Money transfer scams

There are many money transfer schemes where scammers convince older adults that a money transfer is required for a particular purpose.

• The lottery scam – a scammer convinces a senior that they have won a lottery but in order to claim their prize they must transfer/wire funds to cover taxes and/or fees.
• Accident scam – someone calls to say that an accident occurred and money is required to cover medical/doctor’s fees.
• Grandparent scam – a scammer calls an older adult claiming that they are the person’s grandchild in need of money to cover a crises situation.
• Charity scam – a call is received to support a (fake) charity. Many of these calls occur around holidays or when disasters occur.

Fraud

This occurs when someone is working with an older adult and gains access to their bank/brokerage accounts.

Internet Scams

There are various malicious software packages that have been developed by scammers including ones that warn of viruses that don’t exist and offer fake virus protection programs, actual viruses that steal account/password information, emails claiming that large sums of money are available for transfer into users’ accounts, etc.

Funeral and Cemetery Scams

Some less than reputable funeral homes charge grieving families fees for services or products that are not required.

Other scammers contact the families of recently deceased individuals and try to extort money claiming that the deceased had unpaid bills.

The thing that really shocked me was that the National Council on Aging found that relatives or friends commit over 90% of these crimes against older adults.