Pebble Beach, CA Elder Abuse Alert, Beware Of Fraudsters Asking You To Use CashApp, Venmo Or Zelle

An old woman with a bruised eye and hand on her face.


AARP has been great about tracking the latest scams tracking senior citizens, but a surprising number of people continue to fall for scams, mostly pitched over the phone.  First, I have a practice of using caller ID and won’t pick up the phone if I don’t recognize the caller.  This can screen out a lot of the potential scammers.  AARP says that historically fraud operators have tried to get your money in one of four ways—gift cards, wire transfers, cyber currency or cash.  These are all untraceable once you send them.  However, AARP says a fifth form of payment is on the rise, peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfer services like CashApp, Venmo or Zelle.  Beware of anyone asking you to send money using these apps.

Monterey, CA Elder Abuse Alert : Working From Home Scam

A pile of money sitting next to stacks of cash.


There are so many online scams to watch out for it just gives me a headache.  One of the latest discovered by AARP involved a woman who was offered a job that she could do from home.  They sent her a W-9 form and a check for $3,000.  After she deposited the check, she was instructed to transfer $1,900 via a Bitcoin ATM to “ensure their financial linkup was secure.â€Â  After she made the transfer, her bank called her to inform her the check was fake.

Carmel, CA Elder Abuse Alert : PayPal Scam

A pile of money sitting next to stacks of cash.


It never ceases to amaze me the crazy scams that seniors fall for.  We are always on the lookout for the newest, and one I had had not heard about before involves a bogus email which is supposedly coming from PayPal.  They tell you that there is an incorrect charge on your PayPal account and that you were overpaid and have to pay it back.  You are then texted a QR code and told to scan it in at an ATM and transfer the money.  The funds are then rerouted to a Bitcoin account which is untraceable and your money is now gone.

Pebble Beach, CA Elder Abuse Alert : Hacked Facebook Account

A woman holding her hands over the shoulder of another person.


There are too many elder abuse scams to count on all ten fingers, but if you pay attention and don’t give out any personal information or access to your bank accounts, you should be fine.  The latest one that AARP heard about was a woman who got a Facebook message, allegedly from her nephew, saying “Auntie.  I found this great investment. I’ve doubled my money.  She clicked on the link and invested $12,000 which was turned into BitCoin and vanished into the ether.  It turns out that her nephew’s Facebook account had been hacked and the fraudsters were sending out these messages to friends and family.

Monterey, CA Elder Abuse Alert : Working From Home Scam

A man helping an older woman walk with a cane.


There are so many online scams to watch out for it just gives me a headache.  One of the latest discovered by AARP involved a woman who was offered a job that she could do from home.  They sent her a W-9 form and a check for $3,000.  After she deposited the check, she was instructed to transfer $1,900 via a Bitcoin ATM to “ensure their financial linkup was secure.â€Â  After she made the transfer, her bank called her to inform her the check was fake.

Monterey, CA Elder Abuse Alert : Working From Home Scam

A woman and nurse talking to each other.


There are so many online scams to watch out for it just gives me a headache.  One of the latest discovered by AARP involved a woman who was offered a job that she could do from home.  They sent her a W-9 form and a check for $3,00.  After she deposited the check, she was instructed to transfer $1,900 via a Bitcoin ATM to “ensure their financial linkup was secure.â€Â  After she made the transfer, her bank called her to inform her the check was fake.

Monterey, CA Elder Abuse Victims Send Their Tormentor To Prison

A pile of money sitting next to stacks of cash.


John Lloyd Osborne IV, himself almost a senior at 64 years of age, was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of theft from an elderly person, one count of theft from a dependent adult, one count of forgery, one count of identity theft, one count of using fraud in the offer or sale of a security and one count of conspiracy to destroy evidence.  Back in 2006, Osborne solicited $250K from one elder victim to invest in a shell company that never did anything.  In 2010 and 2011, he used false pretenses to solicit $100K from one victim and $5,000 from another.  In 2015, he obtained power of attorney over a dependent adult who was unable to care for himself.  He refinanced the victim’s house and paid himself $250K.  Then in 2018, he sold the worthless company to someone else for $200K.  How brazen!  You would be amazed at how easily some seniors are scammed out of their life savings.

Pebble Beach, CA Elder Abuse Scams Available At AARP Website

A woman and an older person sitting on the couch


Residents of wealthy pockets of Monterey County like Carmel, Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach suffer from being prime targets for scammers, and you would be surprised at the number of people who fall for them and lose thousands of dollars.  Although we try to alert our clients on this blog as we become aware of them, there are just too many to track.  One useful tool to get real-time info on the latest fraud is to go to the interactive Scam-Tracking Map.  Go to www.aarp.org/scammap  and enter your zip code and it will pull up a list of frauds which have been reported to law enforcement and the AARP Fraud Watch Netwok Helpline.

Monterey, CA Elder Abuse Alert : FCC Targets Robocall Scammers

A pile of money sitting next to stacks of cash.


The Federal Communications Commission is accelerating rules aimed at curbing robocalls, many of which are scams targeting senior citizens. The requirements are focusing on “gateway providers,†which are smaller companies that move calls between larger networks. Scammers often use what is known as spoofing, which automatically picks a fake number in your area code. The rules will not allow this, as they require verification that the originating phone number shows up on caller ID.

Monterey, CA Elder Abuse Alert : Classic Car Part Scam

A silver bmw is parked on the street


With car week coming up in August, many Monterey County residents and car aficionados from around the country are sprucing up their classic cars to show off.  But beware if you are in need of a rare car part—make sure that you get it from a reputable dealer.  Scammers have been scouring craigslist and other ads looking for parts.  They will then tell you they have that exact part but after you send them the money you will never get the part.