Celebrating Grandparent’s Day on Sunday, September 12? Since older adults are often targeted by con artists, one of the best ways to honor an older friend or family member is to protect them from scammers. BBB recommends people know and are able to recognize the following signs of abuse and impending fraud so that they can help their older friends, family, clients, or patients avoid becoming a victim.
Warning signs that fraud may occur:
- Frequent junk mail and spam calls. Incoming junk mail (illegitimate sweepstakes offers, etc.) or receiving frequent calls from people offering valuable rewards or asking for charitable donations are signs that fraud could easily occur, or may have already occurred.
- Unfamiliar payments are being made. Checks written or payments made to unfamiliar or out-of-state companies should be a red flag.
- Acting secretively about phone calls or messages. When an individual hides or acts secretively about phone calls and messages, it could be a sign that they have engaged a scammer.
- Sudden problems paying bills or buying food and other necessities. A sudden lack of funds could mean that an individual’s money is being drained in some form of scam activity. The cause should be investigated to rule out fraud.
Tips for helping your loved one avoid fraud:
- Become familiar with common scams targeting older adults. Knowing the most common tactics used to target older adults can help you more easily identify when scams occur.
- Emphasize the criminal nature of telemarketing and email fraud. Help your loved one learn how to identify it and help them understand that these tactics are illegal. In participating, it is possible they could be pulled into criminal activity unknowingly.
- Encourage the person to ignore phone calls and messages that appear suspicious. Don’t reply to, or click links within, emails or text messages that they are not familiar with.
- Have a calm discussion about securing accounts and monitoring finances. Helping older adults monitor their finances can be a great way to prevent scam activity and identify fraud if it has occurred.
- Help the person change his or her phone number. If constant calls continue, it may be worth changing the person’s phone number. Registering the number with the Do Not Call list is a great first step, although scammers won’t necessarily follow the Do-Not-Call list laws. If unsafe calls continue, it may be best to change the phone number.
