As if we elderfolks didnβt have enough to worry about, like the high cost of prescription medications, we are being specifically targeted by smooth-talking telephone scam artists.
Family-emergency scams are common and can work well for the scammer while defrauding the grandparents. Posing as a relative or friend of someone you know like a grandchild, the scammer tells a story asking for emergency funds to help with a dire emergency. Send money for bail, hospital bill, or having to leave a foreign country! Send it quick! Or else!
The story can sound plausible because the scammers are very good at what they do. The tale they tell is scary and always demands ultra-fast action. I got one of these calls several years ago from someone purporting to be my grandson. (βGrandma this is your grandson. I am desperate! I need your help!β). Because I have three grandsons, I asked which grandson are you. He did not identify himself so I hung up. Was I sure it was a scam? Yes. Was I worried maybe it was not a scam? Yes, but I used the powers of reason and common sense to calm me down.
There are other scams besides the family-emergency scam. I have received phone calls from scammers saying, βThis is the Internal Revenue Serviceβ or βSocial Security.β I get repeated calls from Microsoft. I hang up immediately muttering curse words I didnβt even know I had in my vocabulary. Microsoft calls are mildly amusing. We are told if we donβt respond immediately all of our data will disappear. Our data remains intact but the calls keep coming. Why? It is cheap and easy to make zillions of calls a day.
The numbers of calls are staggering. According to Consumer Reports, these monsters who blithely disturb our tranquility and train of thought in the privacy of our own home can make 1,517 calls per second. Or 131,066,390 per day.
Why are the elderly targeted? We are usually at home. Some of us lack technology smarts. Many of us live alone and being alone makes any scary thing scarier. Fear escalates when we are isolated. Those of us with mild cognitive impairment or dementia may be easily fooled.
What can we do? 1. Verify the βemergency.β 2. Familiarize yourself with the tricks scammers use. 3. Report a scam you have responded to so that the Federal Trade Commission and state attorney general will have the information.
How do we verify? Donβt panic. That is what they want you to do. Verify the personβs identity by calmly asking things no stranger could answer. Call the supposed family member. If you are worried and alone, call a friend or family member even if the caller told you not to tell anybody. Never send money by wire or a check by overnight delivery.
Tricks used to fool you are amazingly successful and only one or two responses will make the scammerβs day. Scammers can easily and quickly use social network sites to get enough information about a family member to fool you. If you get suspicious, they may ask you to talk to an accomplice who is said to be a lawyer or police officer. They play on your emotions and may even impersonate your grandchild as my scammer did. They swear you to secrecy so you donβt ask someone you trust what you should do. They insist you wire the money immediately before it is too late.
Use common sense. I knew my grandson would identify himself. Any time you are asked to send a large sum of money quickly you must resist. Hanging up is the quickest way to deal with these tyrants. If it really was a lawyer or hospital such nonscammers will keep calling. Call a child or friend to talk about this scary event. When we talk about something scary, it helps us relax.
Family-emergency scams are the worst, designed to fool the vulnerable into acting quickly but there are other calls that invade the castle that is our home. Thirty-nine percent of robocalls are scams and 17% telemarketing. The rest are alerts, reminders of tomorrowβs doctor appointment or a payment. I tabulated the number of robocalls I got at home in one day. It was 20, all scams or telemarketing.
I rely on caller ID and do not answer unknown numbers. But these clever callers βspoofβ us by using a local number or even a name. When we answer, it is a lowlife telling us we won something or that they want to give us money if we do what they ask. Remind yourselves that a caller we need to talk to β a relative, doctor, lawyer β will call us back.
Cellphones no longer protect us from robocalls. Because my family and friends know I prefer to be called on my landline, there can be 15 or more robocalls on my cell and no βrealβ calls.
Tyranny has had many faces in history. Kings and their subjects, slaveowners and their human property, factory owners and their underpaid, overworked workers. Tyranny is power over people, stronger humans over weaker ones.
Today we live a new age of tyranny by technology. It happened so quickly and can morph so fast that we the people have no recourse. The French, American and Spanish revolutions were won by armies. Factory owners were challenged with labor unions. How will we all unite to fight the Technology Revolution? And can any of us give up technology that makes our old lives easier and brings us a grandchildβs smile on FaceTime?
What is the answer? Regulation can and should help. Be sure your landline and cell phone are on the Do Not Call Registry. It is far from perfect but does help. There is also new technology on the horizon that will be able to authenticate phone numbers using a digital signature.
Robocalls are the largest source of FTC complaints today. Several categories of robocalls are currently legal. These include political parties and charities, for example, as well as information calls from doctors and pharmacies. I politely (mostly) say I do not support a cause or buy goods from any organization or business if I am disturbed at home. I respond only to a mail or email request. Note that some spoofed calls are legal. A womenβs shelter that does not want an abuser to know a victimβs location is one example.
Survey data: 15% of people say they or a loved one had been reached by and scammed by a scammer. All of these, plus the rest of us who are annoyed every day by such calls, should support and demand regulations.
The elderly who especially need telephone communication in case of an emergency should join the fight. No more scam calls, no more robo calls! We have lived long enough to earn the right to peace and quiet in our own homes!
