The Elderly are Vulnerable to Scams

The elderly are easy targets for scammers.

Elderly folks are such a target for scammers – and it is despicable. They are mostly on limited income with retirement and Social Security, so they can’t afford to lose their livelihood. Elderly scams are multiplying. The elderly are vulnerable to scams.

The elderly are often at a limited income level without a job or big pension payments (from their time as the jobs paid less). It’s despicable for scammers to go after them and take all their money that they need to survive. It looks like scammers got into my father’s computer and took a lot of information. They hacked into his bank account, his home loan, and who knows what else. They could have diverted his Social Security payments away from him with all the information they have on him. Identity theft is a messy elderly scam (or for any age) to rectify back.

Because they aren’t as sharp anymore, are easily swayed by dreams of fortunes and their emotions are easily set off, they fall for scams too easily. If an enticing offer comes along from mail, email, text, phone call, etc. they don’t think first, they just react. If they think a family member is in trouble, or their computer is infected, they are more likely to be reactive and listen to the scammer with their advice or ransom demands. The elderly are vulnerable to scams, and elderly scams are so prevalent anymore.

Some scam calls pretend to be a grandchild or daughter who needs help from being stuck in a situation that needs money. My dad got one of these calls, but it didn’t say which daughter, so he called me then I texted the other while he was on the phone. It said his daughter was in the hospital and if the call hadn’t disconnected, they certainly would have asked him for money.

Surveys and info gathering – surveys, quizzes, and other time wasters tend to grab personal information and clues for passwords and security questions. The amount of mail from these can be astounding. Once one is answered much more comes along. Any calls, answered mail or email or text, tend to bring a barrage of more of the same. The contact information is sold between scammers as a live victim easy to scam. Some surveys just want to know interests so they will know what types of ads to send, making sure to entice a purchase. Because seniors have more free time, they get sucked into these types of elderly scams more easily.

There need to be more controls on their phones to only accept KNOWN entities to get through with calls and texts. Email should be set up the same way because spam controls aren’t as good at intercepting them. The elderly need to learn to throw away junk email, delete emails and ignore anything from anyone they don’t know.

People need to advocate for the elderly and teach them – teach your parents and loved ones. Ask their living centers to offer classes to help - try to educate them on the elderly scams that try to pull them in.

Forewarned is better armed. The lessons need to be pounded in over and over, so they are remembered, which is difficult because memories are declining. The elderly are vulnerable to scams.