Be On The Lookout For These Senior-Targeting Scams

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Unfortunately, there are many different kinds of scammers around trying to take people’s money, and seniors are often their main target. Scammers tend to target seniors because many of them have access to larger sums of money, and they think they can trick them into providing them with their personal information.

In addition, seniors tend to not be as techno-savvy as the younger generation, which make the Internet a hotbed for scammers. Below is some useful information about the types of scams that target seniors, as well as, some useful tips on how to avoid these scams.

Internet Scam

Types of Scams

Scammers try all different means to try to steal information from seniors or to get them to agree to make a fraudulent purchase. While there are literally dozens of different scams out there, below we look at the most common types of scams that target seniors.

  • Carbon Tax Compensation. These scammers contact seniors by telephone and pretend to be calling from the Australian government. They offer several carbon tax initiatives and benefit options to the senior, claiming all they need is their bank account information. If you get a call like this, you can be 100 per cent certain that it is a scam because the government never calls people in reference to the carbon tax credit. People must apply for these carbon tax savings on their own.
  • Charity Scams. One of the most popular scams involves contacting seniors to donate to a bogus charity. Before donating to any charity, check with the consumer protection agency in your local area to ensure the organization is legitimate.
  • Investment Scams. These get-rich-quick schemes should always raise a red flag for seniors. Be leery of anything that sounds too good to be true. Nobody should be providing you with investment advice unless they are licensed. You can check the standing of anyone offering financial or investment services by checking the ASIC Connect’s Professional Register.
  • Lottery Scams. A popular scam targeting seniors is an email claiming that you won the lottery. This scam asks you to provide your bank information to deposit the funds into. This is almost always a trap to obtain your personal information. If you think it may be legitimate, you should first seek advice from a legal or financial expert.
  • Money Transfer Scams. Money transfer scams request that you transfer a large sum of money to the other person and then they promise to return more money to you. This is a scam and you should never transfer money to someone you do not know.
  • Superannuation Scams. This is another popular scam that target seniors, as the scammer promise to transfer your money to a self-managed account. This kind of accounts could have high account-keeping fees and cause you to face tax penalties or a higher tax rate.

How to Protect Yourself Against Scams

There are several step you can take to protect yourself against these scammers and secure your personal information.

  • Stop Telemarketers. You want to make sure you have your number placed on the Do Not Call Register. This will reduce the number of telemarketers calling your phone and reduce the risk of being scammed.
  • Do Not Give Information. Another thing to remember is that you should never give your personal information, including banking information to anyone over the phone. Remember that your bank will never ask for this information over the phone. Anyone asking for this type of information could be trying to scam you.
  • Verify Legitimacy. Always take the necessary steps to verify the legitimacy of any charity your donate to or business you work with. 
  • Seek Professional Advice. When in doubt, you should always seek advice from an attorney or a financial counselor. They will be able to help you determine what options or legitimate and which are fraudulent..

The governmental website SCAMwatch provides useful information on how to protect yourself from scammers. You should always question any deals offer over the phone, through the mail or by an email unless you requested the information.

Ask a lot of questions, do your research and find out the name, phone number, and address of any business or organization your work with.

photo credit: Freedigitalphotos.net


Watch Out For This New Traffic Light Camera Scam Which Steals Your Identity

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I came across an article recently on Yahoo which talked about a new scam. This scam revolves around traffic light cameras, and is designed to steal your identity.

When I began to read this article, I expected to read about some fancy IT person hacking into traffic cameras, and somehow using them to read information off of your EZ-Pass or some other recognizable thing on or in your car. But instead, crooks are using laziness and fear to take advantage of people.

The Red Light Camera Scam

What happens is that the con man will choose a number at random; and once a person answers the phone, they simply tell them that they have an overdue fine for running a red light camera. According to the article, they are then told that “the only way to avoid a significant late fee, mandatory court case, or even jail time is to pay the bill right then and there, over the phone. If you don’t pay up you’re threatened with a warrant for your arrest.”

Of course, when this happens, there’s no bill, no unpaid ticket, no red light camera, and the person who was calling does not work for the police station or the clerk’s office. They are just hoping to use your fear and laziness to get you to automatically make a payment. If you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be a police officer (and maybe even giving you a supposed ID number), fear may overtake you and cause you to do whenever that person on the other and says in order to avoid the consequences that he is promising.

Traffic Camera

What’s The Point?

Once you agree to pay the fine, the person on the other end will then ask for your credit card number and security code (that three digit number on the back) in order to process the payment. Once they have that, they can then move forward and ask for your billing address, date of birth, and even your Social Security number – assuring you that all of this data is needed in order to handle your payment.

Of course, you would assume that if the police station was able to get your phone number from whatever information came up on the red light camera, they will also be able to get your address, and at least have the date of birth of the person to whom the car is registered. But again, when the fear of a hefty fine or possibly even jail time overtakes someone, the ability to think clearly and to logically assess a situation is greatly diminished.

You can rest assured that there is no police department in the country that will conduct business in this fashion. They conduct all of their business through snail mail and will not call you and give you the option to make a payment over the telephone. Even if you’re at the point of debt collection, all of this is first handled via mail, and once the phone calls are initiated, you should verify everything in writing before making any types of payments.

Covering Their Tracks

According to the article, the thieves will sometimes place a follow-up phone call and tell you that it was a mistake and then assure you that your card has not been charged. They will even apologize for causing you stress or bothering you in the first place. The purpose of this is to cause you to be so relieved that you aren’t in any type of trouble that you won’t get suspicious, and to also ensure that you will not check your bank account to make sure the payment went through. This should give them enough time to place a number of fraudulent charges before you decide to check your account.

So remember that if you ever receive a phone call stating that you were caught with a red light camera, going through a toll booth without paying, an unpaid parking ticket, or anything else of this sort, you should hang up the phone and call the police station or the clerk’s office yourself and inquire about the matter.

In fact, you should avoid giving out any sensitive financial or personal data through the phone, unless you are the one who initiated the call and you are 100% certain that you were speaking with the correct party.

photo credit: sskennel

Reader Questions

  1. Have you every had anyone call you with a scam to get your information?
  2. Have you ever been the victim or known a victim of this type of fraud?
  3. How would you handle this phone call?