Scams are an unfortunate part of our reality. From IRS scams to romance scams, there are more ways than ever for unsavory characters to steal your hard earned money.
This fact is even more sobering when it comes to seniors. Even in seniors that are aging normally without any dementia condition, their aging brains put them at much higher risk of being scammed. It is estimated that seniors lose close to $3 billion each year to scams. One of the most important ways this risk can be lessened is by keeping seniors, their loved ones, and care professionals up to date on the most prevalent scams. In 2020, we find ourselves in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seniors are one of the populations considered at-risk of serious consequences from contracting the virus. This increased fear and the general lifestyle changes caused by COVID-19 have led to new ways for scammers to take advantage of older adults.
In this post, we will share the top 5 current scams that are targeting seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide some advice for staying safe from these new and devastating scams.
Contact Tracing Scams
What’s The Scam?
Contact tracing is the process of identifying people who have come in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. The purpose is to warn these people that they should quarantine themselves and continuously monitor their symptoms. Contact tracing is understood to play an essential role in stopping the spread of COVID-19. A real contact tracer is someone hired by the state department of public health. They work with an infected individual to get names and contact information for people that the infected individual came into close contact with while infectious. This information is kept in an online system, and the contact tracer never asks the individuals that they contact for personal information such as bank or Social Security information.
Currently, scammers are sending text messages pretending to be contact tracers. Most of these texts will include a link that you are asked to click. A key difference between fraudulent and legitimate contact tracing texts is that real contact tracing only texts to inform you that they will be calling. They will never ask you to click on a link.
Clicking the false links in these text messages can download software onto your device, giving scammers access to your personal information. They may also follow up and directly ask for bank account numbers, social security number, or other important personal information.
Why it Works
By using official language, scammers rely on a sense of authority to convince victims to trust them. Since contact tracing is a real and legitimate strategy being employed by state governments, seniors may have heard the term before, which further creates a false sense of comfort.
What You Can Do
Never provide bank information or other personal information, such as your social security number, to someone through text message. Your phone or wireless provider may also have options to filter or block unknown senders or spam. When in doubt, ask them to call you or share the text with a trusted loved one to get their opinion. There are very few circumstances where clicking a link through an unsolicited text message.
Stimulus Check Scams
What’s the Scam?
By now, most Americans have received a stimulus payment from the government in response the the economic hardship caused by the coronavirus outbreak. If you have not yet received your check, you can use the IRS tool to determine your eligibility and when you may get paid. Although the first round of stimulus payments have mostly been distributed, it is possible that the American public may see additional financial aid coming through in the following weeks or months. Therefore, scammers still have an opportunity to prey upon seniors hoping for some financial relief.
Scammers have been posing as IRS or other government entities to convince individuals that they need personal information such as bank account numbers, social security numbers, or government benefit card information. Typically, they will inform the contacted individual that their stimulus check is ready, but additional information is necessary to process the transaction. They might also claim that a fee must be paid in order to get the money, which is a common lie in financial scams.
Why it Works
Many seniors are living in a time of financial uncertainty. If they owe money due to a mortgage or other bills and their livelihood has been effected by the coronavirus, they may be counting on the stimulus money to get by. Using visceral rewards such as money is one way that scammers bypass critical thinking and cause seniors to act on impulse.
What You Can Do
Remember that the IRS will never contact you via text message, email, or social media with information about your stimulus check. There are no fees associated with the stimulus benefit and anyone asking you to pay a fee or return a portion of the deposited money is a scammer. Using the IRS tool is the best way to track your check and anyone contacting you directly regarding the check through one of the methods mentioned above should be blocked.
Testing Kit Scams
What’s the Scam?
With all of the uncertainty about who might be a COVID-19 carrier and the fact that people can carry the infection without actively showing symptoms, it would be very nice if there was a convenient way to test yourself for the infection at home. Unfortunately, there are no home-based tests at this time. This hasn’t stopped scammers from offering them, however.
Currently, scammers are contacting individuals by phone, email, or text message to offer COVID-19 testing kits. It has also been reported that some of these scammers are attempting to sell fake at-home testing kits door to door. The primary purpose of this scam is simply to get individuals to send the scammers money. However, there is another variant of this scam in which the scammer will post as a government official stating that the individual is required to take a COVID-19 test. In these cases, the scammer will often ask for your health insurance information, such as Medicare or Social Security numbers. They will then use this information to bill insurance for services that were not actually rendered and keep the reimbursement.
Why it Works
Seniors are especially at risk of this scam and similar scams due to personal and emotional factors. Rather than focusing on the economic anxiety of the situation, scammers are preying upon senior’s desire to prove that they are healthy so that they may have contact with loved ones such as grandchildren. Seniors are also aware that they are an at-risk population when it comes to severe consequences from COVID-19 infection, so their physical health is likely a constant concern during this period of time.
What You Can Do
The most important thing someone can do to avoid falling prey to scams related to tests and other health-related products is to stay informed about the current status of COVID-19 testing and treatment by using official sources such as the CDC. Currently there are no at-home test kits that have been approved for public use. Anyone offering to sell you a test-kit is most likely attempting to scam you.
Charity Scams
What’s the Scam?
During this period of collective hardship, many legitimate charities have popped up. Examples of real charities that you may come across include charities providing personal protective equipment to healthcare workers and those sending money directly to individuals financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, during times of increased aid, scammers often ramp up their efforts to swindle honest people out of their money.
Fake charity scammers may contact you in a variety of ways including pre-recorded robocalls, email, or text message. These scammers will either make up their own official sounding charity name or use the name of a real existing charity to earn your trust. They might ask for for direct donations or personal information such as bank account info.
Why it Works
By using the names of real charities and sometimes going as far as to create official looking websites or letterhead, charity scammers create the illusion of authority, which can make seniors overlook warning signs that the charity may not be legitimate. The fact that there are also many new charities related to coronavirus that have been created also means that it can be hard to keep track of which are real.
What You Can Do
It is very rare that a real charity will ever send you a confusing robocall. If you get a robocall, you can just ignore it. If you receive another form of communication from a charity, take the time to do some research before deciding to send them your money. Use an online search engine to search the charity name. You can also use watchdog groups such as Charity Watch or Charity Navigator to look up their information.
Typically, real charities will request money but will not be mean or pushy with you. If you are pushed to make an immediate decision about donating money, this could be a warning sign. You can always ask them to call back another time, which would give you time to research the legitimacy of the organization.
Lastly, watch out for the payment method that the charity is asking for. A legitimate charity will never ask you to purchase some form of gift card or ask for information to make a wire transfer.
Fake Cure Scams
What’s the Scam?
The coronavirus is scary, deadly, and inconvenient. Of course people are yearning for a cure or some effective means to prevent the virus from infecting themselves and their loved ones. This has lead to a huge influx of fake and unproven treatments for the coronavirus. These are sometimes marketed through email or regular post. They have also become extremely prevalent on social media sites such as Facebook. Advertisements might tout essential oils, teas, colloidal silver, or intravenous vitamin C as cures or proven ways to prevent the virus. Add to this the rampant misinformation and conspiracy theories that have been circulating regarding COVID-19 and it’s no wonder that these scams are so effective.
Why it Works
As with the testing kits, seniors are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 cure scams due to their status as an at-risk population. With their physical health at risk, they are very motivated to find something that can protect themselves from the threat. Visceral motivators such as physical health can tap into the more primitive parts of the aging brain to cause seniors to make decisions based on fear rather than logic.
What You Can Do
There are currently NO proven treatments or preventative measures for COVID-19. Current treatments are aimed at managing symptoms and helping someone ride out the infection. Further, many of the unproven cures that are advertised online may actually cause harm, especially in seniors. If you have a question about a treatment or supplement that you see, call your doctor before purchasing. Also keep in mind that if there were a miracle cure or prevention method for this virus, the numbers would be much lower than they are now.
Conclusion
Scams are nothing new. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, scammers are finding new opportunities to prey upon our fears and uncertainties to take away our money and other resources. Seniors are especially vulnerable, whether or not they have memory problems or other age-related issues.
To learn more about why aging causes people to become more easily scammed, check out our brand new online course, Scams and the Aging Brain.
In this three-lesson course, licensed neuropsychologist, Erik Lande, Ph.D., covers how scams work, why normal aging increases scam risk, how to help someone who has been scammed, and how to prevent seniors from being scammed in the first place.
