Don’t fall victim to intelligent scammers who want to separate you from your money or personal information.
The Bruton Memorial Library hosted a workshop this week to help educate seniors about examples of common scams, tips on how to protect yourself and what to do if you become a victim. The event was presented by John and Marjorie Bozer of Bozer Financial Solutions.
As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, it’s unfortunately given rise to a growing epidemic of scams targeting seniors.
“We do this as a community service, my family has gotten scammed and I walked with them through it,” said Marjorie. “It’s a rampant crime that’s happening in this century.”
Her husband John, who worked in the IT industry for 27 years, hoped educating seniors about potential scams would help prevent them from becoming a victim of them. “Most of the scams have just enough truth to make it sound legitimate,” he said.
Trending elder fraud threats include:
Online Shopping Fraud
Online shopping can be rife with fraudulent sites. A good rule of thumb is if the price of a good or service seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Action: Make sure you shop on trusted sites. Also, when purchasing merchandise online, always use a credit card because they have protections against unauthorized charges. Debit cards withdraw the money directly against your bank account.
Social Security
Administration Imposter Scam
Imposters contact prospective victims by telephone and falsely claim that the victim’s Social Security number has been suspended because of suspicious activity or because it has been involved in a crime. They also use caller ID spoofing to make it look like the Social Security Administration is calling. These fraudsters, who can be threatening, then ask to confirm the victim’s Social Security number or may say they need to withdraw money from the victim’s bank and to store it on gift cards or in other unusual ways for “safekeeping.”
Action: Hang up the phone and don’t give them any personal information.
Tech Support Scam
Fraudsters make telephone calls and claim to be computer technicians associated with a well-known company or they may use internet pop-up messages to warn about non-existent computer problems. What do they want? Remote access to the victim’s computer. Then they demand large sums of money for unnecessary services.
Action: Don’t click on pop-up messages on your computer. Don’t give remote access to supposed “tech support.”
Grandparent Scam
These scammers call and pretend to be a grandchild in trouble who needs help now- often by way of a cashier’s check. John’s mom almost fell victim to this one. She received a call from someone impersonating her grandson, saying he was in Costa Rica and needed money. Luckily, she called her son to see if her grandson was in trouble in Costa Rica. He told her he was fine and in the next room.
Action: Get off the phone and call the family member directly to make sure they’re okay.
Fake Charity Scam
These suspicious characters claim to represent a charity in need of money for a worthy cause. These can occur after a widespread disaster.
Action: Do your homework before donating to a charity and only give to those you’ve fully investigated. You can visit the Better Business Bureau’s website (www.give.org) to see if it’s a legitimate charity.
Lottery Scam
Fraudulent telemarketers based in Jamaica and other countries are calling people in the U.S., telling them that they’ve won a sweepstakes or foreign lottery. The catch? “Winner” need only pay fees for shipping, insurance, customs duties or taxes before they can claim their prizes. Victims pay hundreds or thousands of dollars and receive nothing in return.
Marjorie candidly shared that this scam happened to a friend, who got a call that they won $500,000 in a sweepstakes but in order to unlock it they had to pay $8,000. They wired the money. A week later he got another call that they needed to send another $10,000. The friend sent the money, even though the bank teller warned them it was a scam but they were fixated on the sweepstakes money that never came.
Action: Never wire money to someone you don’t know. Don’t click on sweepstakes links.
Romance Scam
Dating sites, social networking sites and chat rooms are popular ways for Americans to meet people but scammers also tend to use these sites to meet potential victims. They create fake profiles to build online relationships and eventually convince people to send money in the name of love.
Action: Never send money or gifts to a sweetheart you haven’t met in person.
If you’re a victim of deceitful scammers, you’re not alone. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that consumers lost nearly $8.8 billion to scams in 2022.
There’s help available. The Federal Trade Commission’s website (www.consumer.ftc.gov) has advice on what to do if you paid someone you think is a scammer or if you gave someone your personal information or access to your computer or phone.
