One need only watch the news or read the paper to learn that scams perpetrated against senior citizens are a common occurrence. Some of these stories seem so incredulous that it naturally leads one to wonder how anyone could be so naive and trusting. Others are carefully executed, well-disguised schemes that could fool anyone. Consider, for example, a story reported by the Detroit News in December of 2011 involving a phony investment broker who cheated several senior citizens out of their life savings. These sums ranged from $355,000 to $429,000. The seniors invested their life savings into phony "Goldman Sachs" accounts. Also, they were encouraged to buy one-year Certificates of Deposit with a promised yield of 7 percent annual return. As an added plus the seniors were provided with fake monthly statements bearing a photocopied Goldman Sachs logo.
Checks were made out to the phony investment broker who then deposited them into his own personal account. One of the victims finally consulted an attorney who discovered the financial irregularities.
Scams can happen to anyone, young or old. Regrettably, scam artists target senior citizens because they know that this group, particularly those seventy and above, can be especially vulnerable. When seniors are aware of how scam artists work, they can be more proactive rather than reactive.
The FBI has identified myriad schemes that con artists use to take advantage of seniors. These include fraudulent deals in health care/health insurance, prescription drugs, and funeral and cemetery products and services.
- All of these scams have common signals that seniors can spot, e.g., a request for a signature on blank insurance forms, a request for a medicare number, encouraging the commitment of funds prior to services rendered.
Probably the most popular and egregious scam that the FBI warns against is fraudulent telemarketing, particularly aimed at people 60 or older. This approach has been successful because, according to studies done by the American Association of Retired People (AARP), seniors don't seem to make the connection between an illegal telephone call and criminal activity. Moreover, they find it difficult to hang up, and, as a consequence, are vulnerable to a wide variety of questionable products and services, e.g., prizes, lotteries, trips, etc.
- The best protection to guard against a scam artist is to ask questions.
Take the caller's number and offer to call back, or have the telephone numbers of your state consumers affairs office, better business bureau, the local FBI, and the National Fraud Information Center programmed into your phone. Put the caller on hold and call one of those numbers to check them out. If there is hesitation on their part when you inform them that you wish to verify their credibility, be forewarned that it's probably a scam. Seniors need to remember that time is on their side. Rushing into anything is usually not a wise idea.
Why are Seniors Targeted?
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its study of senior citizens reports that people born during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s were generally raised to be polite and trusting. Telemarketing con artists exploit these traits, knowing that it is difficult for these individuals to say "no", or just hang up the phone.
Marc Agronin, a noted geriatric psychiatrist with the Miami Jewish health systems, writes that memory processing speed, verbal fluency, mathematical skills, and other cognitive skills tend to decline when people reach their 70s and beyond.
However, Dr. Agronin reminds everyone that even while aging takes some things away, it also gives, e.g., growth in knowledge experience, emotional maturity, and wisdom. These three traits can help seniors identify signals that scam artists send out, can prompt them to ask questions about everything that bothers them, and guard against emotional reactions which might make telemarketers or late night television promotions seem like a good deal.
For some people, age is just a number. For others aging can be an ongoing negative feeling. Dr. Agronin notes that people sometimes have blind spots to the strengths in later life, because there is too much emphasis on the values of strength and beauty.
The reality is that there is no cure for aging. We cannot control the length of our lives, only the depth.
References:
- Fraud Target: Senior Citizens
- Women in the Nineteenth Century
- Agronin, Marc E., How We Age: A Doctor's Journey into the Heart of Growing Old, Da Capo Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2011.
Mildred Wilson - Mildred Wilson is a former education analyst for the state of Michigan She wrote speeches and policy reports for the Michigan ...
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