The advent of the internet has brought some amazing things to our lives! Can you say DoorDash, Walmart pickup, grocery deliveries, etc. But the very downside of the internet seems to effect the elderly and young both. Scammers, have been around since medieval times! Back then, merchants would weight the scales for goods to make you spend more! Today, scammers are a little more savvy, as they make things seems very real, when the reality is they are very fraudulent and sneaky. You are probably saying to yourself, I don’t know anyone who could fall for this. But there are people in the surrounding counties who have wired or transferred sums as high as $100,000 to “people in need”, who are actually total strangers and theirs they have met on Facebook or other similar websites. It is more common than you think, but you don’t hear about it because of the shame and stigma that people carry after it happens. My own grandmother, was a victim of this by mail, sending thousands of dollars in checks to sweepstakes, with the promise of winning the next $50,000. I interceded as much as I could but they were relentless, and with a touch of dementia she was gullible! Not a good combination!
There has been such a high number of fraud committed against seniors that the FBI has even created a special task force to help deal with the sheer numbers of victims. Seniors over 70 are the group that loose the most money with an average of $9000 per scam. In 2021 Americans lost $547 MILLION dollars to romance scams! The most common forms of this are simple phone calls or internet scams.
Phone calls are a frequent method, sometimes, it will be a caller who claims to be a relative, who is in great trouble or danger and needs a ransom to be released. Frequently, this person will pretend to be a grandchild. HANG UP! This person may require a money transfer, bank wire, or request bank account information. NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR BANK INFORMATION OVER THE PHONE, unless you initiated the call to the respected bank or financial institution. Sweepstakes are also a known source of scams. Legitimate sweepstakes WILL NEVER require you to pay them-EVER! You should never have to pay them to get your “chance” to win $50,000 or whatever, this is a scam. The IRS will also NEVER CALL YOU-They tend to send nice little certified letters! Please do not fall for these scams!
They will often lure people in with an innocent enough Facebook request from the opposite sex. Most of the time, they will be a decorated “war veteran or hero” or doctor that is just looking for friendship. They will live overseas somewhere or work internationally. It will ALWAYS be a place where they will be unable to have direct face-to-face contact. There is also a huge Nigerian population claiming to be a “prince” or “royalty” of some sort. They will initially reach out, usually talking about their children or grandkids, and they will almost always have lost a spouse or loved one. These conversations progress rapidly when they find out that you are alone or widowed yourself. They start out with flattery and kindness, not stop chatting, talking about your grandchildren, and your mutual loss or need for “friendship”. They will write “poems” for you, or may even send you a small gift with a note attached. This is called “love bombing”. They often hit them right at their most vulnerable spot, and play on it hard. But the flattery and affection the victim feels outweighs any warning signs their gut feelings have because they feel “connected” to that person and “they understand me”. These people will eventually become sick or have some type of emergency and need funds. Most of the time, they want to “BORROW” or have a “temporary advance” on the money, so it makes the victim feel as though they will be paid back They may also want a wire transfer but they also use gift cards as forms of payment, these are harder to trace. The loss is eventually emotional and financial!
The AARP even has a website detailing the dangers of Nigerian scams, PLEASE click the link!!! https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2019/nigerian.html.
There is also a website called https://socialcatfish.com/ that can verify if you are interacting with a real person for a small fee. This may be more useful for a family member that has its doubts than the actual person if they are really under the influence of the scammer.
This post is to raise AWARENESS of the problem. To let you be aware that we need to watch out for our seniors, parents, and grandparents. These people are vulnerable to fraud because sometimes they are lonely. Covid has made us even more isolated. Grab a friend , a loved one, a neighbor, talk to them, engage them, PREVENT them from being a statistic. Fraud, depression, suicide-all of these are products of loneliness and anxiety and the loss of a human touch-we can all be better humans-hopefully today we are just more wise! 💕🦉
PLEASE TAKE TIME TO LOOK AT THE LINKS! THEY PROVIDE A WEALTH OF INFO!
Sources: https://www.getcarefull.com/articles/how-to-protect-aging-parents-from-romance-scams#:~:text=Losses%20related%20to%20romance%20scams,this%20age%20group%20at%20%249%2C000. https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/safety-resources/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/romance-scams https://www.comparitech.com/identity-theft-protection/senior-scam-statistics/ https://fightcybercrime.org/scams/imposter/romance-scams/
Becoming Wellness Wise 