Beware of common financial scams that target older adults
The Elder Justice Initiative has combined efforts with the U.S. Department of Justice to combat financial fraud that targets older adults. Those efforts are ongoing and include a number of initiatives to educate people about fraud and some notable scams that criminals use to target older adults.
• Social Security Administration Impostor Scam. When perpetrating this scam, criminals call prospective victims and falsely claim that suspicious activity has prompted the suspension of their Social Security numbers. Scammers may also indicate a withdrawal from a potential victim’s bank, which is then stored on gift cards for security’s sake.
• Tech Support Scam. This scam involves criminals falsely representing widely recognized companies calling to inform seniors that viruses have been detected on their devices, or they computers have been hacked. The perpetrators of this scam pretend to be tech support and request victims enable them to remotely access their devices, which provides access to sensitive information. Scammers may also diagnose nonexistent problems and charge a fee. Scammers may also call back later and offer a refund to account for services that can no longer be rendered or to correct an overcharge. The scammers then request people’s specific banking details under the guise of “correcting” these alleged oversights.
• Lottery Scam. The lottery scam involves scammers calling potential victims and informing them they have won a foreign lottery or sweepstakes. Perpetrators of this scam typically identify themselves as lawyers, customs officials or lottery representatives. The telemarketers behind the scam will ask people to pay various fees, including shipping and customs duties, until victim’s funds are exhausted.
• RomanceScam. The Federal Trade Commission warns that wildly popular dating sites, social networking platforms and chat rooms provide opportunities for scammers to identify and exploit potential victims. The aim of these scams, which many victims are too ashamed to report even after they’ve been victimized, is to convince targets to send money in the name of love. The Equal Justice Initiative warns that online love interests who ask for money are almost certainly scam artists.
—MetroCreativeConnection
