It may come as a surprise to some of you, or it may not.. but over 3.5 million older adults are the victims of scams every year to the tune of $2.9 billion. This number is only the reported statistic – there are other records that show only 1 in 24 older adults even report being scammed. Many who don’t report it are worried their family members will be convinced they are not capable of living alone or making independent decisions, but when you look at some of these extremely effective scams, most adults of any age would fall for them. Whether you know it’s a scam or not, it is becoming a more serious problem every day. Some scams seem outrageously fake, but others are becoming too smart even for sharp, quick-thinking people.
It may not be enough to remember to Never send your personal information or money over the phone or online as a great rule of thumb. There are other ways to get their claws in past passwords, etc. The House of Congress has realized this problem, and just passed a House Bill That Targets Senior Scams to try and help. Read up on our current legal efforts, and be sure to never send your personal or financial information to anyone you don’t know. If it’s a caller pretending to be someone you know, quiz them.. it’s surprising how often that is happening.. you’ll be thankful you did when it ends up being a scammer and you can hang up & protect your money.