.  She simply didn't connect the financial scams reported in the newspaper with the situation she was facing with her grandson.

Once she realized she had been cheated, she reported the case to the local Sheriff's Department and the FBI, but there was nothing they could do to help her.  All the calls originated from outside the US.  The money was wired to another country.  Her grandson had not been involved in an accident; he doesn't even own a car. He was happy and busy doing other things on the morning when all this was transpiring.  He had even called that morning and proudly left them a message about a new job.  However, they were so busy with the money transfer, they didn't listen to the messages on their answering machine.

How to Recognize the Grandparent Scam

When my friend thinks back on the call, she realizes that her supposed "grandson" simply said "grandma" when she picked up the phone.  Then she responded by saying his first name.  He was upset during the call, so it was difficult to recognize his voice.  Besides, she really didn't talk with him on the phone all that often, so she wasn't sure she would have known whether or not it was him, even if he hadn't been pretending to be upset and stressed.

Despite his request to not tell anyone, my friend and her husband should have called other relatives to check on their grandson.  Even if their grandson really was in trouble, taking an extra hour to help him would not have made a difference ... and would have given them an opportunity to check everything out.  These people work in teams, often with several different people available to talk to you on the phone.  You need to get completely independent confirmation before trusting anyone who calls you.

We have already told our own children and grandchildren to not get their feelings hurt if they ever call us for money and we tell them we will call them back later ... after we have had a chance to make a few confirming phone calls.  They understand.

The Grandparents Scam Can Happen to Anyone

In case you think these types of scams couldn't happen to you, my friend is a retired teacher; her husband, who was involved in the decision and helped her wire the money, is a retired parole officer who worked for the Sheriff's Department.  They are both intelligent, very conservative and suspicious of strange phone calls.  Neither one suffers from dementia or any other health condition that would have made them easy marks.  They have a grown daughter who is a lawyer, but they didn't consult her before sending the money.  They didn't try calling their grandson on his cell phone.  They didn't try calling other family members to see if they had heard from their grandson.  Despite all their natural reservations, they fell for this scam hook, line and sinker.

My friend knows that I am making a blog post about this financial scam. We took a long walk at the beach this morning as she relayed the story to me.  She was understandably upset with herself, and angry at the loss of her money.  She also felt powerless to do anything about it.  However, she was adamant that she wanted to do whatever she could to keep it from happening to anyone else, so she asked me to post a fraud alert.  Feel free to forward this post to your friends, in the hope that we can prevent others from becoming victims of money transfer scams and other retirement scams, as well.

Although she isn't sure why they contacted her, the authorities told her that the scammers often target residents of over 55 communities, such as the one where we live.  They also scour Facebook for older people who show photos or mention teenage grandchildren on the site.  These money transfer scams are well-planned, and organized by groups of swindlers who do a lot of research to make their phone calls seem real.

Don't let the grandparent's scam happen to you!

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

photo courtesy of morguefile.com