It always pays to protect yourself against scams, which are becoming more advanced, as scammers acquire new technology and methods to become increasingly convincing in the digital age.
With seniors the primary target, it’s important to learn about the common ways scammers trick people into becoming victims of fraud, what signs to look out for and ways to get recourse if you are victimized.
“As technology advances, it advances the ability of the scammers to go after people. And so, even if there are the same number of scammers out there, there are more people who fall victim,” says Karen Straughn, Maryland Assistant Attorney General and the director of its Mediation Unit.
Straughn says that the Maryland AG’s office is constantly in contact with people regarding scams, putting on informational sessions about protecting yourself and your family and providing assistance on individual cases.
She adds that while technology is making scammers more believable, the common scams they’re seeing impact people have largely remained
the same.
Common scams:
The Grandparent Scam
A scammer calls a target and attempts to convince the target that a relative is in trouble and quickly needs money to post bail or is out of the country and urgently needs access to money for any number of purposes.
The scammer will attempt to convince the target they are calling on behalf of the relative or will impersonate the relative with technology.
The scammer will tell the target to not reach out to anyone, including the “relative in trouble,” because they don’t want to get in trouble or to avoid embarrassment.
Straughn says this is an attempt to stop potential victims from checking in with family and realizing there is no urgent situation. Scammers will pressure the person repeatedly to send money as soon as possible to stop them from thinking clearly.
“This [scam] has become more prevalent with AI because they can now use AI to sound like the relative, so it becomes more convincing,” Straughn says.
Government Impersonation Scam
A scammer calls a target and pretends to be a government entity like the IRS, Medicare, Social Security or the Maryland AG’s office looking to either obtain personal information or to get people to send money to resolve an issue.
Scammers will use that information to steal money directly from seniors or, in the case of Medicare fraud, will send seniors cheaply purchased equipment that doesn’t work well or at all while billing the target’s insurance company.
Tech Support Scams
A scammer will call a senior and claim to be from a tech support company that provides protection against viruses and can fix computer issues that the person doesn’t actually have.
Then, if a scammer is granted access to a computer, they can start swiping all sorts of important information off it.
Straughn emphasizes that tech-based scams are areas of particular concern for seniors, who weren’t raised on computers and are less educated on technology than other generations.
“Unfortunately, seniors are more prone to this because they were not raised from a very young age using computers, and so they often don’t know when there is a problem, and what is happening,” Straughn says.
Gift Card and Lottery Scams
These two scams are similar, where a scammer will call to inform a person that they have won a lottery prize or need to pay a fake bill.
The gift card scam has people buy gift cards and read the redemption code over the phone to make it less traceable.
The lottery scammer will inform the person that they need to make payments such as shipping to receive their prize and, after the person has paid hundreds to thousands of dollars, they receive nothing.
Prevention
Straughn says that the first and most important thing to do if you think you might be getting scammed is to talk to people because it’s far more difficult for scammers to succeed if their targets have more information.
The people seniors can contact—friends, neighbors, family, and law enforcement—may be able to help seniors determine if a person is attempting to scam them and offer ways to report the incident.
“If you are not a victim of a scam, but a scam is attempted to be perpetrated on you, tell people what’s happening because the best thing we can do is to look out for each other and to try and protect people and make people aware of the situation so that they are less likely to be a victim,” Straughn says.
She adds there are some indicators of scams that seniors can identify and should raise their guard if they hear them while on a call.
One warning sign is if someone calls to say that you’ve won a prize and asks for money at the same time. Another is being asked to pay expenses with gift cards and read the numbers over the phone.
Callers requesting that you don’t contact anyone else and adding a sense of urgency are other suspicious signs.
“When you think something does not sound right, if you get a funny feeling in your gut, if it just seems too good to be true, it probably is accurate. You need to be careful and think hard, you need to stop and slow down and think about what the person has asked you and think about whether or not it makes sense,” Straughn says.
Steps To Take if You Are Victimized
If you realize you’ve been scammed, Straughn says it’s important to immediately contact law enforcement and the AG’s office, to file a police report and start an investigation into the scammers to identify and catch them.
The AG’s office also will assist people with individual cases and refer victims to the proper agency — from the Federal Trade Commission to the FBI — where the process can occur to hopefully get victims some of their money back.
If you are a victim of fraud, you can call the Maryland AG’s hotline at 410-528-8662 from Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
It’s very sad that people do that! It’s even worse when you are the victim. I have been there as well, and, A P T R E C O UP, a non profit organization set up by people who have been victims came to my rescue.