Posts by Jim:
- Stop payment on cheques. Get them to call the bank immediately or get down to the bank and stop payment on any cheque they may have written.
- Go to the bank and report that you have been duped. In the case of illegal use of credit cards and the like, banks are insured to cover this. Also, you may find they are surprisingly cooperative. Credit cards are very lucrative for them, thus they have an interest in maintaining people’s trust in credit (as well as debit cards and online banking in fact).
- Keep hope and persevere. The con may be long gone and your mom or dad may have a poor description or he/she may live on the other side of the world. No matter what, you need to persevere to make sure that action is taken. A man in Indiana found out his father had been duped out of a quarter million dollars in an Internet scam. The culprits were from South Africa and the son is working with the US Secret Service and the South African police to slowly and surely catch the scammers and bring them to justice.
- spamlinks.net/scams-phish.htm
- Most spam comes from Russia and Eastern Europe
- scambusters.org/
- Protecting Your Parents From Senior Scams (November 2010 news article)
- Tell mom and dad to just say “no” to anyone they do not know.
- If your parents don’t like to say no, here’s a trick for children of aging parents: Ask mom and dad to promise you that they will never buy anything from strangers. That way you’re not telling them what to do. And they can blame it on you when they “have to say no” to complete strangers at the door (or on the phone…. or online).
- Make sure they do not read any email where they do not know the recipient.
- Give them strategies for catching scammers off guard. For example ask phone solicitors, “Can I have your number so I can call you back?” Anyone doing anything legitimate will have a 1 800 or 1 888 number. Another thing they can ask is for references or for them to end more information about their company so you can look it over and get back to them if you’re interested.
- If someone claims to be someone they know (e.g. the grandparent scam) make sure mom or dad knows to give callers a question that only that person would know the answer to.
- Be sure that your parents have a good anti-spam filter on their email programs they are using. Seniors are especially susceptible to cheap pills and the Nigerian scam.
- Fundraising: Many elderly people give money over the phone to organizations that sound like they are doing good. However, many fundraising campaigns are handled by third party organizations that take a deep cut of “donations” – as high as 90% in fact; in the case of outright scammers, the figure is, of course, 100%. Many of us simply turn down telemarketers but many elderly people are too trusting.
Fundraising schemes can also fall under…..
- Door-to-door scams. These are myriad and include fundraising as well as roof repairs, house washing, yard work and many, many others. These operate in a variety of ways. In some cases, the “worker” will give an estimate and then explain to the trusting elder that the job cost more than he thought and he (or she) will get into trouble with the boss so the charges are higher than they originally “estimated.” All too often, the work is done in a shoddy manner and the worker may even cause damage to the house or property. Door-to-door sales are often scams or at least very over-priced.
- The trusted face. There are legal organizations spoken for by familiar, trusted people who will cross the line into the scam zone. American Family Publishers used trusted spokespeople like Ed McMahon and Dick Clark and still violated laws. They were sued, lost and agreed to pay a number of states $1.25 million for violations and were ordered to cease illegal promotional tactics. According to US Attorney General Christine Gregoire, they crossed the line into deception when they suggested to consumers in mass mailings that the recipient was one of only two recipients with a winning number.
- There are probably too many scams to outline in one or even several articles. Crooks are as creative as the rest of the population, unfortunately. To name a few, though, some of the more pernicious scams can involve fake lottery wins, offers of bogus prizes, oppressed persons needing money (now known as the Nigeria scam but still very much around), low cost pills, get rich quick schemes and more variations than we can list.
- Do they understand very basic financial concepts such as the inflation of credit card interest rates or the dangers of debt?
- Will either of them be able to take over the other’s finances in the event that one of them passes away suddenly?
- How often do they use a credit card and how many different credit cards do they have? Do they ever tell you anything about how much credit they carry at any time? Is there anything in what they say that raises any warnings?
- How do they “treat” themselves? Do they splurge on things they can’t really afford?
- How do they deal with unexpected expenses or crises? If you have ever witnessed your parents in a financial problem or crisis you have a window into their ability to deal with – or make – problems.
- Are they ever showy with their money in a way that makes you or others uncomfortable?
- disability benefits
- the Old Age Security Pension (OAS)
- its schedule of payment rates
- the Guaranteed Income Supplement
Still Wanted: Accessible Technology for the Elderly and Disabled
January 28th, 2011A recent survey by the PEW Internet and American Life Project shows that the health industry and its resident technology partners are still missing an opportunity to serve a valuable market, the elderly and the disabled. According to the report, “54% of adults living with a disability use the internet, compared with 81% of adults who report none of the disabilities listed in the survey.” The lower numbers are reflected in several key areas. For example, the disabled have lower access to broadband Internet. In fact, the US government is proposing that legislation covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act be extended to include websites. The correlation between aging and disability is implicit in the survey results as well, with 58% of those reporting disabilities citing their age as 50 or older.
A north American problem – and opportunity
Canada faces a similar problem. The last similar survey by Stats Canada (end of 2007) showed that a substantially smaller proportion of the elderly accessed the Internet for personal reasons as opposed to those aged 35-54 who figured in at just under 80%. The health care industry (both in the US and Canada) should realize it has an interest in creating more accessible technology for elderly and disabled. While the elderly are adapting technology and there are companies working to make it easier all the time, more can be done, obviously. If the numbers of disabled users were equal in ratio to that of the general populace, it would present a significant revenue opportunity. Health care purchases including pharmaceuticals, aid devices and numerous other products, are a 2 trillion dollar a year industry in North America.
Back to Accessibility Basics
An obvious reason for the lack of use of technology is that the elderly and disabled find it inaccessible and nominally useful or usable. There are tried and true ways of improving those issues:
Answer the needs of the elderly and disabled. Using focus groups and interviews opens up technology creators to new ideas. Many of the good ideas in technology are born of anecdotal wishes. The elderly are often unheard from and yet they are the biggest font of wisdom into what new products should be made available to them to help them get what they require.
Testing of products on end users. With a large enough user sample, products can be designed so they are more useful for the disabled and underprivileged. Murray Sanders is a Mississauga technology designer focused on the accessibility of health care technology. He’s worked with in-field medical experts during the SARS crisis as well as asthma.ca and numerous other companies in the Canadian health care industry. “We find time and again that Internet and technology providers are blind to gaps in accessibility when bringing products to market. Where there ought to be an intuitive synergy between market needs and technology providers, the needs of the elderly are all too often underserved.”
Internet and technology development has always had an undercurrent of idealism to it, including the belief in connection, in opening up access to information and power, and in empowering people through access to information. Health care technology companies have the opportunity to indulge that ideal with the development of products that the disabled find useful and usable. As President Obama’s Medicare plan deepens in the rich US market, this should make it more feasible for US and Canadian companies to create helpful technologies that are more affordable as well as (hopefully) more accessible.
Learn more
US readers can learn more about proposed changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act and offer your comments here.
A downloadable version of the PEW Internet and American Life Project study on accessibility is available here.
Has Mom or Dad Been Scammed?
December 23rd, 2010In the last part of our four part look at seniors and scammers we look at what to do if you find out if mom or dad has been scammed.
“Something strange happened the other day”
In some cases, your parents may be scammed and not realize it.
In a double-bind worst-case they may be embarrassed and not want to tell anyone about it. Children of aging parents may want to help parents but parents may not like the idea of getting help from their children. You’ll need to work around this.
If your parents tell you about someone who just came to the door (for example) selling a house power washing and they actually gave out money, you need to do all within your power to put a stop to it.
What to do in the unfortunate case your mom or dad has been scammed:
Still, this is the exception and police admit a sad reality: that most scammers are never brought to justice.
With that in mind, it’s best to do all you can to avoid letting yourself or your aging, vulnerable parents get scammed.
A look back at seniors scams and how to avoid them
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What Seniors Need to Know About Scamming, Phishing and Fleecing
More Scams That Target Seniors
How to Protect Parents From Spammers, Scammers And Other Scoundrels
More information about online scams and protecting seniors:
How to Protect Parents From Spammers, Scammers And Other Scoundrels
December 21st, 2010In several previous posts we looked at scams that target seniors (including newer scams). Here’s a look at some simple techniques to arm yourself and your parents against scam artists online, on the phone or at the door:
Stop Senior Scams
Stopseniorscams.org lists five touchstones you need to remind your parents of:
1. If an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
2. When it comes to a “now or never” opportunity, choose “never”
3. Keep account numbers, codes and passwords private.
4. Shred bills, junk mail and receipts when discarding them.
5. Don’t be afraid to report your experiences. If you feel uncomfortable, tell someone.
No matter what age we are, we learn lessons the hard way and many seniors have been duped before they learn not to trust unsolicited emails, phone calls or people at the door. Sometimes they get duped a number of times.
In the last part of our four part look at seniors and scammers we’ll look at what you can do if your mom or dad has been scammed.
More Scams That Target Seniors
December 20th, 2010Previously, we looked at some popular and very contemporary scams that target seniors. Sadly, new scams are just the tip of the iceberg, of course. Here we take a look at a selection of perhaps more well-known scams that target seniors.
Other scams that target seniors include the following:
You should be sure your parents understand that if something sounds too good to be true it probably is and if someone really needs help there are authorities who are better suited to help them.
The number of possible scams is really overwhelming. Actual examples of seniors scams might make you a bit sad about the state of the world.
Earlier this year an Indiana woman whose husband had just died answered the door to a man who claimed to represent Visa. He asked her for her husband’s credit card telling her it belonged to Visa and the confused, distraught woman handed it over to a con artist who promptly went on a multi-thousand dollar shopping spree. The police officer involved says, “Criminals like that don’t really care. They just want cash and whoever they hurt – whether it be the elderly, the young or in between – they don’t care.”
Sad, indeed, but true, also. There are ways to arm your parents against scammers. We’ll look at those coming up soon.
What Seniors Need to Know About Scamming, Phishing and Fleecing
December 17th, 2010A previous post alluded to an upcoming post about online scams but when we got down to writing this, the subject was a bit bigger than we originally anticipated. So this is the first of a four part look at is at seniors and scams. First we’ll take a look at some very contemporary scams children of aging parents should be aware of.
Scammers, spammers and phishers love to target the elderly. There is no shortage of scams out there but here is a look at a few that you might want to make your parents aware of. Be sure that both your parents are well aware of people’s capacity for depravity. In the unfortunate case that your mom or dad is widowed they can be duped easily, even while they (and you) are still mourning.
Warn your parents ahead of time about buying things over the phone, or giving out credit card numbers online.
Phishing
If your mom or dad is the type who embraces the Internet, banking online or using any kind of online payment system (i.e. Paypal), they need to know about phishing.
Phishing is any attempt by unscrupulous people to acquire sensitive personal information like usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading – often very convincingly – as a trustworthy entity in any electronic communication. Typically, scammers will send an email that very cleverly masquerades as a warning or reminder from an online payment site, typically PayPal, eBay or an online banking website. The email will often have a sense of urgency that instills fear in the recipient.
Perhaps you have encountered phishing yourself and understand how convincing these emails can be. You and your parents need to remember that banks and financial institutions routinely promise that they “will never ask you for your personal information via phone or email.”
If and when a user gets an email purportedly from a finance site such as these they should be very skeptical. Never click on any URL in an email. Instead, bookmark the official site then go to your bookmark if you receive an email that purports to be from a financial site you use. If you don’t have it bookmarked, type the institution’s official URL into your address bar.
I consider myself a reasonably web savvy guy and I’ve been phished in before. And I have lots of company in being duped in spite of thinking I’m reasonably savvy. (Thankfully I was immediately suspicious of the interaction and contacted my bank soon after then stopped anything harmful from happening.)
The Grandparent Scam
In this scam, an elderly person receives a call from someone who sounds convincingly like a grandchild who has gotten him or herself into trouble. Perhaps the “grandchild” will say they don’t want their parents to know about it. Since the elderly person has a soft spot for grandkids, may be hard of hearing, and can be duped into thinking that cell phones or pay phones make voices “sound funny,” this scam is surprisingly effective.
One sign of this scam is that the “grandchild” will ask that the money be sent by wire transfer, e.g. Western Union.
Your parents need to know that others have been duped by this trick and that any time they suspect this scam, a simple test is to ask the caller a question only a family member knows the answer to.
These are just a few of many scams, of course. Coming up we’ll have a look at other typical scams, how to arm your parents against them and what to do if your parents have been scammed. You can also learn more about the variety of scams out there at stopseniorscams.org/
Three ways to look out for your parents’ finances
December 8th, 2010We’ve discussed tactics for talking to parents about their finances but we all know that it can be unwise to even approach this super-sensitive topic. There are ways, though, that adult children can watch out for parents while minding their own business. Here’s a review of some things to consider.
Ask yourself how savvy your parents are and what their values are
You can help your parents avoid problems by simply asking yourself how smart they are when it comes to personal finances. Some questions to consider:
Help them find money they might not even want
Many of our parents grew up in an era when self-sufficiency wasn’t just a matter of pride but an absolute necessity. And many of them are capital-C Conservative and frown on people receiving “government handouts.” However, in the end, few people refuse free money. I’ve heard of numerous people come to accept that they’ve “earned” their monthly pension cheques after paying into the Canada Pension Plan all their lives.
Similarly, there are other government benefits that the elderly probably would learn to accept. However, the money needs to be available to them first. You can find out what additional benefits are available to your parents at CanadaBenefits.ca. For example, if they are on medication they may be entitled to tax breaks or benefits supplements but there are many other examples. For parents who are citizens of the US there is a similar website for them, Benefits Checkup.
In addition, there is a wealth of information provided by the Canadian government, if you have time to wade through it. The following lists some relevant sites and information:
Teach them to say “no” to strangers
As we all know, the elderly are often targeted by the variety of ruthless swindlers out there and this variety is increasing with the proliferation of technology. Since many of our parents are online, you need to advise them about the multitude of online scams. To fully deal with this properly, we’ll write a separate post on that subject alone, soon.
Suffice it to say, though, that you need to assure your parents that it is good advice to say “no” to strangers, whether they are on the phone, at the door, or on email.
Talking About Your Parents’ Finances
November 25th, 2010
When families get together during the holidays, adult children’s concerns about their aging parents can deepen. And while our parents’ health is usually our biggest concern, their finances are often not far behind.
Our parents’ finances are usually none of our business…except when they become so. Just ask a friend of mine whose mother has made some very bad financial investments. My friend is helping her mother pay back tens of thousands of dollars of debt while also chipping in to support her from one month to the next. The Toronto Star reported last year about many elderly Torontonians bilked out of considerable investment money by someone they thought they could trust. In the past, we at Comfort Life have covered other tales of elderly parents and financial woes, such as the story of a woman from Arizona who found that her dad had racked up $30,000 of debt in a few short months. He had lived well beyond his means, leaving her to straighten out the financial mess.
Overcome the generation gap
Suffice it to say that there are many different ways that parents’ finances can go horribly wrong. And it’s likely not helpful to assume that everyone is on the same page. A US survey in October concluded that 63 percent of elderly parents thought their kids knew about their finances but only 42 percent of adult children agreed.
Do you think you might need to know your parents’ financial business? What can you do to avoid problems like those listed above? How do you find out what you really need to know about your parents’ money? When I wrote about this several years ago, my dad got mad at me, even though I had only mentioned him in passing. How do you approach the subject without causing undue conflict?
Here are five things to consider if you think you should approach the subject of finances with your parents:
Pick the right representative. In every family there is one child best suited to broach this subject. Perhaps that child is the one closest to the parent or perhaps there is another child better suited to discuss financial matters. In our family, this was an older sister who was well trusted by my dad and who had also spent many years as a bookkeeper for a small company in her hometown. She was the ideal person to gain access to my dad’s financial affairs.
Choose this representative wisely and have only one child approach the subject once. If it doesn’t go well, you’ll have to try a different tack. But even if it goes badly, the conversation might still plant a seed that will blossom into openness at some time in the future.
Appeal to their sense of responsibility. Elderly parents who have lived through the Depression, the hardship of World War II or immigration (or all of the above!) will have a strong sense of fiscal responsibility. Appealing to their responsibilities toward you and their grandchildren “after they’re gone” might be a good way to get them to share with you what plans they have, and for you to gage how sound those plans are.
Try talking about yourself first. Cheryl J Sherrard, a financial consultant in Charlotte, NC., rightly notes that for many elderly people, “money is a very private thing. Being independent and able to control these things themselves is very important.”
She recommends that it can be tactful for kids of elderly parents to try a “show and tell” process. Talk about your own estate plans then ask them what they think. “Instead of being perceived as prying into their lives, you are asking them for advice. Sometimes these conversations can open up the door to a new level of communication with your parents, one that is based on the sharing of important information in a very nonthreatening manner,” says Sherrard.
Find a financial advisor they will trust possibly without them knowing about it, and hire him or her to talk to your parents. Sherrard writes, “As an unbiased third party, the advisor can discuss many of the issues your parents face in the normal course of their relationship with them.”
Choose a time wisely. The upcoming holidays might seem like an opportune time but trying to broach a subject like this during a family gathering might be one of the worst mistakes you could make. After the party’s over and things have settled down, possibly after a glass of wine together, with just you and your parent, you might want to start a conversation, “There’s something I want to ask you, dad, and I know it’s a very sensitive area….”
Be deeply sensitive, though. Don’t even raise the subject if you are not sensitive to every nuanced turn that the conversation might take.
Good luck.
And have great holiday with your parents first!
(This article revisits an issue the author discussed over two years ago, for a newsletter on Your Parents’ Finances)
