3 Common Scams Seniors May Fall For

November 13-19 is International Fraud Awareness Week. Fraud week is the perfect time to sit with your aging loved one and talk to them about the dangers of someone trying to scam them out of their hard-earned cash. Financial scammers often go after the elderly because they believe that generation has plenty of money in the bank and they want to get their hands on it. They also prey on a generation that still trusts a person just by his/her word and isn’t always up-to-date with modern technology or procedures.
Let’s look at three of the most common scams these fraudsters try to commit.

Sweepstakes and Lottery Scams

In this common scam, the scammer will call your elderly parent and deliver the amazing news that he has won a big prize! Scammers know not everyone plays the popular Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes but they also know that enough do so that some of their calls will be believed. While your parent is excitedly celebrating his big win, the scammer will tell him in order to receive his money, he just needs to cover the taxes or processing fees now and will need to send a certain amount of money to cover that before he receives his prize. Unfortunately, the big prize just never shows up and your parent is out some cash. Encourage your parent to share details with either you or his senior home care provider whenever he receives a call like this so you can check on the validity of the claim.

Robocalls

These are calls made by a robot that plays a recorded message and then the receiver of the phone call can decide whether or not to talk to someone after hearing the message. Often the message is quite frightening, such as proclaiming the receiver is about to be sued or even arrested and needs to pay a fine ASAP to stop this frightening event from happening. Instruct your parent to hang up immediately with a call like this. Never follow through by speaking to a person. You can also let his senior home care team do the same should they answer the phone while visiting with your parent.

Government Scams

With government impersonation scams, the caller calls your parent and warns him that he is in big trouble with the IRS, Social Security Administration, or Medicare. They often tell the victim that he has unpaid taxes and threaten to arrest him or deport him if he doesn’t pay them off right away. Sometimes they will say his Social Security or Medicare benefits will be cut off if he doesn’t provide personal identifying information. They then use this information to commit identity theft.

Anytime anyone asks for money or personal information, your parent needs to learn to be cautious. Even if it’s someone he feels he can trust, like a neighbor, or someone from his senior home care team, he should not give out his personal information without talking to you or another trusted caregiver first.

Source
https://ncoa.org/article/top-5-financial-scams-targeting-older-adults

If you are considering senior home care in Westchester County, NY, for an aging loved one, please contact the caring staff at Touching Hearts At Home of NYC today at 212-201-6139.