This is a super important read. My grandmother got scammed $40,000 from a caller claiming to be her insurance. Took a long time for her to recover from that, and it's really important to know how to prevent elders from being scammed.
In our local newspaper there was an article about a group who had scammed an elderly woman out of $80,000 using the ploy of that person's yard and house needed work. They start out with a very low cost to do yard work, then work up from there. Usually the work wasn't done but the elder was convinced it was.
The group usually will target an elder who lives alone. Most of the elders they had taken money from had some type of dementia. Usually this crime wasn't noticed until an adult child came to help the elder with bills and noticed a lot of money removed from the elder's checking account.
It is times like this that I was glad my own elderly Dad had a great caregiver. There was no messing with her when it came to door-to-door salespeople.
Even with telemarket salespeople, if my Dad answered the phone first, his caregiver would be nearby to hear the conversation. If Dad started to give out personal information she would stop the conversation and ask Dad who was on the phone.
I am only 57 and I do not believe I have been scammed or that I am a victim...my family is reading to put me in a home because I refused to stop sending money to someone I not yet met in person. Please pray for me....
There are some things you can do, depending on the situation.
1. Definitely freeze all credit bureau reports as suggested by freqflyer.
2. Have their mail sent to a PO box. The post office only delivers first-class mail, so they will only get their magazines, personal letters, and bills. Scammers will send personal letters, so you may want to have a trusted relative pick up the mail and deliver only legitimate items.
2. Sign up for fedex.com/delivery to be notified when any FedEx packages are delivered to their home. Scammers will send information by FedEx to make sure their message is delivered to their victim. UPS offers My Choice that provides the same service.
3. If your senior is agreeable and understands the problem, and your siblings, other family members also agree, go to their financial institutions and ask to be the owner of their financial accounts. Work with your family to make sure everyone agrees - you don't want to cause more angst than already exists. Set one account up so they have money for living expenses, but block them from removing funds from their savings accounts or transferring money to their allowance account. Remember, you are trying to make sure they have their money when they want and need it, so you will need to exert some controls. Another alternative is to have a third party take over the accounts. This is a better, but more expensive, option if the family is concerned about accountability. Change the accounts to new account numbers. Again
4. If your senior purchases something legitimate that they don't need, for example a Kirby vacuum, many companies have rules pertaining sales to seniors that provide better protection.
5. Call the police and report the crime. It helped some when the police visited my father and told him that it was a crime and he was a victim. I am sure my dad will believe the next person who tells him he won a car, but at least we've stopped this latest jerk.
6. Call Western Union and report the fraud. In some very rare cases, they can get the money back. They will also give you a case number to give to the police.
7. Ask the Walgreens, Bank, etc. where they are conducting the transactions to see if they will help discourage your senior from the activity.
8. Switch their phone to a carrier that will let you block calls and has a scam filter. I use Ooma coupled with Google Voice. I have to be watchful and set the filters so they are aggressive, but it helps. However, the latest scammer sent a cab driver to my parents' home and had them talk on the cab driver's phone. They were told to buy a TracFone and to call the scammer back. The scammers are aggressive, convincing, and have no morals.
9. AARP has a fraud hotline. Call them.
10. If the fraud includes wiring money, call your Attorney General.
11. Have access to their email, including passwords and settings. Set up filters that automatically delete all but personal emails.
12. Don't use GreatCall. They say their phones are for seniors, but there are no call logs for you to view, no way to block calls except for on some phones, and the only way to get the scam calls to stop is to change the number. If your senior needs a mobile phone, add them to a family member's plan and track their call logs so you can detect contact by fraudsters and block numbers when necessary. Check your carrier's options to see if this will work for you.
Stopping your senior from being contacted by and then contacting scammers is a very big challenge. Don't expect your senior to "learn to do better." He or she most likely used to be cautious, but now has diminished ability to discern. Talking to them about not answering the phone, not sending the money, etc., does not work. The best thing you can do is prevent your senior from accessing their funds except for needed purposes, as decided by a trusted representative. Also - remember that you love them. If you can, call, visit, and hug them.
salute61, go on-line and freeze all of your Dad's credit bureau reports... it's easy to do, cost around $10 for each of the 3 credit report bureaus [or it could be free depending on what State you live in]. Have your Dad in the same room because the credit bureau will ask on-line for information that your Dad might have to answer if you don't know the answer.
By freezing the credit reports, that blocks anyone from trying to get a new credit card using your Dad's social security number.... blocks anyone from trying to buy a new car on credit.... or trying to get any type of loan.
My 86 year old father gave out his social security over the phone this morning. I stopped at his house and he told me about it. I looked at his caller ID and it was "unknown". What can I do about this? This screams Identity Theft!
Jude01, there is a Federal opt-out law where if someone signs a contract with a door-to-door salesperson, they have 3 days to mull over the contract and cancel the contract if they decide not to have the service/repair/whatever.
What can you do if your 90 year old parent signs a contract for 5 years? This is for a home protection company that was sold by a door to door salesman. There is no pulling out of this contract without paying the full amount. Is there an age when a person is not able to sign such contracts without being labeled disabled?
Last year my Dad got a telephone call saying that he will be getting one of these life alert type devices free if he agrees to having it sent to his house.... since I know nothing is ever given away free without some type of financial catch I was glad the Dad turned it down.... but he almost said yes because he and I were just talking about it a few days before, and had thought for a moment that I might have ordered it for him.
That same telemarketing group also calls my house, and I keep asking them to remove my name from their data base.... but they still keep calling but from different telephone numbers so I know it is more than just one group doing the calling.
I am on the "do not call" list and have been for years, so I don't know why they have my telephone number or my Dad's. Now when I hear the can recording saying "hello, Seniors" I hang up.
My step-father is obsessed with these "sweepstakes", and gets a pile of 10-15 of them EVERY DAY. He tries to hide it from us that he's returning them, because we've talked to him until we're blue in the face, telling him that they are fraudulent and these are scam artists that are preying on the elderly (he's 85). He nods his head like he agrees with us, but we've found out that he is sending out $20 here, $30 there no telling how many times a week to "collect" his winnings!!! I'm ready to pull my hair out. We had to have the phone number changed a while back, because this guy kept calling him stating he was coming to his house to take him to the bank to get the money so he could win a car!!! Both my brothers are retired law enforcement, so they made sure they were there when this guy was supposed to show up. This was a few months before my mother passed away, and she got scared and called my brothers. Thank God she did. Now we've found out that he is still sending in these "handling fees" to collect his "prizes", AND he's filling out the forms in my mother's name, as they were addressed to her! How can we put a stop to this?
My Dad is actively seeking "scams". He is convinced he is going to make a million dollars by investing, or getting involved in banking scams, etc. We can't convince him they are scams. I have taken over managing his money so he can at least pay his rent and bills, yet he is constantly trying to get loans and "fast cash" to make more "investments". He recently opened a Debit card account and they managed to get him to have his social security direct deposited into that account. Now I don't have enough money to cover his rent this month while I work to get this reversed. HELP!!!
Okay so what happens when your parents keep sending all their life savings to the same "investment" and won't stop no matter how much you see and talk to them? Is there anyone you can call?
My problem at this time is the medical RXs my aunt is getting. She is totally out of it. She slurs when she talks. She doesn't know where she is. I am furious. Her adopted son, is an ASS, excuse me. He will not even come to see her. I have been escorted out of the nursing home when I went with my aunt to check how much she had in her account (after expense for nursing home) she wanted to buy some medicine at the grocery store for her body pains (RA). I do not know where to start. Especially what are my rights to help my Aunt. Help
It's ok, just not enough info for helping. My dad is being taken, but if I have to catch these guys myself, I will, but can't say what will happen to them. Also, don't use greendot cards, they are a scam, and you can't even get cash back with them. They want to have you go to their wev site and buy from them.
Many different comments around this topic, but mine is that a huge difference on how to help is whether or not there is cooperation or not. If they are not agreeable to doing something, it will be a difficult journey. My father-in-law is thinking clearly in the eyes of everyone around him. When he gets his 14-22 sweepstakes offers in the mail each week, he goes to work making sure that each one gets proper attention. He does the little puzzles, questions, and tests for each offer, then writes his checks out to them and makes photocopies of everything before sending them out. He's a retired engineer and at 87 still has everything organized into binders. When I asked him about this new obsession, he simply told me that he was very close to winning their offer and that this was a test. My response was, how much are you going to spend before you realize that these are all scams and the only published winning names are deceased people? He didn't provide an answer. He's written over 100 checks now, mostly in the amounts of $9 - $12 - $15 - $24 and $40 but climbing to a grand total over $1000 just this year. So, there is no support or help from the postal service, bank, or state's attorney's office. We are going to do an intervention this weekend and take his mail away AND take over his checkbook. Evidently, it's OK for a company to scam and steal money from a senior who doesn't think clearly, but if he objects to our intervention, we'll be in jail. I'll follow up with a comment after the weekend.... either from home or jail.
To whishinginever....About the charges, discuss with an attorney. At our court proceedings, the attorneys on both sides and the judge had experienced dementia issues with their loved ones.
If you are having problems with bank accounts with automatic withdrawals by scammers you may have to close the account. Work with the bank since alot of the elderly receive their social security directly into their bank account AND may have draws to pay for insurance policies. The bank may even reject the scammer automatic draw. However, the person that is owner of the account will need to be present when working with the bank.
To mfew1947 My sisters and I filed a disability petition with the courts to gain conversatorship over our parents after they lost more $100K in cash to scammers. During the court process, we manage to get their signatures on a trust, POA, and healthcare surrogate documents. We moved their liquid assets to the trust. DO NOT let anyone besides the children be included in the trust, including a bank. They parents AND designed children should be the trustees.
I have felt for the victims of scams, WHEN will people learn (as the older and frail) that NO! money should be paid UNLESS they are satisfied the job is complete and a reasonable price. Get advice from a trusted friend
A GENTLEMAN 80 YEARS WITH DEMENTIA WAS CALLED BY "BLOGGERSMAKINGMONE". HE GAVE THEM HIS CREDIT CARD NUMBER. THEY TOOK $199 AND THEY ARE GOING TO TAKE $20 A MONTH. I HAVE CALLED THIS COMPANY TO SPEAK TO SOMEONE IN CHARGE TWICE AND NO ONE RETURNS MY CALLS. WHAT CAN I DO?
recently, my boyfriend of 9 years mother who I strongly believe has advanced dementia, has been showing signs of paranoia, and sever memory loss. She has been showing signs like constant repeating statements, 4 years ago she had a boyfriend, he broke things off, and still 4 years later repeats , I dont know why he did this to me?" She cant handle her finances, not for about 3 years now. Unfortunately, her 3 children 2 daughters in their late 40's, and her son, in his late 30's, but acts like a 2 year old, have basically left her for dead. Neither girl even speak to her, and as for her son, he only has conversations because I practically force him too. So I decided that I would try to help her, no one should be abandoned and left like trash. So like 3 years ago I began establishing a bond, basically she became my second mom. We fixed her financial debt she had with her bank. which was not pretty, seeing how she had been giving her ATM card out to people, and well.... u know that story. I tried to drill it into her head, "dont give it out not to anyone, if you need something call me or your son, we will come and bring u ." Which she did on many occasions. Every time she ever needed anything or just needed someone to chat with, or give her a hug and say how much she is loved, it was always me, never her children. Her and I have never had any form of problems ever, except when I kept finding out her money situation was not getting better. Every month I get the same call from her, "umm, there is a problem with the bank, they keep taking my money, they are paying themselves, they are charging me with fees for insurances, ect. But every time she does this, none of her children deal with her or these problems. They say oh well its her problem, she is the dumb ass who wont listen. After so many times of her missing money, and every time when asked if she let anyone besides myself or her son handle her ATM card, always same answer, umm well I let so and so take it so they could get gas.. or my Nurse had to take it so she could pick up somethings for me, I forgot about that. Most of the time because she forgot she would write out a check. And bada bing. Bounced checks, missing money. Finally I had to just step out of that situation, I have 3 children I am only 30, got my own mother with Parkinson's to take care of, pluse a full time student. I made her children aware of her situations, but they did nothing. She is the grandmother of my child, so I have a hard time just leaving her for dead. So when ever she has a problem, or needs something like a pack of smokes, she calls me, and I am always there for her. Her memory has been deteriorating for some time now, and I have suggested to her maybe getting it checked out, but she gets angry, and paranoid. A few months back she had forgotten that she had loaned like 80 $ to her son for food, and called us up and accused me of taking money without her permission. When her son said "ma remember u let me borrow the 80$ for food? she then began to recall. Even then her son still could not see or care enough, to realize she had been acting very unusual. So now , because none of here children give a rats ass, she has not been treated for this dementia. and because of there lack of love and concern, 5 days ago she had made a claim to her bank that she was missing money, she even claimed her ATM card was missing. without any of mine or her sons knowledge of any of her false claims, she continued to repeat over and over to her Nurse who comes everyday and obviously knows her condition, that she knew I and her son had stolen her ATM card on Christmas day and have made charges without asking her permission. The nurse then decided to indulge her delusion by having her press charges against me. And she put a no contact or trespassing restraint against her own son. Who is the one person who is listed as next of kin as well as her emergency contact. I fear for her mental state, but at this point I am not sure if there is anything we can do. Any advice???
My father is already being scammed,but does not want anyone in his affairs. What can we do to save him from himself? We don't care if itis a third party taking care of his money.
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How to Prevent Elders from Being Scammed
The group usually will target an elder who lives alone. Most of the elders they had taken money from had some type of dementia. Usually this crime wasn't noticed until an adult child came to help the elder with bills and noticed a lot of money removed from the elder's checking account.
It is times like this that I was glad my own elderly Dad had a great caregiver. There was no messing with her when it came to door-to-door salespeople.
Even with telemarket salespeople, if my Dad answered the phone first, his caregiver would be nearby to hear the conversation. If Dad started to give out personal information she would stop the conversation and ask Dad who was on the phone.
1. Definitely freeze all credit bureau reports as suggested by freqflyer.
2. Have their mail sent to a PO box. The post office only delivers first-class mail, so they will only get their magazines, personal letters, and bills. Scammers will send personal letters, so you may want to have a trusted relative pick up the mail and deliver only legitimate items.
2. Sign up for fedex.com/delivery to be notified when any FedEx packages are delivered to their home. Scammers will send information by FedEx to make sure their message is delivered to their victim. UPS offers My Choice that provides the same service.
3. If your senior is agreeable and understands the problem, and your siblings, other family members also agree, go to their financial institutions and ask to be the owner of their financial accounts. Work with your family to make sure everyone agrees - you don't want to cause more angst than already exists. Set one account up so they have money for living expenses, but block them from removing funds from their savings accounts or transferring money to their allowance account. Remember, you are trying to make sure they have their money when they want and need it, so you will need to exert some controls. Another alternative is to have a third party take over the accounts. This is a better, but more expensive, option if the family is concerned about accountability. Change the accounts to new account numbers. Again
4. If your senior purchases something legitimate that they don't need, for example a Kirby vacuum, many companies have rules pertaining sales to seniors that provide better protection.
5. Call the police and report the crime. It helped some when the police visited my father and told him that it was a crime and he was a victim. I am sure my dad will believe the next person who tells him he won a car, but at least we've stopped this latest jerk.
6. Call Western Union and report the fraud. In some very rare cases, they can get the money back. They will also give you a case number to give to the police.
7. Ask the Walgreens, Bank, etc. where they are conducting the transactions to see if they will help discourage your senior from the activity.
8. Switch their phone to a carrier that will let you block calls and has a scam filter. I use Ooma coupled with Google Voice. I have to be watchful and set the filters so they are aggressive, but it helps. However, the latest scammer sent a cab driver to my parents' home and had them talk on the cab driver's phone. They were told to buy a TracFone and to call the scammer back. The scammers are aggressive, convincing, and have no morals.
9. AARP has a fraud hotline. Call them.
10. If the fraud includes wiring money, call your Attorney General.
11. Have access to their email, including passwords and settings. Set up filters that automatically delete all but personal emails.
12. Don't use GreatCall. They say their phones are for seniors, but there are no call logs for you to view, no way to block calls except for on some phones, and the only way to get the scam calls to stop is to change the number. If your senior needs a mobile phone, add them to a family member's plan and track their call logs so you can detect contact by fraudsters and block numbers when necessary. Check your carrier's options to see if this will work for you.
Stopping your senior from being contacted by and then contacting scammers is a very big challenge. Don't expect your senior to "learn to do better." He or she most likely used to be cautious, but now has diminished ability to discern. Talking to them about not answering the phone, not sending the money, etc., does not work. The best thing you can do is prevent your senior from accessing their funds except for needed purposes, as decided by a trusted representative. Also - remember that you love them. If you can, call, visit, and hug them.
By freezing the credit reports, that blocks anyone from trying to get a new credit card using your Dad's social security number.... blocks anyone from trying to buy a new car on credit.... or trying to get any type of loan.
That same telemarketing group also calls my house, and I keep asking them to remove my name from their data base.... but they still keep calling but from different telephone numbers so I know it is more than just one group doing the calling.
I am on the "do not call" list and have been for years, so I don't know why they have my telephone number or my Dad's. Now when I hear the can recording saying "hello, Seniors" I hang up.
When I asked him about this new obsession, he simply told me that he was very close to winning their offer and that this was a test. My response was, how much are you going to spend before you realize that these are all scams and the only published winning names are deceased people? He didn't provide an answer. He's written over 100 checks now, mostly in the amounts of $9 - $12 - $15 - $24 and $40 but climbing to a grand total over $1000 just this year.
So, there is no support or help from the postal service, bank, or state's attorney's office. We are going to do an intervention this weekend and take his mail away AND take over his checkbook. Evidently, it's OK for a company to scam and steal money from a senior who doesn't think clearly, but if he objects to our intervention, we'll be in jail.
I'll follow up with a comment after the weekend.... either from home or jail.
My sisters and I filed a disability petition with the courts to gain conversatorship over our parents after they lost more $100K in cash to scammers. During the court process, we manage to get their signatures on a trust, POA, and healthcare surrogate documents. We moved their liquid assets to the trust. DO NOT let anyone besides the children be included in the trust, including a bank. They parents AND designed children should be the trustees.