Keep yourself and your wallet safe from these financial scams targeting seniors!
In retirement, all Americans want to be able to sit back and relax, enjoying their free time after a life of hard work. However, financial scams have the potential to jeopardize this security, as scammers specifically target them.
This does not mean that all seniors are going to fall for financial scams, but rather that these scam artists are going to try to target them more since some are not aware of these nefarious schemes.
The reason why retirees and seniors are the prime targets of these bad people is because they are counting on the fact that they will have a lot of money saved up for their golden years.
They want to get access to people’s hard-earned money, and in some instances, they actually succeed!
While it is not ideal, this issue keeps growing, so all seniors need to be vigilant about these schemes and warn their loved ones too so that no one loses money to these scammers.
Statistics show that over 58% of these schemes are old-fashioned, using postal, phone, and even door-to-door tactics. However, there are also more new, technologically advanced types of fraud that you need to be on high alert for!
With American seniors losing over $9 billion due to financial scams in 2022 alone, we have gathered some of the newest and most effective types of scams so that you can be in the know and safe from these fraudsters!
Keep on reading to discover them, and be safe out there!
Has anyone tried to scam you out of money? Did you or a loved one fall for these schemes? Share your stories in the comments!
Investment calls
One of the most used current financial scams is fake investment calls.
While there are financial advisors who may be calling people to discuss services, they generally come along with the necessary information that you can use to verify your identity. This means that they are licensed and registered, so as a potential client, you can always look them up easily to verify their identity and that they are not a scammer.
The way in which these fake advisors approach their potential victims happens in two distinct ways.
In the first ones, you may hear from someone who is exuberant and excited to tell you all about his financial opportunity that will have “great returns,” generally talking about a huge number that many people can only dream about.
They’re going to talk a big game, and it will sound legit since a lot of them will have a doctored prospect to share with you.
The first red flags here are the fact that they are sure you will have a huge return on your investment no matter what and the fact that they really want you to join their scheme; if the scheme is so profitable, why are they begging you to get behind it?
The second approach will be that the person will be calm and collected, seemingly having all the patience in the world to tell you about the prospect, and this may make it harder to spot them at first.
The most common investments used by these false advisors are safe ones, like bond funds and even corporate CDs. Yet, be sure you never just agree with them, that you take note of their name, and that you do not invest until you search these people out.
Not only will you be able to check if the prospect actually exists, but you can also check their name; if you search their name along with the word “scam,” you may find out who they really are.
That way you avoid losing your money and getting roped into business with a “financial advisor” that is never going to answer a call from you again.
Call and record schemes
One of the other common financial schemes also goes by the name “robocall scam.” This falls under the umbrella of social engineering schemes, and they are the easiest to reinvent time and time again to get people to fall for them.
Social engineering is a manipulating tactic through which the victim willingly gives sensitive information through the use of common social norms.
The robocall schemes are the easiest ones to make using this type of manipulation, and they are both hard to spot but also common enough that they can be unveiled if you are careful about what is going on.
The scammers are looking to get a snippet of your voice so that they can, later on, duplicate it and use it to steal your money.
The most common phrase they are looking for is “yes.” Since then, they can use it to validate large credit cards or take out debit card charges on the phone.
If they have your stolen credit card and they get this snippet of your voice, it can be a recipe for disaster since they can bring you to the brink of ruin.
If you keep getting weird calls from numbers you do not recognize and they continue to ask you, “Can you hear me?” or the like, “Are you happy with your internet provider?” or other yes or no questions, know that they may not be who they claim to be.
Some don’t even ask anything; if you have the habit of answering the phone with “yes,” they may just have all they want from the start!
Not to mention, you should be careful with voice-mimicking scams too.
There have been reports of scammers duplicating the voices of loved ones and then calling seniors in order to get them to pay huge sums of money for their loved ones’ hospital bills, claiming they have just been in an accident.
If that happens to you, always call your relatives before you transfer any sort of money.
The grandparent con
Scammers have gotten way too comfortable with calling older Americans and pretending to be relatives. Unfortunately, the grandparent con or scam is nothing new despite these thieves being caught red-handed time and time again.
In this type of scam, they will call older adults and start the call by pretending to surprise them: “Hi, Grandma/Grandpa, can you guess who I am?”. Even if you do not fall for it, they may push until they have a name and then assume the identity of the person.
This leaves room for them to not have to work too much in order to convince the older person of their identity since they will be filling in the gaps themselves.
The rest of the scam is similar to the voice-mimicking we have mentioned. If they manage to get the trust of the person, then their guard will be down. With a simple lie about how they had to change their phone number, they will then ask for a loan or a favor since they are in a bind.
Generally, they will ask for a cash transfer or for prepaid gift cards since they are the easiest way to anonymously send money to someone.
Be sure that you never send money to someone you do not know, especially if they are not in the same room with you. Trust your gut; if it seems fishy, then it may be a scam.
If you ever get these types of calls, take the time to verify that the person is who they pretend to be. Ask them questions that they should know the answer to, like the names of pets, relatives, or where they spent last Christmas.
Since the scam is based on misidentifying someone’s voice, the scheme is off the moment someone cannot verify their identity.
If you want to learn the best tips and tricks about how you can avoid scams, we recommend this book: Outsmarting the Scam Artists.
Unfortunately, these are not the only types of schemes out there to fool seniors and retirees. If you want to know how these fraudsters can fool you even through job scams, make sure you check this article here: 5 Job Scams That Often Target Seniors.
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