The number 1 Fraud used against seniors

There is a lot of information about frauds and scams and how to protect yourself. What I found is that there is not a great deal of information about the frauds and scams that target seniors. So, as I was working on creating a workshop on this topic for seniors, I thought I would add the information to the blog. The more you know about frauds and scams, the less chance you have of becoming a victim. Over the next few posts, I will highlight the top 10, (in my opinion) frauds against seniors and how to protect yourself from falling victim to the fraud.

There are many reasons why seniors are vulnerable to fraudsters and scam artists. Here are a few:

· As a group, we are too trusting; too polite as we were raised in a culture that valued these attributes and so we believe in the best of people.

· Many seniors are isolated and look forward to any type of interaction with others, so when we start to get phone calls and letters, we welcome them. But after a while, we become worn down by calls and letters so we give the callers and letter writers what they want.

· Many seniors do not have the experience to be aware that they are a victim of a fraud or a scam.

Fraudsters are very, very convincing; cheating people is their profession and they are well-trained. What follows are the frauds and scams used almost exclusively against seniors. 

The number one fraud is a telephone fraud called, The Grandparent Scam. This fraud is a variation of a class of frauds called Telephone and Email Scams.

What happens is a senior receives a telephone call, and the voice is garbled or hard to hear. The caller identifies themselves as a grandchild or a nephew or niece and talks about the bad connection and then says something along the following lines:

 “Hi, this is your favourite grand(son)(daughter) or nephew/niece.  I need you to send me money (for a flight ticket, rent or bail) but please don’t tell mom.  She’ll be so disappointed in me.”

If you receive a phone call with any request to wire or send money it should immediately raise a red flag, so hang up and report the fraud to the police.

There is a variation of this phone scam called the Bogus bank inspector. The senior is asked to withdraw a large amount of cash from your account to use as evidence. The senior is told not to tell the staff why they are withdrawing money. They are asked to meet the “investigator” at a pre-determined destination where the money is handed over for investigation.

Once the money changes hands, the senior is instructed to return home and wait for a phone call confirming that the money has been re-deposited . . . no call ever comes and they never see their cash again.

Seniors can take steps to protect themselves from this fraud.  My rule is simple, if you have caller ID and do not recognize the number, let it go to voicemail. If you make a mistake and answer the phone, politely say, “I am not interested!” and hang up. Never give personal information over the phone. Finally, take the time to register on a “Do not call” list.

A third variation of this fraud is the delivery fraud when a caller says (s)he is from a delivery service with a parcel, (s)he arrives an hour later with parcel that must be signed for, there is a small delivery fee that must be paid with a card so that there is proof of delivery. You give your card information. (S)He transfers your information onto a new card and within a few days, thousands of dollars have been charged. The "mobile credit card machine," HAS all the info necessary to create a "dummy" card. WARNING: Be wary of accepting any "surprise gift or package," which you neither expected nor personally ordered.