Scams Targeting Elderly and Others

By CK Wilde for 3GenFamily Blog

I’m not afraid of my own shadow, but there’s lots of others out there that are scary!
Dennis the Menace by Hank Ketcham

Today is the second time in about a month that I have read about a grandmother being scammed on the phone. The scammers follow the same formula each time. They called “grandma” on the phone posing as an older grandchild in trouble.  The “grandchild” doesn’t want to upset Mom and Dad and asks “grandma” to wire money.

In the most recent case, the San Jose, California police believe that the most recent victim was taken in by an organized crew operating out of Toronto, Canada. It is not clear how they find their victims. They could be purchasing mailing lists that provide date of birth and phone numbers.

Better Communication Can Prevent Heartache

It is the most natural thing in the world for a loving grandparent to want to help a young adult grandchild in distress. The con artists take advantage of that.

They also take advantage of the fact that families often live farther apart and communicate less often with each other. So, the best deterrent is better communication.

My Dad was suspicious by nature. He managed to fend off any number of strange phone callers. He would proudly tell me how he rebuffed them after the fact. But, I’m convinced that our regular phone chats, during which I would casually mention scams I had heard about, helped him keep his guard up.

So, even if your elderly parents are still self-sufficient, make time at least weekly to chat. Help them know about possible scams before they happen.

Help your parent feel comfortable telling you anything.

You could say, “I think it is always better to know. Please call me if you believe that anyone in our family is in trouble. Together we can help them.”

Here are some other scams mentioned in that same San Jose Mercury News article by Mark Gomez:

Call today.

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© 2009 CK Wilde. All Rights Reserved. Please feel free to link to this post but you must have prior written permission (please use the comments) to reproduce this post either whole or in part.