Skepticblog

Senior scamming is on the rise. Anyone of any age could be taken in by the nefarious scams taking place across America, but because of their inherent isolation or shame of losing money to these schemes, seniors are even more prone to becoming victims. The Babyboomer Generation growing into senior status at a rate that is staggering. I won’t go into the exact numbers and statistics, but approximately 78 million Americans will become seniors in the next ten years. That’s a lot of people. It’s a safe bet that not all of them are thinking critically. Add in the general economic climate and growth of the Internet, and we have a prescription for disaster in the coming decade.

At a recent event I attended hosted by the L.A. District Attorney’s Office, the presenter not only showed examples of the standard cons most of us are aware of such as contractor fraud, Medicare fraud, predetory lending and investment scams that we have become used to hearing about lately, but several new “twists” to old ruses that bear mentioning.

Anybody without a skeptical eye out can get fleeced by The Charitable Donation Scam, Living Trust Mills, Advance Fee Frauds (not just the Nigerian banker type), Mail Fraud, Telemarketing, Internet cons that run into the thousands faster than they can be reported and the Grand Daddy of them all: Identity Theft. High tech thievery has become increasingly sophisticated. We have all heard about it and I don’t want this post to sound like a PSA, but I look at staying on top of con artistry from A to Z is part of my job here. Some of these cons play out like the scenarios of the great illusionists of the past with disguises, switches, doubles and complicated plot lines. A few of them are downright Hitchcockian.

I don’t know if you have received any mail from “adjusters” who will offer to help you reduce your Property Tax for a fee, but they are scams too. You don’t have to pay a fee, just do it yourself by contacting your local Tax Assessor. And let’s not forget the ever helpful people who offer to assist you with “Loan Modification” scams. The list goes on and on with new rip-offs surfacing every day.

On the low end, new ways to tap ATM machines using thin “skimmers” or shims of plastic that can’t be detected and involve a sort of “helpful stranger” routine to gain access to bank accounts has burgeoned into a million dollar operation. There’s no end to the nerve of some of the scamsters I spent the afternoon being educated about. The days of the Three-Card-Monte on the street corner have given way to a whole new level of double-dealing. Even small children are being recruited for training. Babies are used by swindlers to gain entrance into homes to help persuade the unwary to lend them a hand. While the homeowner is distracted getting them a glass of water or whatever, another accomplice sneaks in and burgles the place. The “Sweetheart Scam” where lonely seniors are befriended by loquacious losers who then take over their bank accounts is assuming epidemeic proportions. No wonder the iconic “Good Samaritan” seems to have dwindled down to an extinct specimen of humanity. Trusting yourself, your family members or your business to anybody who hasn’t gone through DOJ fingerprint checks, Equifax or Megan’s Law screening has become as rare as hen’s teeth and a dangerous risk. 

Participation in these scam operations inflicts personal lives with emotional damage that often takes a far bigger toll than just the dollars lost. One elderly lady lost over $50,000 in increments of $5,000 at a time, but wouldn’t tell anyone because she was too embarrassed to call the cops and had convinced herself that one day her confidence in the crooks she knew she was supporting would turn around. It never did. She became suicidal and spent her last years in a mental institution. If she had just spoken to someone or been warned, she might have been spared.

So what can we do?

Get a show like The Skeptologists up and running  to broadcast the word on these shady deals in big colorful images for one thing!

Check your credit regularly, remain alert and hope that you or any lonely parents or seniors find better things to do than talk to friendly folks who promise something for nothing. We were told as kids not to talk to strangers, now we have to remind our parents to do the same thing.

You don’t need to be psychic or a nuclear physicist to know that if something looks (or sounds) too good to be true, it probably isn’t. If in doubt, I suggest doing what I did as a kid watching magicians: ask lots of questions. There’s no scam that can hold up to much logical questioning and if solid answers aren’t forthcoming, there’s a good chance you’re being scammed.  If you don’t ask, you are left with the mystery. In the case of scams like the above, not asking simple questions can be an expensive illusion to have to live with. We face a challenging time when survival and greed are likely to become strange bedfellows. This is the realm where the critical thinking rubber meets the road. For more info, search through http://da.lacounty.gov/senior