By Andrea Ferkingstad Kuhl, President of Catholic United Financial Credit Union
It’s almost always unexpected. Someone calls you out of the blue to tell you that you’ve won money in a contest. Or they claim there’s a warrant out for your arrest. It might be an email from a big tech company telling you that your computer has a virus, or from a bank claiming that you owe them money. They want you to act immediately to solve the problem. They demand you give them your personal information, such as an account number or password. The problem is, there is no money owed, no prize, warrant or virus. These are scam artists, and they are costing seniors billions of dollars every year.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), there’s a concerning rise in financial crimes against Americans over the age 60. The FBI estimates that more than $3 billion was stolen by criminals from seniors in 2023. The average loss to the victims in those crimes was $33,000. Many of those seniors lost their life savings to these scams! Authorities are concerned because there’s an 11 percent rise in crimes against seniors between 2022 and 2023.
We need to put a stop to these crimes against seniors and the best way to do that is to spot the scam before you get taken in. I’m going to describe the different tactics involved in four of the most common scams, and the best ways to protect yourself.
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- Government Impersonation Scam
One of the top four scams that we hear at the Catholic United Financial Credit Union is the government impersonation scam. How does this scam work? You might get a phone call from someone pretending to be Social Security Administration, the IRS, Medicare or another government agency. The caller claims that your Social Security or Medicare will stop because they are missing information. They are going to ask you for your Social Security number or Medicare number to supposedly verify your account. They might even claim to be a police officer or FBI agent and threaten you with arrest for an outstanding warrant! The first key to recognizing these government impersonation scammers — and its true of a lot of these scams — is these phone calls are unexpected. Government agencies like the Social Security Administration are not going to call you. They are too busy to make phone calls. They are going to contact you by mail, not by phone. The caller is going to demand payment from you to solve whatever problem they claim you have. They are going to ask for a debit card number, bank account, or a wire transfer. They will ask for personal information, like date of birth, Social Security number, a bank account, or something else that is personally identifiable to you. Don’t give this information out on an unexpected call like this. Then, the caller tells you that this is confidential. They don’t want you to involve anyone else or talk to anyone about the situation. The matter is urgent, and it needs to be resolved immediately between you and them and no one else. Don’t believe it.
- Sweepstakes, Charity or Lottery Scam
The second type of scam is the sweepstakes, charity or lottery scam. You might receive a call, mailing or email from some entity claiming to be a state lottery official, possibly a local charity, that states you’ve won a contest that you never entered. There’s a catch to getting your prize; you have to send them money first to pay a processing fee or cover the taxes associated with your prize. In reality, you haven’t won anything and it’s all a scam to take advantage of you.
- Confidence, Romance, or Grandparent Scam
The third type of scam is really heartbreaking. It is a scam labelled confidence, romance, or grandparent scam by authorities. A criminal pretends to be a child or grandchild away at college or living overseas, or in the military. They call or text the grandparent claiming to need help because they’re in jail or need money because of an emergency. All they need is a credit card number or wire transfer or Venmo transfer right now. Don’t be fooled by such a heartless criminal.
- Tech Support Scam
The final type of scam I’ll share in this article is one that traps a lot of people, the tech support scam. This one hits close to home because members of my family have fallen victim to this scam. It starts with a call from someone saying they represent a legitimate tech company, such as Microsoft, Apple or Google. They claim that there’s something wrong with your computer or phone. For example, they might claim that your computer is infected with a virus. They want you to give them permission to “remote” into your computer – essentially take it over – so they can fix the problem. Never let someone do this who calls you unexpectedly. Never give people passwords over the phone to fix a computer problem. They are always criminals trying to steal your identity. If they demand money to fix the problem, hang up. If you suspect that they have accessed your computer or device, shut it down and pull out all of the cords. Take it to a local computer repair shop that you trust and have it scanned for viruses. If you think a password has been compromised, change your passwords immediately to stop authorized access.
