Senior citizens are scammed often by fraudulent medical alerts, health care or insurance, funeral and cemetery services, investment schemes, and reverse mortgage scams. Here’s how to make sure you or your loved ones protect against — and altogether avoid — anything fishy when it comes to personal information and finances.
The National Council On Aging reports that over 90% of all reported elder abuse is committed by an older person’s own family members (most often their adult children, followed by grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and others); however, an increasing number of telemarketing and internet scams are taking advantage of seniors.
1. Medical Fraud
Every American over 65 qualifies for Medicare, no scam artist needs to research what private health insurance company older people have before scamming them. Perpetrators may pose as Medicare reps to get personal information, or they will provide bogus services for elderly people at makeshift mobile clinics, then use the personal information they provide to bill Medicare and pocket the money.
2. Counterfeit Prescription Drugs
Most commonly, counterfeit drug scams operate on the Internet, where seniors increasingly go to find better prices on specialized medications. The danger is that victims may purchase unsafe substances that can inflict even more harm than that done financially.
3. Funeral & Cemetery Scams
Scammers may read obituaries and call or attend the funeral service of a complete stranger to take advantage of the grieving widow or widower. Claiming the deceased had an outstanding debt with them, scammers will try to extort money from relatives to settle the fake debts. Fake funeral homes may also use customers’ unfamiliarity with the typical cost of funeral services to add fake or unneeded charges to the bill.
4. Fake Anti-Aging Products
In a society bombarded with images of the young and beautiful, it’s not surprising that the elderly are easily caught by anti-aging advertisements. Whether it’s fake Botox or bogus homeopathic remedies made out of corn starch and Vaseline, there is money in the anti-aging business. These fake treatments can be dangerous, not to mention financially disastrous.
5. Telemarketing Scams
Older people make twice as many purchases over the phone than the national average. With no face-to-face interaction — and no paper trail — telemarketing scams are incredibly hard to trace. Also, once a successful deal has been made, the buyer’s name is then shared with similar schemers looking for easy targets, sometimes defrauding the same person repeatedly. Common phone scams include the following:
-The con artist tells the individual that he/she has found a large sum of money and is willing to split it if the person will make a “good faith” payment by withdrawing funds from his/her bank account. Often, a second con artist is involved, posing as a lawyer, banker, or some other trustworthy stranger.
-The scammer gets the victim to wire money by claiming that the person’s child or another relative is in the hospital, thus needing money.
-Often after natural disasters, scammers will call asking for money for fake charities.
6. Internet Fraud
Unfamiliarity with the internet makes seniors easy targets for internet scams. Elderly folks may not automatically ignore pop-up ads (including those simulating virus-scanning software) and will often hand personal information over. Email messages that appear to be from a legitimate company or institution, asking you to update or verify personal information is also a common scheme. Emails that appear to be from the IRS about a tax refund are likely not such.
7. Investment Schemes
Because many seniors are planning for retirement and ways to safeguard their cash, a large number of investment schemes have been targeted at them. These include anything from pyramid schemes to tales of a foreign prince looking for a partner to claim inheritance money. While spotting an investment scam can be tricky, just remember: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
8. Reverse Mortgage Scams
Fraudsters may send personalized letters made to look official but identifying a property’s assessed value and offering the homeowner (for a fee) reassessed property value and taxes. Also, unsecured reverse mortgages can lead property owners to lose their homes when the perpetrators offer money or a free house in exchange for the title to the property. Yikes. Don’t refinance through anyone but a (real) bank.
9. Sweepstakes & Lottery Scams
Often, claiming that one has won a prize, scammers will send seniors a check to be deposited into their bank account. While the check shows up in their account immediately, it will take a few days before the fake check is rejected. The criminals will then collect money for supposed fees or taxes on the prize, which they pocket while the victim has the fake prize money removed from his or her account as soon as the check bounces. Never pay for a “free prize.” If a caller tells you the payment is for taxes, he or she is violating federal law.
10. The Grandparent Scam
Criminals know they can use your Grandma’s tender heart to get the better of her finances. Scammers will place a call to an older person and when the mark picks up, they will say something along the lines of: “Hi Grandma, do you know who this is?” When the unsuspecting grandparent guesses the name of the grandchild the scammer most sounds like, the scammer has established a fake identity without having done a lick of background research.
The scammer will then claim to be in a financial bind (late on rent, stuck on a road trip with no money, etc., all while begging, “Please don’t tell my parents, they would kill me.”
Never send money or give out personal information such as credit card numbers and expiration dates, bank account numbers, dates of birth, or social security numbers to unfamiliar companies. Get addresses and telephone numbers for the company you are purchasing from, and don’t buy from even a supposedly reputable company unless you know you are on their actual site (not a copycat one).
Be wary of companies that want to send a messenger to your home to pick up money, claiming it is part of their service to you. In reality, they are taking your money (and possibly stealing your identity) without leaving any trace of who they are or where they can be reached. At the end of the day, it comes down to this: don’t give money or personal information to anyone you don’t absolutely know and have proof of legitimacy from.
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