In our last post we talked about how Elder Fraud is sadly on the rise. In this post we want to give you a heads up about specific types of fraud to look out for.
Scams to watch out for from strangers:
- Fake prizes and sweepstakes
- Too good to be true investments
- Donations to phony charities
- Dishonest home and auto repairs
- Predatory loans and mortgages
- Insurance: health, funeral and life
- Bogus health remedies
- Travel scams
Fraud from family members or caregivers can be:
- simply taking the elder’s money, property or valuables
- borrowing money (sometimes repeatedly) and not paying it back
- denying services or medical care to conserve funds
- giving away or selling the elder’s possessions without permission
- signing or cashing pension or social security checks without permission
- misusing ATM or credit cards, or using them without permission
- doling out the elder’s money to family or friends
- forcing the elder to part with resources or sign over property
In addition, family members and caregivers can try to exploit legal documents such as:
- joint bank accounts
- deed or title transfer
- power of attorney or durable power of attorney
- living trusts and wills
As with so many issues, education and awareness is the key to stopping the rise of these terrible crimes. The more people who know about such things and can help look out for scams, the better.
In our next post, we’ll look at questions to ask your elder family members or neighbors to see if someone might be trying to take advantage of them.
Please share this with anyone you think could benefit from this information.