Bill Collector Scams
For example, if someone calls and tells them that they have "forgotten" to pay a bill and the collector says that they are just trying to help them out by calling them personally, a senior citizen is much more likely than younger adults to give the collector their debit or credit card information over the phone. The phony bill collector may also take a threatening tone. They may claim that the victim's electricity or cable will be cut off if they don't pay their bill over the phone immediately. The senior citizen may be embarrassed to think that they forgot to pay a bill. They may be afraid that others will think they have dementia or that they are not capable of handling their personal affairs. This fear may be stronger than their natural sense of suspicion.
Charitable Scams
Another type of scam is the charitable scam. Someone from an official sounding charity may call the home asking the senior citizen to help feed poor people in their neighborhood. Again, the senior citizen may provide their credit or debit card information because they want to be helpful. The truth is that they have no idea if the person placing the call actually belongs to a charity. The senior citizen may also find that they get charged far more than they expected. Once again, they may be too confused or embarrassed to question the charge.
According to the newspaper for my retirement community, here are other current scams that are targeting senior citizens:
Medicare Fraud - The scammer gets the senior citizen to give them their personal information, including Social Security number, birth date and Medicare information. Then, the scammer may use this info to bill Medicare for phony medical procedures and keep the money for themselves.
Funeral and Cemetery Scams - In these cases, the scammers read the obituaries, attend funerals and tell the relatives that the deceased person owed them money.
Counterfeit Prescription Drugs - Prescription medicine can be a major expense for some of the elderly. As a result, some of them attempt to purchase their prescriptions online. Sadly, what they receive may be fake and the senior citizens can end up not having the medications they need. This can be a life-threatening scam. The television show, "Sixty Minutes," has featured the issue of counterfeit prescription drugs at least twice in 2015. However, people still fall for this scam, because they sometimes have trouble paying for their drugs.
Anti-Aging Products - Although we all know there is no fountain of youth, far too many people hope that they will maintain their youth, strength, appearance or virility, if they can just find the right combination of creams and supplements. Often they buy things that will not help them at all and, in some cases, may actually bring them harm.
Telemarketing Sales - Scammers know that the elderly are twice as likely as younger adults to buy products over the phone. Unfortunately, most of the time they don't even need these products. In some cases, they pay for the items they buy, but never receive them. In other cases, they receive an item that is not worth anything close to what they paid for it.
Lottery / Prize Scams - In these scams, the senior citizen is called and told that they have won a large prize, such as a trip or cash. However, they are told that first they must pay the taxes on the item they won. This is against federal law. No one should ever have to pay up-front in order to receive a prize. If someone asks you to do this, you know that it is a scam.
The Grandparent Scam - This is one that has been covered on this blog several times. This occurs when a teen calls and either is crying and begging their grandparents to send them money OR they are screaming in the background while someone else says the teen has been kidnapped and the grandparents need to send money to get them released. In either case, it is a horrifying scam.
Being forewarned is forearmed. We all need to educate ourselves about these scams in order to protect ourselves from being the victim of the next scam. When in doubt, get your friends or other family members involved, too. People are less likely to fall for a scam if they discuss these phone calls with other people.
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