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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.” After she made the transfer, her bank called her to inform her the check was fake.
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.
The AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline issued an alert regarding a number of scams which are hitting seniors in wealthy pockets of Monterey County like Carmel and Pebble Beach. Here are some examples of phone call scams you don’t want to fall for:
Hear these words? Hang up!
Source: AARP Bulletin
The AARP Has been great at tracking the latest scams all across the nation and letting us know what to look out for. Although not new, people who call saying they are asking on behalf of organizations such as the National Save The Police Fund which make you believe they are a charity are actually scamming us. They aren’t a charity. According to AARP The Magazine, March/April 2022 Issue, page 74) many of these organizations are actually “independent, expenditure-only” political action committees, or PACs. Super PACs generally are regulated by the Federal Election Committee (FEC) which scrutinizes spending of these organizations very little. This is unlike a typical charity which has to register with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to become a 501 (c) 3. According to Nomorobo, a robocall-blocking company that works with AARP on fraud prevention, at the end of 2021, robocalls raising money for police groups were the highest volume phone messages in most major U.S. markets.
Wired Magazine recently reminded us how easily seniors can be scammed out of their hard-earned money. One woman picked up the phone and was told by the caller, “Someone has access to your bank accounts through Amazon, and they can take all your money. I’m calling to help.” Having been cooped up in her house for weeks as she recovered from COVID-19, she was extremely anxious. The man said he needed information to make sure her money was safe. She was transferred to another man who directed her to download an app so he could see what was happening on her screen. Foolishly, the woman followed the man’s instructions to download Cash App, PayPal, Coinbase and set up a Zelle account. In a matter of hours, the scammer had taken her social security number, date of birth, driver’s license number and about $11,000.
The AARP Fraud Watch Network has received numerous complaints from seniors who have fallen victim to what they are calling the “Hot Item Scam.” This is where scammers advertise hard-to-find items using keywords like “Nike sneakers latest edition” or “Xbox,” taking your credit card number and not shipping the item. If you are lucky, you can get the charge reversed by your credit card company. But some scammers do this very quickly, closing their merchant account so it is hard for your bank to retrieve the funds.
Elder abuse scams are in abundance during the holidays, and residents of wealthy areas of Monterey including Carmel, Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach are always prime targets. The latest elder abuse scam to emerge is GoFundMe scams where there is some sort of tragedy and family of the victims start a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to get through it. Unfortunately, the people behind the GoFundMe campaigns are imposters.
There was a sad story in The New York Times recently about how some fundraisers—including many politicians—trick people (particularly senior citizens) into donating more than they want to. The story profiled Steve Vaughn, who started to go through his fathers bank statement after he died and was shocked to see 400 donations totaling more than $11K over just a four month period. There were donations to Donald J. Trump, Mitch McConnell, Tim Scott, Steve Scalise and many others. There were notes with the bank statements showing the 90-year old had repeatedly try to dispute the charges with his credit card company—all to no avail. Here is how the scam works. Fundraisers will call you and ask you for a donation and once you agree, they will enter them into the system as a recurring payment. Instead of taking a fixed amount, say $100, out of your account, they will take out $100 every month or sometimes every week. They are hoping people aren’t diligent about going over their bank statements, so pay attention! Many of them are targeting high-income areas of Monterey County like Carmel, Pacific Grove & Pebble Beach.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/26/us/politics/recurring-donations-seniors.html
There was a sad story in The New York Times recently about how some fundraisers—including many politicians—trick people (particularly senior citizens) into donating more than they want to. The story profiled Steve Vaughn, who started to go through his fathers bank statement after he died and was shocked to see 400 donations totaling more than $11K over just a four month period. There were donations to Donald J. Trump, Mitch McConnell, Tim Scott, Steve Scalise and many others. There were notes with the bank statements showing the 90-year old had repeatedly try to dispute the charges with his credit card company—all to no avail. Here is how the scam works. Fundraisers will call you and ask you for a donation and once you agree, they will enter them into the system as a recurring payment. Instead of taking a fixed amount, say $100, out of your account, they will take out $100 every month or sometimes every week. They are hoping people aren’t diligent about going over their bank statements, so pay attention! Many of them are targeting high-income areas of Monterey County like Carmel, Pacific Grove & Pebble Beach.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/26/us/politics/recurring-donations-seniors.html
Carmel, Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach are habitual hotspots for financial elder abuse because residents tend to be high-income. AARP The Magazine recently had a great article which talked about how to avoid these scams. Studies have shown that each of us lies several times a day. They are mostly innocuous—“I’m on my way” is the most common lie that people tell when they are actually watching TV or cleaning the house. Every scam requires us to believe in a lie—whatever that may be. The reporter interviews a retired investment advisor who had lost $900,000 to investment scams over five years. How can this be? He said that he had spent his entire professional life working with honest folks who routinely told the truth, as he did. He just assumed everyone was like him and his colleagues and couldn’t imagine there were people who could look you straight in the eye and lie. How sad, but there are many people out there like that.