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ARMED FORCES PENSIONERS
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/ANNUITANTS
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ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
Seniors Beware - The Scammers are Here!
Con artists have been around for
years, but new technology and societal
evolution have made their job – victim-
izing the unsuspecting public – much
easier.
Most money lost to fraud in
Canada is being lost by senior citizens.
Con artists target seniors more often
than others, for several reasons – in-
cluding the simple fact that seniors
tend to spend more time at home, often
alone. Being generally more trusting
than younger generations, seniors are
also prime targets for scams that de-
pend on emotion and impulse – sweep-
stakes scams, romance scams, and
emergency scams among them.
Whether fraud takes place online,
through postal mail, in person, or over
the phone, the result is the same – the
scammers walk away with the victim’s
money.
Phone Scams
In sweepstakes scams, the scam-
mer calls, insisting that you’ve won a
contest you never entered, and all you
need to do to qualify for this prize is
give them your credit card info, pay
taxes, or make a deposit. “80% of vic-
tims of the different prize scams are
over 60. It’s a fraud type where seniors
are way too heavily represented,” says
Daniel Williams, the Canadian Anti-
Fraud Centre (CAFC) media consult-
ant.
Another phone scam reported fre-
quently by seniors is the service scam.
Someone calls, or knocks on your
door, pretending to represent a com-
pany they do not – often a computer
software provider, utility company,
bank, or credit card company. They ask
for information, and use it to steal from
you or damage your property.
In situations where you feel pres-
sured to make an immediate decision,
be suspicious. Legitimate offers and re-
quests come from people who will let
you verify their information. If you’re
suspicious, contact the company di-
rectly, using a publicly available num-
ber. Never use a number the suspicious
caller offers.
Rarely, dead air calls are from a
scammers’ auto-dialer, checking if
you’re home to answer your telephone.
If you’re getting an unusual number of
dead-air calls, inform your local police.
The Grandchild Scam
These scammers call, and if an
older adult answers, they start by ex-
claiming “Grandma/Grandpa! I need
your help.”
Spinning an emergency story of
needing money, they beg the grandpar-
ent not to tell anyone else. The details
vary, but money usually has to be
transferred as soon as possible. “This
scam type’s been around for years and
it’s still very successful. It’s based on
emotion,” Williams says, which helps
scammers convince victims to send
money quickly – before having the
chance to stop and think. The CAFC
warns that public officials won’t ask
for money through a wire transfer –
this is a clear sign of fraud.
If you’re asked to transfer money
electronically to someone in an emer-
gency, always confirm their story be-
fore sending anything. A few phone
calls will bring you peace of mind, and
only delay your help a few minutes.
Door-to-Door Scams
Door-to-door scams are similar to
the telephone scams – a fake charity
representative, or too-pushy sales-per-
son will show up. They then try pres-
sure you into giving them money or
signing a contract. An honest person
collecting for a charity, or offering
products or services, wouldn’t be
pushy, rude, or promise something that
seems impossible.
Online Scams
Online phishing scams are turning
fraud into a mass-production industry.
By writing one well-worded email, or
creating one fake dating profile, a
scammer can defraud thousands of
people at once. One industrial-scale
online scam in 2014 was the romance
scam.
Romance scams heavily target the
recently widowed or divorced on legit-
imate dating sites. “The majority of
money being lost is by older adults. Of
2014’s nearly 14 million dollars in re-
ported losses to romantic fraud, over
10 million was by people between the
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