I visited my grandmother over the weekend. She's 92 now, and living in an apartment unit that caters to the elderly. She lives a few hours from me, but her children (my aunts and uncles) mostly live close to her. They do a decent job helping her out, but she's fiercely independent.
She gets at least three pieces of mail every day and several phone calls that are scams targeting the elderly. She picks most of them out, but still sends $20 to a few people every week despite everything we do... there's just no telling her otherwise. She wants to believe that everyone is good, so when "Sister Mary Catherine" from "Covenant Catholic Rescue Mission" (or whatever) sends her a letter asking for help to get kids off the street, she just can't imagine that there is no nun and there is no mission. I told my aunts and uncles that she's still sending money to these scams with the hope that they might screen her mail, but who knows. It's out of my hands, and I did everything I could.
That being said, I'm going to list a few scams for those of you with elderly family members. Hopefully you'll recognize them and can intervene if you see it happening.
Social Security Donations - A firm called "Benefit Security Coalition" sent her a very official-looking letter stating that she had just 3 days to send them $18 so they could petition some commissioner on her behalf, claiming that she would otherwise risk a decrease in benefits. This one was especially effective as it targeted Social Security. Those old folks are very sensitive to that topic, and the three days notice didn't leave her much time to discuss it with anyone. From my research there is also a "Civic Council" that uses the same address and perpetuates a similar scam.
Fake Charities - This one is pretty self-explanatory. "Charities" send her lots of brightly colored packaging with free calculators, pens, and notebooks so she'll feel obligated to send them something in return. Most of them aren't real charities, and the ones that are rank very poorly; spending most of their income on "administrative costs".
Prizes and Sweepstakes - We've all seen these. They often ask for some amount of money to secure their winnings, or you have to order magazine subscriptions, or whatever. She gets more of these than anything else, often in official-looking envelopes that appear to be from the IRS or another government agency.
Phone Calls - Someone called her asking about a cruise that she had booked. When she said that she hadn't done any such thing, the man on the phone told her that he was going to fire someone in his office for booking the cruise for her, obviously hoping that she would pay for a cruise out of guilt trying to save someone's job.
Local Sheriff's Dept. - There is a fundraising company that collects on behalf of the Sheriff's Dept. I imagine most of the money collected goes to the company anyhow. I told her not to send them anything, and no, they would not arrest her. Yes, they will still respond if she calls 911. She just can't say "no" and hang up the phone.
I pleaded with her not to send money to people that she doesn't know, and even left her a list of local charities that have real buildings. Red Cross, volunteer fire dept, Habitat for Humanity, animal shelter. I don't think she's been taken in any big scams yet, but all those $20 checks she mails out add up. That's a lot of Pennzoil Ultra.
She gets at least three pieces of mail every day and several phone calls that are scams targeting the elderly. She picks most of them out, but still sends $20 to a few people every week despite everything we do... there's just no telling her otherwise. She wants to believe that everyone is good, so when "Sister Mary Catherine" from "Covenant Catholic Rescue Mission" (or whatever) sends her a letter asking for help to get kids off the street, she just can't imagine that there is no nun and there is no mission. I told my aunts and uncles that she's still sending money to these scams with the hope that they might screen her mail, but who knows. It's out of my hands, and I did everything I could.
That being said, I'm going to list a few scams for those of you with elderly family members. Hopefully you'll recognize them and can intervene if you see it happening.
Social Security Donations - A firm called "Benefit Security Coalition" sent her a very official-looking letter stating that she had just 3 days to send them $18 so they could petition some commissioner on her behalf, claiming that she would otherwise risk a decrease in benefits. This one was especially effective as it targeted Social Security. Those old folks are very sensitive to that topic, and the three days notice didn't leave her much time to discuss it with anyone. From my research there is also a "Civic Council" that uses the same address and perpetuates a similar scam.
Fake Charities - This one is pretty self-explanatory. "Charities" send her lots of brightly colored packaging with free calculators, pens, and notebooks so she'll feel obligated to send them something in return. Most of them aren't real charities, and the ones that are rank very poorly; spending most of their income on "administrative costs".
Prizes and Sweepstakes - We've all seen these. They often ask for some amount of money to secure their winnings, or you have to order magazine subscriptions, or whatever. She gets more of these than anything else, often in official-looking envelopes that appear to be from the IRS or another government agency.
Phone Calls - Someone called her asking about a cruise that she had booked. When she said that she hadn't done any such thing, the man on the phone told her that he was going to fire someone in his office for booking the cruise for her, obviously hoping that she would pay for a cruise out of guilt trying to save someone's job.
Local Sheriff's Dept. - There is a fundraising company that collects on behalf of the Sheriff's Dept. I imagine most of the money collected goes to the company anyhow. I told her not to send them anything, and no, they would not arrest her. Yes, they will still respond if she calls 911. She just can't say "no" and hang up the phone.
I pleaded with her not to send money to people that she doesn't know, and even left her a list of local charities that have real buildings. Red Cross, volunteer fire dept, Habitat for Humanity, animal shelter. I don't think she's been taken in any big scams yet, but all those $20 checks she mails out add up. That's a lot of Pennzoil Ultra.
