Monthly Archives: September 2009

Be Rude With Some People

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As the Times Journal advises, Be Skeptical, Be Rude – Don’t Be a Victim

Each year, nearly 25 million Americans are victims of consumer fraud. Senior citizens are more at risk of telemarketing scams than any other age group. Fraudulent telemarketers direct 56 to 80 percent of their calls at older adults.

Evidence indicates that offenders believe older people have more assets and are more susceptible to excitement tactics or appeals to altruism. They have told police their ideal “mark” is an elderly person, who lives alone, with no contact with family members. They know that senior citizens will not give money or personal information to just any stranger. These experienced criminals have made a science of gaining the trust of older adults.

If a smooth talker wants to keep talking and you are concerned about his or her motives, cut the call quickly or even just hang up the telephone.  Follow up some of the principles involved in Assertiveness Training and stay in control of the conversation.  One trick is to have a short phrase that is easy to say, which is guaranteed, when repeated several times, to cause the caller to end the call. That could for example be “This is not for me.”

Scam artists are experts in establishing rapport to steal seniors’ money. There are a variety of approaches including:

  • You have won a prize, but must pay to receive it;
  • Great deals that need immediate payment with no written information;
  • Requests for donations for mysterious charities;
  • Calls from the supposed police, FBI or bank officials asking for “help” and your personal information.

Criminals assume that senior citizens will not report the crime to law enforcement officials because they will be ashamed of being victimized.  They also worry that concerned family members will take control of their finances.

Recognizing scammers is important and you then should report them to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.  This is critical to protect others. When you report a scammer, you help the police prosecute them and this stops the scammer from stealing from someone else.

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Seniors Living Together

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Living together is increasingly the choice of the growing 50s and 60s crowd.

The most recent census figures suggest that older couples have little incentive to get married. There are big increases in the number of people over 50 in common-law unions, with the most significant growth in the early 60s crowd. At the same time, the practice is in decline among the 20 and 30-somethings.

Experts say that given more liberal social attitudes, a larger number of divorced and the lack of financial incentive to marry, many older Canadians simply don’t feel the need to marry.

Between 2001 and 2006, the most recent year for census data, the number of Canadians in common-law relationships shot up 77 per cent among those aged 60 to 64 and between 44 and 64 per cent for all other age groups over 50.

A US publication suggests that Cohabiting Seniors Should Protect Their Rights.

If you and your partner plan to live together without getting married, you can take a number of steps to ensure that you are protected and your wishes are followed in the event of ill health or death.

  • Sign a cohabitation agreement.
  • Provide access to health care decision making.
  • Sign a durable power of attorney.
  • Update your will.
  • Think about the tax consequences of gifts.
  • Look into registering as domestic partners.

This is an important checklist for seniors living together to consider, whatever the country they are living in.

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Cheque Over-Payment Scam

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The Cheque Over-Payment Scam is the main topic in the Canadian Banking Association Fraud Prevention Tip monthly newsletter just received.  Their Safeguarding Your Money web page has an e-mail link by which you can subscribe to the newsletter.

The cheque over-payment scam is also known as advanced payment fraud. The scam usually begins with a letter or e-mail asking for assistance cashing a cheque. The details behind the request may vary – some scammers may ask for help securing an unclaimed inheritance, others may name you a winner in a lottery you don’t remember entering or they may offer to buy something you are selling online or through a newspaper ad.

Regardless of the details, all will send a cheque, all will ask you to cash it in your own bank account, all will request a certain portion of the money be returned to the sender, and all will offer to let you keep the difference for your trouble.

An Australian government website details how the scam proceeds.

The scammer will invent an excuse for the overpayment. For example, the scammer might tell you that the extra money is meant to cover the fees of an agent or extra shipping costs. The scammer might just say that it was a mistake they made when they wrote the cheque.

The scammer will then ask you to refund the excess amount—usually through an online banking transfer or a wire transfer (such as Western Union). The scammer is hoping that you will do this before you discover that their cheque has bounced. You will have lost the money you paid into their account, and if you have already sent the item you were selling, you will lose this as well.

The RCMP warns that this scam is very prevalent at the moment:

Numerous complaints have been received recently of counterfeit cheques and the overpayment scam being used to entice sellers on online markets to accept these cheques as payment for items they are selling.

Perhaps the most surprising confirmation of this was an apparently genuine offer to buy tutoring services from me that has just ended as I write this post.  Lo and behold the final message from John Hill [j.hill1200@yahoo.com] of London read as follows (typos included)

Hello,
Thanks for your message. I would be more than happy if you can handle Paul, my son, very well for me because is all I have left ever since his mother died four years ago. Payment for the lessons will be made upfront like I told you and will be by Certified Cashier’s Cheque. In view of this I will need you to email me the information required to send the payment as I will not like to send the payment to a wrong location.

I have contacted my business associate that he should make my funds available in payment of some farm equipment I supplied to him. He assured me he would make the payment (Cashier’s cheque) available and send you the cheque. I also want to let you know that the payment is a bit more than the cost for the six month lessons. So please, as soon as you receive the check I will like you to deduct the money  that accrues to the cost of lessons and you will assist me to send the rest balance to my cousin. I would have asked my associate to issue two separate checks, one for you and the rest to my cousin but like I told you that my cousin is currently in europe with my son and will not be able to cash a check drawn from Canada bank. The remaining balance will cover the funds for Paul and my cousin’s flight expenses down to Canada, also to cover his living expenses over there and to buy the necessary materials needed for the lessons. I think, I should be able to trust you with the remaining balance? Am also ready to compensate you with additional $100 for the extra services you are doing for me. I will give you the details of my cousin that you will send the  balance of the money as soon as you receive the cheque. Here are some of the details I will need for final assurance of the payment to you.

Needless to say that was the end of that attempted cheque over-payment scam.

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