A Warning re:PWDs and others who live alone

Iris L.

Yesterday I got a telephone message on my landline from "Anonymous": "This is your official notification that you have been placed on my schedule to be served court-sealed documents. You will be served either at your place of employment or place of residence. At that time a signature and two forms of identification will need to be presented. For questions or to place a stop action, press 1 to connect to an operator or contact the filing party at (405) 328-6807."

Of course, right away I knew this was a scam. I posted here to make aware the reality of what is being addressed to seniors. How many older adults would attempt to connect to avoid being served, only to give up identifying numbers and other info to a scammer! All of your older adult relatives need to be protected from this type of elder abuse.

Iris

Jgirl57

Thank you for posting Iris; you are correct. It is so sad how seniors are targeted for scams. That is one of the reasons my HWD/Alz no longer uses a phone or email.

H1235

My mom got a call from a scammer a few years ago. They called her grandma and she responded with “is that you——“ they of course say yes. They then told her they were in jail and needed $10,000 mailed to them. All the time referring to her as grandma. They asked her not to tell mom and dad because they would be mad. She went as far as getting the money order drawn up, but forgot where send it and started to wonder if it was really her grandson. Thankfully she told me and my son called her to reassure her it was not him. But she asked about him often after that and would say “are you sure it wasn’t——“. It’s hard to believe how low some people will stoop.

harshedbuzz

@Iris L.

Thanks for sharing this one.

There are so many bad actors working to separate victims from their money and peace of mind. The level of vigilance needed to be safe in the world is exhausting. I woke to 3 scams in my shared household email this morning— "suspicious activity on my bank card", "an invoice for a $300 internet security package" and "a request to verify my payment method with the cable provider". I haven't answered my landline since early 2020. Who knows how many attempts are made there aside from the ridiculous message I get threatening to "call me before the magistrate".

My local police department posts the current circulating scams on their Facebook page and gives talks at local senior centers and community groups on the topic.

Chug— I have a friend whose mom went so far as to wire $6K to a scammer. Her mom is a capable and well-educated woman— it's easy to be victimized. The tragic thing is that her lone grandson was away at college and some family members still suspect the kid had something to do with it. It's even worse now that AI technology can spoof a voice to make it more convincing.

HB

dancsfo

This AARP resource web page is a useful reference. It's not only digital or online, which a PWD maya not be active on. People who claim to be trusted contacts, such as those who pretend to be clergy can be a bad actor. Although a PWD may not be active online, it is important to secure online accounts or to create a secure login, so that a bad actor does not create one, pretending to be the PWD. (i.e. a fake IRS login to file a fake return)

https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/

SusanB-dil

Uggh. And it isn't going to stop.

MIL was starting to speak to scammers more. We were finally able to turn off the phone-ringer when we knew she wouldn't miss it, which was a blessing!