IMAGINE: Imagine no possessions/ I wonder if you can/ No need for greed or hunger/ A brotherhood of man.
A good friend recently was scammed of $20,000. Ouch! It’s a national scam and it preys on people’s fear. Although several people, including myself, questioned her panic need for cash, our concerns couldn’t penetrate the layer of fear the scammers set up; she was to stay in phone contact with them at all times, wasn’t to talk to anyone, was to send the money in the way they specified and immediately OR . . .
In this case my friend was late paying her taxes and was scheduled to meet with her accountant that very week. The scammer said they were with the IRS and unless she paid immediately (that day) she would be arrested and jailed. Now, you and I see right through this tale of deceit but a lot of people haven’t and are being victimized. My friend is now connected with the State Fraud department and a question that comes up is whether someone in the IRS system is feeding the scammers with inside information or have they hacked into the system? Was it purely accidental that they called my friend at the time they did? Sounds like a TV who-dunnit.
As you might suspect, elders are consistently targeted. In general they tend to be more trusting and vulnerable. When I discovered years ago that my elderly aunt was being contacted on a regular basis by scammers, I attempted to logically enlighten her to no avail. I asked her why she believed a stranger over the phone rather than her niece who had her welfare at heart. We had always had a good, loving relationship. She wanted to believe the stranger who promised her riches and she was naively trusting. I called Attorney Generals in three different states but no help was forthcoming then. I learned that scammers networked across the country, sharing their list of hot prospects. My aunt was hot!
In the case of my friend, retired from positions of responsible professional employment, she was certain her caller was legitimate even when this was questioned by multiple people including the banker who gave her the cash. Not only was she trusting, she was in bondage to the fears the scammer created in her mind. The power of fear.
That same day I received two email scams, one purportedly generated by my bank. 60 Minutes had just done a segment on credit card hackers (think Target and Home Depot) and I asked the banker about credit cards with chips. She turned around a display on her desk with new credit cards ready to go but explained that businesses are not equipped to handle the new cards. The only solution for now is to change your password every 3-4 months. I think we need to do more, e.g., we need to contact our newspaper, local TV (I’ve been told that CBS did call attention to the IRS scam) and radio stations (think NPR) and AARP about running regular columns devoted to identifying current scams and inviting the reading, watching, listening audience to share their experiences. Other ideas?
Lyrics: You may say I’m a dreamer/ but I’m not the only one/ I hope someday you’ll join us/ and the world will live as one. (Imagine by John Lennon)
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Barb,
How poignant to quote John Lennon on the anniversary of his passing…
I caught something of the story above on the news – so frustrating that there are people out there preying upon the fears of others, and especially our elders!
I think that social media might also play a part in getting the word out about scams, but it is also often used to perpetuate mistruths as well.
Thanks for writing about such an important topic! Never too many reminders.
Tim
Oh, this happened to my Mom many times. Luckily she had a suspicious nature, even when she was driven to be polite to a total stranger. My sister was instrumental in giving her the line “Oh, I’ll have to call my daughter to give me a ride to the bank, I don’t drive any more.” Then she’d give a time for them to call back. Then she would call my sister, have her come over, after calling the phone company and the police to have then listen in, and then my sister was the one who answered the phone. Chatted long enough for the phone # to be traced. It did keep them from calling back at least for a while and then she’d get on their list again and they would have to go through the process again. It kept mom feeling like she was nice and that Marti was the one who had to tell them no and be the bad guy. And she was happy not to send them any money.
Troublesome, annoying and yes, fear invoking. It pays off often enough that I don’t see it going away. I’m just hoping that the message gets through to enough people to protect as many as possible.