San Jose & Santa Clara County Home Care

Throughout history there have been con artists, snake oil salesmen and various forms of nefarious tricksters out there trying to bilk honest people out of their hard earned money.  They are the one’s our parents warned us about. Is it possible that those same parents might fall for their tricks themselves?

It’s hard to come to grips with the idea that our parents are getting older let alone that they might be vulnerable.  These are our parents, they were all knowing and invincible while we were growing up. They know all the tricks, I mean they handled us when we tried them… right? But could it be possible that they would fall victim to the ever growing and increasingly deceptive forms of mail fraud, telephone scams and online financial predation?  According to the US Postal Service, it’s more than possible, it’s likely.

I was talking to one of my relatives recently about her father and how when she was growing up he was very “tight” with his money.  He was a very intelligent, well educated and savvy man.  But, she told me, once he got older he also became more gullible.  When she eventually took over his accounts she found that he had been sending THOUSANDS of dollars to various sweepstake scams truly believing that he would become a millionaire.  They would send him “checks” that looked genuine, but were worthless.  They promised him money if he sent them personal information, including his bank account number, and he did it!  They asked for him to pay fees to “ensure” that he won.  Eventually he was getting hundreds of these letters a WEEK from all over the world.  He never won a dime. This sounds amazing and uncommon, but I have done some poking around and it isn’t as rare as you might think.

According to the US Postal Inspectors website their office alone arrests over 1000 suspects each year (That’s almost THREE A DAY!) for mail fraud and they are only ONE of the many federal agencies  who do.  It makes you wonder how many people are arrested by all of those agencies combined.  They go on to say that because of the shame and embarrassment that the elderly feel after falling for these scams, they don’t report the crime, even to their families. This is what the predators are counting on.

“Although people 60 and older account for 26 percent of all telemarketing fraud victims, 60 percent of people in that age group are victims of prize or sweepstakes fraud.”[1]  What? I can’t help but think of those ads with the ecstatic people answering their doors to a smiling game show host wielding balloons and a big check. Even I have stuck those little stamps on those mailers and returned them, hoping and dreaming.  But I never did buy any of their books.  Those ads do give these pseudo “opportunities” an air of legitimacy.

What can we do?  It is so hard to make the decision to “parent your parents.”  I guess the way you approach the subject depends on the relationship that you have with that parent.  Are you close, candid and honest? In that case maybe showing them a few pamphlets from your local post office would be a good start. (Sounds like “The Talk” doesn’t it?).  Or is your parent too proud and independent to accept your advice without being insulted?  If that Is the case maybe starting a conversation about a “friend” who fell for one of these schemes… or an article that you read about it. This way it wouldn’t be directed at your parent. Be careful though!  If you display too much disdain for the victims your parent might just try harder to hide the fact that they too are sending these creeps their life savings.

Have any thoughts or experiences with scams? Share them with us below or on our Caregiver Forum. 

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