<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Scammers target senior citizens every day and the numbers are rising. Scammers target the elderly. Elders have financial stability, vulnerability, and tendency to act on emotion. Seniors are also less tech savvy. Scammers know seniors are less likely to use tools to avoid scams via phone, email and direct mail. Criminals use scams that play on their emotions, including fear. One report showed that, in 2011, seniors were robbed of nearly $2.9 billion dollars<\/a>. People who robbed seniors are strangers (51%), family, friends, and neighbors (34%), fake businesses (12%), and scams on Medicare\/ Medicaid (4%).<\/p>\n

Phone Scams<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Consumer groups have created guides on \u00a0reporting scam phone calls<\/a>. A popular scam is one by fake IRS reps. The fake rep claims that the senior has back taxes owed to the government. The calls scare people into giving out bank information or face jail time. Seniors targeted by phony IRS representatives should report the activity to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Victims can report online<\/a> or call 1-800-366-4484.<\/p>\n

People should report other scam calls to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)<\/a>. Secondly, reporting phone scams to local police and the Attorney General<\/a>\u2019s office is important.<\/p>\n

Seniors can also use an iPhone caller ID app<\/a> to screen calls and help to prevent scams.<\/p>\n

Romance Scams<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Fake suitors target people over 50 for romance scams. The percentage of people looking for online romance is the highest in this age range. Scammers claim their love for their victims almost immediately, and then ask for money. They are not available to meet in person and are usually suffering some form of emergency or personal tragedy. If this happens to you, refuse to send any money and report them to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mail Scams<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Scammers can trick seniors by using direct mail or \u201cjunk mail\u201d scams. Lottery and sweepstakes contests are popular scams. Consumer groups have developed several websites devoted to reducing or eliminating direct mail. The AARP has a list of companies<\/a> that can help. \u00a0Others include:<\/p>\n

CatalogChoice<\/a> helps you to opt-out of getting specific catalogs in the mail.<\/p>\n

DMAchoice<\/a> is a website that helps to manage your mail received at home.<\/p>\n

OptOutPrescreen<\/a> can help you to opt-out of getting credit card offers in the mail.<\/p>\n

SeniorNet<\/a> is a non-profit organization that educates seniors on computers. They have also created a guide on how to detect mail fraud<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you suspect that an offer received in the mail is too good to be true, call the company who sent the offer for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Scammers target senior citizens every day and the numbers are rising. Scammers target the elderly. Elders have financial stability, vulnerability, and tendency to act on emotion. Seniors are also less tech savvy. Scammers know seniors are less likely to use tools to avoid scams via phone, email and direct mail. Criminals use scams that […more]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/creativejapan.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/creativejapan.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/creativejapan.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/creativejapan.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/creativejapan.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/creativejapan.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":278,"href":"http:\/\/creativejapan.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions\/278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/creativejapan.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/creativejapan.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/creativejapan.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}