New Scam Scare Tactics

I have often said that people who scam seniors are among the lowest form of human beings, if even you would qualify them as such. I am proud to say that Home Instead Senior Care has been diligent in their efforts to educate seniors and their families through our Senior Fraud Protection Kit and community education classes.

Sadly, the most painful fraud cases are instances where someone whom the senior knows exploits their trust for profit. More horrendous still are the stories of people who engage seniors and gain their trust for the sole purpose of exploiting them for personal gain. I suppose the theory is that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Not so any longer.

Con artists have now come to the realization that they can more easily rob a senior by scare tactics and intimidation that by bothering to pretend to care. There are three of these new tactics which are worth mentioning and speaking to your senior loved ones about.

The first tactic is a plain and simple death threat. This sounds like something out of mobster movie but it is reality. An extortionist will tell a senior that a contract has been placed on their life and the only way to avoid getting whacked is to pay a premium. While this may sound ridiculously far fetched, consider the more than 1300 people who reported this crime in 2012 at a cost of over $2 million.

Secondly, an official looking person claiming to be from Social Security, Medicare, the police, etc. will show up at a senior's front door and demand immediate payment for a supposed fine. In some instances they use this tactic to simply gather personal data and financial data but most recently it is a direct push for actual payment.

The final and most prominent of the top three is the utility shakedown. A "utility worker" will show up and threaten to shut off utility services. This is an especially devastating threat during the winter and summer months when utilities can be an issue of survival in many parts of the county.

My hope is that one of these con-artists shows up on my front door step and tells me that there is a contract out on my life. On behalf of seniors and their families everywhere, I will happily turn the tables on him. I'll give him one for the Gipper!

http://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-08-2013/con-artists-use-fear-to-intimidate.html?intcmp=HP-spot2L

Beware- New Scam in NC

Crimes are, by their very nature, cruel acts performed at the expense of other people. As a society, we have found ways to excuse certain crimes by pairing them with defensible motivations; crimes of desperation, crimes of passion. Yet there are certain crimes for which no defense can be made. Crimes which victimize the elderly are among those.

Recently, a new wave of scams designed to defraud senior citizens has swept across the nation. The "Med Alert Scam" is nothing incredibly creative yet seniors in Texas, Michigan, Kentucky, New York and North Carolina have been the targets of this most recent con. The Attorney General's office in NC says that they have already fielded more than 100 calls reporting this scam. Imagine how many more are victimized in silence.

The basis of the con operates in two primary fashions. The most common form which has been observed begins with an automated phone call. The call informs its recipient that either they have won a free med alert system or that someone has purchased a med alert system for them.The call then requests that they enter their credit or debit card information to pay for shipping. The second form that the con is known to have taken is that of free merchandise being delivered. The merchandise is delivered with little to no explanation of where it is from or what it entails. The return instructions and conditions of receipt are confusing and shrouded by legal jargon and fine print. Sooner rather than later, large invoices being to arrive accompanied by letters threatening legal action or worse. Many seniors simply pay the invoices rather than asking for help or attempting to confront the scumbag operation.

Home Instead Senior Care has put together some fantastic and free resources on the topic of senior fraud prevention. While it would definitely behoove everyone to read through the principles of the program, an easy rule of thumb to remember regarding telephone fraud is that you should never give any information out during a phone call that you did not initiate. While the financial toll that this scam may take on many seniors is devastating, the emotional toll is equally as brutal. Seniors who are already struggling to maintain a connection to the rapidly changing world around them, now retreat even further, afraid to even pick up the phone.

Check out the free resources at www.protectseniorsfromfraud.com