Avoid Scams

Unfortunately, she had fallen prey to a con artist who had undoubtedly targeted her because she’s a senior, and she made some fundamental errors to increase her odds of being taken advantage of. She had not only opened her door to a stranger, but had let him in, left him alone for some degree of time in her house, and left personal items out in the open.

According to some estimates in the U.S., one-third of all victims of fraud schemes are seniors, despite the fact that they make up about only one-eighth of the population. Using high-pressure tactics, advanced loan fees, and home improvement cons or investment schemes, fraudsters hone in on seniors, who may be vulnerable because of their education level, financial situation, social isolation, or language.

So, how can seniors protect themselves?

The first step is being able to recognize a scam or fraud. Here are common situations that usually signal that a fraud or con is involved and that you should be cautious:

A tradesperson comes to your door and suggests that he can do a house check to determine what work needs to be done. Or he says that if you don’t agree to do the work now you’ll lose the opportunity to get a reduced rate or hire him at all. Or you agree to have work done but he asks for a substantial amount of money upfront for materials, without giving you a quote or a contract.

These are a combination of high-pressure tactics and attempts to access your house and finances illegally. A legitimate tradesperson will give you references, time to think about it, will not demand access to your house to go look for problems, will give you a quote for the work and a contract when you have agreed to the terms and conditions, and will not require more than 30% of the overall cost of the project upfront.

You receive an e-mail requesting bank information, credit card numbers, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, your mother’s maiden name or other personal information.
An e-mail or phone caller advises you that you have won a prize, but you don’t remember entering any such competition. An e-mail or website popup claiming you have won a prize or are the 1,000,000th reader and so have won a prize. An e-mail’s return address is a yahoo, hotmail or excite.com or other free e-mail account.

Local banks have issued statements to their clients and to the media advising them that “phishing or pharming” for identity theft (con artists sending out thousands of e-mails pretending to be from a legitimate company in order to obtain personal data) are prevalent in Bermuda and that they will never e-mail a client to request information. Similarly, no genuine lottery or competition asks for money for administrative purposes or notifies its winners via e-mail or a website. Even if you do receive a postal notification of a sweepstake win, do not phone a 900 toll number or give out your personal information for a supposed courier service in order to receive information on your prize.

You are invited to a free presentation to learn more about a property investment or a money-making scheme. Property investment schemes work by inviting potential investors to enroll in a course to make them a successful property dealer, or asking them to invest in a property or business venture with “great returns”. Pyramid schemes offer a return on your investment depending on how many other recruits like you sign up, but there are simply not enough people to support the scheme indefinitely and you will usually not see any returns.

Now that you can look out for the signs of a consumer scam and con artists who target seniors, next week this column will address the best means to protect yourself from con artists and what to do if you suspect you’ve already fallen victim to such a scam.