Posted on September 2nd, 2010
Fraudulent scams can be a very costly and devastating experience. In order to keep not only ourselves but also our seniors safe, we must become aware of the most prominent scams that are happening everyday. I found a great site that pulls many of the reported senior scams together in an easy to see list, keeping you aware of posing threats to seniors. The site is called Stop Senior Scams.org.
A major scam right now is the Relative in Distress Call. While the Stop Senior Scams website is a great resource, we wanted to give a true first-person account of a scam that has happened quite often. With use of spreading awareness, great communication skills and pre-planning, the scam was not able to occur.
Names in the story have been change to protect the identities of individuals.
A phone rang in a elderly grandmother’s home, picking it up she said “Hello?” On the other end was a male’s voice, “Hi grandma!” Feeling bad that she didn’t recognize the voice she said, “Who is this, I can’t hear you very well.” The voice replied “It’s your nephew.” “Travis?” she asked. “Yes, Travis! How are you?” Happy to hear from him she replied, “Very well. It’s been awhile, how are you?” “I’m ok, Grandma, but I have a problem. I went to Canada and lost my passport!” “Oh no, Dear, did you go up fishing?” she asked. “Yes fishing! It fell off the boat and sank to the bottom. I tried finding it but it’s too deep. Can you help me?” he asked. “The border patrol said that it costs $300 to get a new one, and the right documents sent over for me to be allowed to come back. I’m so sorry, Grandma, but I don’t know what else to do,” he stated hopefully. “Well, Dear, you know that I don’t have that kind of money laying around, and I can’t drive. Let me call Uncle Tom and have him take me into town. He or I should be able to help,” she stated. “Oh no you don’t have to do that, Grandma, they gave me a number you can call and type in your credit card or debit card number and pin. It will pay the bill and they will send me the documents. Can you do that? I can walk you through it, it’s really easy!” “Oh dear!” she said. “Ok, give me the information, and I’ll have to call you back when I’m finished. I don’t have another phone.”
Writing down the information she said goodbye and proceeded to follow the directions. Worried that she may do something wrong she called Uncle Tom for help. Thinking there was something weird since he hadn’t heard about Travis going to Canada, he told her to wait for him and called Aunt Martha to ask about Travis. Aunt Martha knew nothing about Travis going to Canada, so she tried calling his cell phone. He answered right away and was quite surprised when they asked him if he was ok, how much he needed in Canada, and why he called his grandmother instead of them to ask for help. Quickly realizing what had happened and that it was all a scam, they called the local authorities to ask what they should do. The call number was traced but since it was an international call there was no individual to prosecute.
Luckily, no funds were transferred and no sensitive information was distributed. This scam was put to an end before anyone could be harmed. What if the elderly grandmother hadn’t been able to get in touch with anyone in her family to help her? What if she had tried to handle the situation on her own? The only way to prevent scams from occurring is to be proactive. Talk to your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and even children about these threats. Keep them informed about the attempts that are reported and create a code system that can be used in an emergency. The con-artists are almost impossible to catch, but the scam can be easily prevented by simply creating awareness.
Are there any other scams out there that you think our readers should be aware of? Please feel free to share and keep everyone safe and informed!
