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Financial & Legal Services
planning for retirement and managing their savings once they fi nish working, a number of investment schemes have been targeted at seniors looking to safeguard their cash for their later years. From pyramid schemes like Bernie Madoff’s (which counted a number of senior citizens among its victims), to fables of a Nigerian prince looking for a partner to claim inheritance money, to complex fi nancial products that many economists don’t even understand, investment schemes have long been a successful way to take advantage of older people.
8. Homeowner/Reverse Mortgage Scams Scammers like to take advantage of the fact
that many people above a certain age own their homes, a valuable asset that increases the potential dollar value of a certain scam.
A particularly elaborate property tax scam in
San Diego saw fraudsters sending personalized letters to different properties apparently on behalf of the County Assessor’s Offi ce. The letter, made to look offi cial but displaying only public information, would identify the property’s assessed value and offer the homeowner, for a fee of course, to arrange for a reassessment of the property’s value and therefore the tax burden associated with it. Closely related, the reverse mortgage scam
has mushroomed in recent years. With legitimate reverse mortgages increasing in frequency more than 1,300% between 1999 and 2008, scammers are taking advantage of this new popularity. As opposed to offi cial refi nancing schemes, however, unsecured reverse mortgages can lead property owners to lose their homes when the perpetrators offer money or a free house somewhere else in exchange for the title to the property.
9. Sweepstakes & Lottery Scams This simple scam is one that many are
familiar with, and it capitalizes on the notion that “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Here, scammers inform their mark that they have won a lottery or sweepstakes of some kind and need to make some sort of payment to unlock the supposed prize. Often, seniors will be sent a check that they can deposit in their bank account, knowing that while it shows up in their account immediately, it will take a few days before the (fake) check is
Senior Resource Directory 2017-2018
Financial & Legal Services
rejected. During that time, the criminals will quickly collect money for supposed fees or taxes on the prize, which they pocket while the victim has the “prize money” removed from his or her account as soon as the check bounces.
10. The Grandparent Scam The grandparent scam is so simple and so
devious because it uses one of older adults’ most reliable assets, their hearts.
Scammers will place a call to an older person and when the mark picks up, they will say something along the lines of: “Hi Grandma, do you know who this is?” When the unsuspecting grandparent guesses the name of the grandchild the scammer most sounds like, the scammer has established a fake identity without having done a lick of background research. Once “in,” the fake grandchild will usually
ask for money to solve some unexpected fi nancial problem (overdue rent, payment for car repairs, etc.), to be paid via Western Union or MoneyGram, which don’t always require identifi cation to collect. At the same time, the scam artist will beg the grandparent “please don’t tell my parents, they would kill me.”
While the sums from such a scam are likely
to be in the hundreds, the very fact that no research is needed makes this a scam that can be perpetrated over and over at very little cost to the scammer.
If you suspect you’ve been the victim of a scam…
Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to talk about it with someone you trust. You are not alone, and there are people who can help. Doing nothing could only make it worse. Keep handy the phone numbers and resources you can turn to, including the local police, your bank (if money has been taken from your accounts), and Adult Protective Serv ces Tos.
T.Servicei obta n the contact information for Adult Protectiv Serv ces n your area call the Eldercare Locator a government sponsored national r source line, at: 1-800-677-1116, or visit their w,
eldercare.gov.
obtain the contact infi Servicei
s in your ar i ea, call the Eldercar,
ormation for Adult Protective e Locator, a,
government sponsored national resource line, at: 1-800-677-1116 or visit their website at: www
eldercare.gov
ebsite at: www. -Article from the National Council on Aging -Article from the National Council on Aging
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