Are you protecting your parents from scammers?

By Dean Thompson

Your parent is the target of a scammer right now whether you know it or not. Whether your parent knows it or not. If you don’t start looking out for your parents its not a matter of IF, its a matter of WHEN they will be scammed and the statistics are showing they all will.

I went through my Father being scammed earlier this year and as I helped him get new accounts setup, teach him MFA and see how these horrible people operate. The FTC estimates that over $10B was lost by retirees to scammers last year and that is after you take out identity theft. To top all of this off, they think this number is low because retirees seldom report the crime.

Retirees are a prime target for Scammers

  • They’ve accumulated wealth. On average $1.6M in savings
  • Generally they are not tech savvy
  • They are very trusting of people and want to see the good in them
  • People can easily sway them to believe them
  • Scammers can overwhelm them quickly, confusing them and generating a sense of urgency to take action
  • At their age their memory starts to go or they develop cognitive disorders
  • Our parents are naive on Scammer approaches
  • They are lonely & want to talk to someone
  • Most family units are now dislocated - their kids have moved away

What really got me digging deeper was everybody I told his story to had a story of their own. Either they themselves were scammed or someone within their inner circle of family/friends had been scammed or came close but caught it in time. These were people who are very tech savvy. In fact many of them work in the cybersecurity industry, protecting corporations and governments for a living.

All of the technology we leverage to make our companies competitive, big data, data mining, AI, etc. are also tools being used by the Scammers. They mine your social media and purchase breached credentials from the dark web, as well as use deep fake in order to achieve their goals. They are very well funded, don’t have to abide by the same laws we do, operate in countries where their government knows is either getting a piece or have people being paid off to look the other way and are out of the jurisdiction of U.S. law enforcement. BTW, if you’ve ever seen Mark Rober, then you know there are still some good guys out there fighting for you. Great video of him getting revenge for us #rober #markrober https://youtu.be/VrKW58MS12g

I’ll be posting articles you can use to educate your parents so they and you know what to look for and can hopefully keep the Scammers at bay or at least minimize the damage when it occurs. My hope is your parent’s retirement gets to be what they have worked their whole life for and not another statistic of these horrible, horrible people.

This posts will be the easiest one and its on Sweepstakes/Lotteries/Prizes. It is illegal to ask you to pay or buy something to enter a sweepstake, including increasing your chances. Sweepstakes are free and by chance.

  • Contest promoters might sell your information to advertisers. If you sign up for a contest or a drawing, you’re likely to get more promotional mail, telemarketing calls, or spam.

  • Contest promoters have to tell you certain things. If they call you, the law says they have to tell you that entering is free, what the prizes are and their value, the odds of winning, and how you’d redeem a prize.

  • Sweepstakes mailings must say you don’t have to pay to participate. They also can’t claim you’re a winner unless you’ve actually won a prize. And if they include a fake check in their mailing, it has to clearly say that it’s non-negotiable and has no cash value.

Flags/Things to Watch For

  • You get a phone call saying you’ve won something and to get what you won, you have to send them money or provide account information in order to get it - This is a SCAM!

  • They tell. you that you have to pay a processing fee or shipping & handling to claim your prize - This is a SCAM!

  • You’re told paying increases your odds of winning - This is a SCAM!

  • They tell you that you have to give them your account information (credit card or bank account) to transfer money to you - This is a SCAM!

Please, please, please, talk to your parents about this stuff. For that matter you kids or if you have a loved one in the military. These are the next highest targets after retirees. The people that scammed my Dad did it while my Mom was on her deathbed. He was running her from Dr. to Dr. and they knew he wouldn’t have his wits about him and they struck. Let’s keep the same from happening to your parents!