Scams: Helping older relatives who are victims

There’s a good chance there’s an older relative in your family who has been the victim of a scam. But you may not know that it happened.

The Federal Trade Commission estimates that one out of five seniors becomes the victim of a fraud. The actual numbers are probably much higher, because many do not report the crime to authorities or tell family members because they are ashamed.

“We really don’t have a complete view of the breadth and depth of this crime because so many people don’t report it,” says Tobie Stanger, a senior editor for Consumer Reports. Stanger is the author of the cover story in the magazine’s November issue, which examined fraud and older adults (nwsdy.li/fraudcr). Her story caught the eye of lawmakers, and Oct. 23, she testified about senior fraud before a House subcommittee.

Many scams are committed by callers pretending to be telemarketers or representatives of government agencies. They typically call landline numbers, because seniors use landlines in a greater proportion than the rest of the population. These “robocallers” dial thousands of numbers per minute looking for victims, preferably older adults. In one widespread scam, the caller pretends to be from the Internal Revenue Service and demands payment for back taxes. “If you get a call from the IRS, it’s a scam,” Stanger says. “The IRS does not call taxpayers.” Other scams involve getting a victim to buy unneeded medical devices or phony home-security systems or telling them they won a free cruise — but only after they send the scammer a “small” deposit.

A trick some phone scammers use is to have a recorded message with information that indicates you can be “taken off their list” by pressing a number on your phone. “That is not effective,” Stanger says. “What you’re saying is, ‘I’m a live person,’ and they’ll continue to try.” Not only won’t you be removed from a list, you’ll probably get more robocalls.

Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, has a website (endrobocalls.org) where it is gathering names for a petition demanding lawmakers and phone carriers make it easier to block robocalls.

You can register for the FTC’s Do Not Call list at donotcall.gov. Most reputable businesses honor the registry, so if you are on the list and get a call from a telemarketer, the odds of it being a scammer are high. Political organizations and charities are exempt from Do Not Call rules. The FTC also offers nearly 70 free publications on assorted scams at nwsdy.li/ftcscams.