In this Next Chapter Forum, Renee Shaw and a panel of experts discuss scams and other forms of fraud that frequently target the elderly and offer ways to prevent falling victim to these schemes.
Here are three takeaways from the program:
1) Fraudulent activity can take many forms, including email or social media-based scams, tech support schemes, and deceptive telephone solicitations.
While anyone can fall victim to fraud, senior citizens are frequent targets, according to Paul Greenwood, an elder abuse consultant for AARP and a former San Diego deputy district attorney who specialized in elder abuse prosecution. He says that’s because older individuals have more time to talk on the phone, respond to emails, or dabble on social media. They may also be lonely and vulnerable following the death of a spouse, or they may be worried about their finances and looking for ways to increase their wealth.
In many cases, perpetrators of fraud will try to scare or intimidate their victim with threats of dire consequences to themselves or a loved one. Scammers may also pose as a law enforcement officer or a government official who claims to be the only person who can help the victim resolve the fabricated problem.
“Too often the predators really focus on an emergency situation,” says Greenwood. “It needs to be handled now, it needs to be handled in secret, and I’m going to help you through this. And something triggers in our brains that says I need to respond to this... and we find ourselves sucked into this scheme that the predators are so clever at doing.”
Tech support scams are another way fraudsters try to ensnare older individuals who may not be technologically savvy. Gail Katchak of Glasgow and her husband made the mistake of calling a phone number contained in a message that appeared on their computer screen saying their system had crashed. When Gail called the number, a man on the other end of the line said he would be happy to help them restore their computer after the Katchaks paid him with a $500 gift card. Gail purchased the card and gave the numbers on it to the helpful man on the phone.
Instead of fixing their computer as he promised he would, the man asked for more money.
“He was telling me, ‘Ok, now you need to go somewhere else and buy another gift card,’” Katchak says. “That to me finally clicked in my brain.”
Some scammers will go to great lengths to concoct schemes and get money from their victims. Mary Ellen Strange of New Albany, Ind., answered a phone call from someone who identified themselves as an agent with the Amazon Fraud Protection Unit. The caller told Strange, a retired nurse and IT consultant, that her identity had been used to make purchases, launder money, and traffic drugs.
Strange says she hung up on the caller, but later worried that maybe someone had stolen her identity. When she called back a number that she thought was to Amazon, she got another individual who claimed to be a federal agent and told Strange she was facing serious criminal charges and potential arrest. The agent said he could help resolve the situation if Strange would pay more than $400,000 to a courier who would come to her home to pick up the cash.
“It seems crazy of course when I look back on it now, but at the time he gave me the impression that he was trying to help me,” says Strange. “Of course I felt embarrassed, I felt stupid, I felt ignorant... and I wanted to kill myself when I first realized what had happened.”
In addition to losing a large portion of her savings, Strange now owes the IRS $100,000 in taxes for the money she took out of her retirement to pay the scammers.
“There’s so many layers built into these (scams) that it’s almost impossible to figure out where your money went before it’s completely liquidated,” says Sgt. Ben Baker with the Lexington Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit.
Not all scams are so elaborate. Scammers may call their victim and claim that the person has failed to appear for jury duty and needs to pay a fine, or that a relative has been arrested and needs money for bail. Scammers search obituaries and social media profiles for personal information they can use in such cases, and may even use artificial intelligence technology to mimic the sound of a loved one’s voice on the phone.
“The scams... change regularly and the criminals are using technology. They will send stuff on your email, on your Facebook, on your text messages,” says Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Mattingly-Williams. “We have to be much more cautious and try to outsmart the criminals.”
Beyond gift cards or cash payments, some scammers are now seeking payment in cryptocurrencies. Gary Adkins, volunteer state president of AARP Kentucky, says victims are instructed to go to a Bitcoin kiosk, which is like an ATM machine, and put in cash or a credit card, which gets converted into a cryptocurrency and transmitted to the perpetrator. He says there are hundreds of such kiosks across the commonwealth.
2) Not all fraud is perpetrated online or over the phone by people in another state or country. Some schemes result from door-to-door solicitations, or by caregivers stealing personal information.
Traci Caneer, assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Fayette County, says older individuals who rely on various in-home care services can sometimes fall victim to people they should be able to trust. She says with different caretakers coming in and out of the home, someone may be tempted to steal a checkbook, or account information from a bank or credit card statement, or take other personal information such as a Social Security number by going through someone’s mail or private documents. Unfortunately, Caneer says such criminal activity isn’t limited to helpers hired from professional caregiving services.
“Even family members that oftentimes are addicted to drugs do things that you wouldn’t think they would do,” says Caneer. “But because of that driving motivation, they take advantage of somebody that they should love and care for.”
Even when police are able to intercede, Caneer says getting a prosecution can be difficult, especially when the perpetrator is a relative.
“Victims don’t want to prosecute their loved ones, and they’re dependent on them, which is also a real catch-22,” she says. “If I turn them in and I prosecute them, then who’s going to take care of me?”
Other in-person scams include people offering a home repair or remodeling services. Medley says such home improvement schemes are common after severe storms move through a community. People posing as contractors will go door-to-door, claim they have noticed damage to your home, and eagerly offer to schedule a repair if you pay them upfront.
3) Fortunately, there are simple ways to avoid these schemes and there are resources to help people who think they have been scammed.
The panelists encourage seniors to listen to their intuition: If a solicitation online, on the phone, or in person seems questionable, it could well be a scam. If the potential scammer tries to get personal information from you, coerce you into some kind of financial transaction, demand that you respond quickly, or simply asks you to keep the matter a secret, the experts recommend discussing the situation with a trusted person before taking any action
“Recognize that gut feeling,” says Lindsay Medley, a social worker with the Lexington Senior Center. “It doesn’t hurt to ask that family member, ‘What do you think about this?’ Or to ask your local senior center or somebody that you trust.”
Jodi Walden, a partner with Lockshield Partners Financial Services in Glasgow, says it’s also wise to pause before you respond to any ominous message that suddenly appears on your computer screen saying your system has crashed, your account has been frozen, or you must contact customer service immediately. Such messages may ask you to call a phone number or click on a link for assistance.
“When in doubt, just don’t click,” says Walden. “If you have any question whatsoever as to whether a text,or an email, or a link is legitimate, just walk away.”
If you think someone may be trying to scam you, or you have been victimized by a scammer, you should contact your local police as soon as possible. AARP also maintains a fraud watch hotline that’s open from Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. That number is 877-908-3360. The state also maintains a website of helpful information for avoiding fraud at StopScams.ky.gov.
“Calling your local police department, calling your bank, calling those resources sooner rather than later is crucial,” says Sgt. Baker. “It’s not always possible to get money back and recoup some of those funds, but the odds are extremely higher if you make that phone call sooner.”
Baker and Williams say banks and retailers are becoming more aware of scams targeting seniors and are on the lookout for elderly individuals who request large sums of cash, purchase high-value gift cards, or feed money into a Bitcoin kiosk. If they notice such transactions, they may gently question the person about their actions to ensure there is no coercion involved.
“A good bank teller is invaluable,” says Caneer. “They’re paying attention, they know this person, they’ve built that relationship, and so when they see something that’s out of the ordinary, they report it.”
Greenwood says some perpetrators will be on the phone with their victims while they make the transaction, either telling them what to do, or listening in to ensure that they follow orders. He says if a merchant or banker sees behavior like that from an elderly customer, they should intervene.
As for home improvement scams, if someone comes to your home offering an unsolicited repair or remodel, the panel recommends calling the Better Business Bureau to check out the individual offering those services. If the service is something you’re interested in, always get a second quote from a known contractor. Finally, you should never pay more than a third or a half of the proposed service fee up front.
