Better Business Bureau

Scams That Target Senior Citizens
 
Millions of senior citizens have fallen victim to scammers. Better Business Bureau serving New Mexico and Southwest Colorado encourages families to keep the lines of communication open with their elders and to recognize some common cons targeting senior citizens.

BBB warns against the following scams that commonly target senior citizens:

Grandparent Scams - Scammers will often try to take advantage of the increased vulnerability of senior citizens who have recently lost a loved one. In one recent example, BBB received a call from an elderly woman who stated a scammer, posing as her grandson, called her from Mexico. The scammer said he got into trouble and was in jail. He then asked the victim if she could wire him money for bail but asked that she not tell his parents because he was embarrassed. The scammer knew the name of the victim as well as the name of her grandson. It appears the scammer may have taken this information from an obituary of the victim's recently deceased husband.

• BBB Advice: Let your elders know of this scam. Many times just making people aware that these types of scam exist is enough to keep them from falling victim.

Sweepstakes and Lottery Scams -Typically, the victim receives a letter in the mail stating they have won a lottery or sweepstakes; it might even claim to be from Publisher's Clearing House or Reader's Digest. The letter instructs the victim to deposit an enclosed check and then wire a portion back to the company to cover taxes or administration fees. While the funds will initially show up in the bank account, the money will be removed when the bank determines the check is fake. The victim is out whatever they wired back to the scammers—often amounting to thousands of dollars.

• BBB Advice: Never wire money to someone you don't know. You should never have to send money to receive any winnings from a lottery or sweepstakes.

Medicare Scams - Commonly, a scammer will claim to be with Medicare and ask for personal information such as Medicare, Medicaid, social security, credit card or bank account numbers. The victim might be given any number of excuses to provide this information including that an error needs to be fixed, that he or she is part of a survey or eligible to receive free products or can sign up for a new prescription drug plan. 

• BBB Advice: Remind your elderly family members that Medicare will never call to ask for sensitive personal financial information.