You spend your whole life working hard, saving aggressively, and accumulating good credit. Your reward for that high net worth? A big target on your back. In the United States, elder fraud is estimated at $3 billion annually. You want to be polite to strangers and lead with trust, but if you are duped, you could lose your entire life’s savings.
Why Seniors
As of 2019, 34 million baby boomers are retired. This provides fraudsters with a wealth of opportunity. Society often portrays people over 65 years old as naive, lonely, and gullible. When popular schemes become widely publicized, they quickly change tactics. Once a fraudster has your money, it’s almost impossible to it get back.
Current Scams
Fraudsters prey on the target’s emotions. They approach with either overly sympathetic and friendly or overly pushy and threatening behavior. For example:
- Romance – offers companionship
- Caregiver – you employ them to work around the house, but they accept the job to steal
- Grandparent – informs you that a grandchild is in trouble and you need to send the fraudster money to help your grandchild
- Government Imposter – threatens arrest unless you pay them
- Medicare – claims they are a Medicare representative and asks to verify your number. They use it to bill Medicare for fake services then keep the money. By the way, Medicare will never (and I don’t throw that word around) contact you for your number unless you have previously given them permission
- Foreign Sweepstakes/Lottery – asks you to pay a fee to win a fake contest
- Charity – a fake non-profit requests a donation
- Home Repair – claims your home needs a repair, charges in advance, never provides service
- Tech Support – offers to remotely fix non-existent computer problems
- Media – fake ad for non-existent services like a reverse mortgage or prescription drugs
- Investment – offers a guaranteed high return on your investment but only if you send the money to the fraudster right now
- Zoom Account Suspension – an official-looking email saying you can’t use their service arrives with a malicious link to click so they can collect your Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
- Vaccine Card – if you posted a selfie on social media with your vaccination card revealing your PII, fraudsters can capture your information to steal your identity
Be Proactive
- Stay up-to-date on the current scams and refuse outreach from strangers. When tempted by an offer that seems too good to be true, verify the seller’s credentials, consult someone you trust, and/or research the offer online. Other people have probably already been approached and have insight on it.
- Be suspicious of anyone who wants you to make a quick decision and keep it a secret. If someone contacts you claiming you, or someone you love, is in danger, write down their instructions: What do they want you to do (e.g., wire funds, send a gift card)? Where do they want you to send it (phone number, email address, website, financial institution, name, and account number)? Then call the police and give them the information you recorded.
- Refuse unsolicited phone calls, mailings, door-to-door services, emails, and texts.
- Do not give or send PII or valuables to strangers.
- Be mindful online. Use reputable anti-virus software and keep it updated. Enable your computer browser’s pop up blocker. Do not download, open attachments, nor click on links in messages sent from strangers. If you receive an email from someone you don’t know, then the best practice is to delete it without opening it.
What do you do to protect yourself from fraud? Please share in the comments.