Imposters Trick Seniors out of $84K+

Categories: Active Senior Living, Caring For Elderly, scams

Seniors, beware of fraudulent coin dealers. The Star Tribune recently reported that a coin and bullion dealer in MN allegedly defrauded clients, including many elderly persons. The accusations state “the coin company took money and property from senior citizens and failed to deliver the product.”

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson believes that Tony Hughes of Reputable Rare Coins and others associated with the company are “misrepresenting the value of the rare metals they sell.” The lawsuit against the company involves four separate clients who vary in age from 71 to 91. The combined loses between all four clients exceeds $84,300.

Advocate on Aging Deborah Dolan has had experience with the issue of tricking seniors – she has seen a client deal with it first-hand. “One of my clients who was affected with dementia spent $10 to $500 monthly on ‘rare coins,’ ‘recently minted coins,’ or some other descriptor designed to draw her attention,” said Deborah. “Before I met her, she had given her name to a telephone solicitor of these coins, and he called frequently to inquire as to her health and to tell her of the next great deal.  He played to her disease perfectly speaking to her by name in a tone of caring and compassion.  I had the opportunity to hear a portion of a conversation.  Fortunately, my client moved from her home and her phone was disconnected, but I’m sure her caller simply turned his charm toward another unassuming elderly client.”

Deborah also knows that this type of situation happens more often than many people realize. “From my perspective, these sales people are predators preying on the elderly. They have no idea – therefore I assume they do not care – if the elder person has plenty of money or if he is taking their last dime.  There is nothing more deplorable than building a relationship built on false promises in an effort to deceive a vulnerable person.  Needless to say, I feel very strongly about this situation.”

Latest Scam: “Relative” in Distress Calls for Senior’s Help

Categories: Active Senior Living, Aging Advocacy, Prevention, scams

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!

Photo Credit: photo credit: AF-Photography

SENIORS TARGETED BY SWEEPSTAKES SCAMMERS

Categories: Aging Advocacy, Caring For Elderly, Publishers Clearing House, scams

A shocking scam that snared an elderly Hibbing women has prompted law enforcement officials to remind seniors that, if they are told they have to pay money in order to claim a prize, then they have not really won anything at all. Further, being asked for money to have access to cash winnings is a tip-off that you are being targeted by a con man.

The case involving the 81-year-old Hibbing woman began when she was told that she had won $600,000 in the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes. A scam artist posing as a security officer for the contest told her that she would have to spend $2,500 so that her winnings could be wired into her account. The woman complied, using Western Union to transfer to the money account in Canada.

Not satisfied with that, the scam artist came back for more. Next, still posing as a legitimate official from Publisher’s Clearing House, he explained to the woman that she would need to wire an additional sum to pay the duty on the winnings before she could get her money. So she wired more–lots more. The woman sent an additional $36,000 to a Florida bank.

The Hibbing woman then became suspicious and contacted her local police. They, in turn, referred the case to the Department of Public Safety’s Alcohol and Gaming Enforcement Division. Then state and local law enforcement officers in Minnesota and Florida connected to investigate the case.

Eventually, they were able to recover almost all of the woman’s money. However, that is quite unusual. Most times than not, it is impossible to retrieve a victim’s losses. It is estimated that Minnesotans, most of them seniors, lose $30 million a year in sweepstakes and fraudulent lottery schemes.

Con men use the phone, the mail and the Internet to contact and then trick potential victims.

All people are urged to refrain from sharing personal financial information with someone who lets them know that they have won a prize. This includes credit card, bank account and social security numbers.

Consumer advocates stress that legitimate contests never require participants to pay in order to play. So what should you do when you receive those letters in the mail or that phone call indicating you’re a winner of the PCH sweepstakes?  Look up the number yourself (from a trusted source like the Better Business Bureau) and give them a call; representatives should be able to verify if the letter you’re holding is legitimate or if it’s a scam.

Let’s work to keep our seniors and ourselves safe from these scams. Have you heard of other scams going on?  Let’s open the doors to known scams and keep everyone informed!