“Work
at home and earn extra money!” Sounds good doesn’t it?
Particularly when we could all use a little extra cash.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of companies that offer “work at
home” opportunities are simply trying to take your money. I
recently discussed this topic with Patricia Swansick, an investigator
with the Oregon Department of Justice. In
a recent case, Mrs. Swansick had been able to recover a portion of
what had once been one senior’s life savings. The senior had been
talked into taking on significant credit card debt by telemarketers
to help finance his new "Home Business".
All seniors need to be on the lookout for scam artists. Here are some commons signs that you might be getting scammed:
Sweepstake notices, free gift offers.
Once
a senior takes the bait for one scam, thieves sell the person's name,
address and telephone number, and the fake mailings proliferate.
These mail scam are of two types, the "pay to play" scheme
or the "You've won! Here's your check" scam. The first ploy
entices seniors to buy inexpensive trinkets or magazine subscriptions
(which they really do receive) in order to have their name entered in
the contest. In the second case, the elderly person receives an
authentic-looking check, with notification they've already won the
Jamaican (or another foreign country) lottery. What the senior should
do: shred both offers. It's illegal for companies to require you to
buy anything to enter a sweepstakes. If they do, they're scammers.
It's also illegal for Americans to enter a foreign country's lottery.
These scams require the "winner" to wire back a share of
their "winnings" (which will initially clear the bank but
later prove counterfeit) for taxes or administrative fees. The advice
from HELPS
is
to simply tear these up without even opening them in the first place.
Telephone Sales Calls
“Scammers
know senior citizens answer their phone, and are reluctant to hang up
on anyone‖, says Jean Mathisen, director of AARP's Fraud Fighter
Call Center. And as with junk mail, rip-off artists sell names and
phone numbers of seniors who prove to be phone-receptive. HELPS
advises
you to simply say no thanks and hang up the phone. Resist the
temptation to engage in a conversation.
Identity Theft
Be
wary of any calls or emails requesting personal information. One ruse
the thieves use: They tell the senior they need a bank account number
so they can deposit big prize money in the account.
The grandparents scheme
The
senior answers his phone and a young voice says, "Hey, Grandpa,
it's your favorite grandson, and I'm in trouble." Senior says,
"John, is that you?" The caller responds, "yes, it's John," he's calling from a friend's cell phone and he's been in an accident.
He's out of state and needs his grandpa to wire some money right
away.
The discount prescription scam
Callers
offer seniors prescription drugs at 50 percent off. The catch:
it requires a $200 "membership fee" to join a
discount club, along with seniors' credit card numbers. Or the drugs
never arrive as promised, or the "medicine" is actually a
generic herbal replacement.
Other
common scams that target seniors include ―Mystery Shopper,
solicitations for donations, Medicare enrollment, mortgage
foreclosure relief, and home or auto repair scams. We want our
clients to know that there are more scam artists operating than ever
before. If it sounds too good to be true it’s because it isn’t
true.
