Every year millions of seniors lose money, sometimes a lot of money, to scams. Seniors who are easily confused are no match for scammers who have a list of sophisticated ruses that they use to convince seniors that their family members are in trouble and need money or that the seniors need to pay money for outstanding bills. There are more than a dozen scams that seem to target seniors both online and on the phone. Congress has passed some legislation to help police and the FBI prosecute people who scam seniors but that won’t give seniors their money back after they have been victimized. According to experts some things that you can do to protect your senior loved one from scams are:
Have Caregivers Answer The Phone
You can cut phone scammers off before they start by having companion care at home answer the phone when they are with your parents. You can also answer the phone yourself if you are with your parents. When caregivers answer the phone they can decide if the person has any real reason to talk with your parent. If not the caregiver can tell them not to call again and hang up. Companion care at home can also help protect your senior loved ones when they are online by monitoring their online activities and their social media accounts. If someone sends your senior parent a Facebook message claiming to be a relative that needs money your parent’s caregiver can block and report that account.
Get Added To Your Senior Parent’s Accounts
Have your senior parent add you to their bank accounts and credit accounts. This way you will have access to the transaction histories of those accounts and you will have full access to the account without having to get a Power of Attorney or other legal authorization. When you are an authorized user on the account you can see where the money is going, restrict payments, and even move money into other accounts if you need to. If your parent’s bank account is compromised being able to get the money out quickly could thwart any attempts to steal that money.
Set Up Banking Alerts
Banking alerts can be set to let you know every time there is a withdrawal or payment made. Alerts will also let you know if there is any suspicious activity on your account. You can also enable two factor authentication on the accounts for extra security. That might make it more difficult for your parents to use their accounts, but it will keep them safer.
Switch to Pre-Paid Cards
Pre-paid debit cards are fantastic for seniors. You can load the card from your senior loved one’s account so that your parent will be able to go shopping or buy the things they want or pay bills but there won’t be enough money on there to be attractive to thieves. And if anyone steals the card information and tried to withdraw money they won’t be able to because the card will only have a small amount of money available on it.
Sources:
https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/elder-fraud
https://www.consumerreports.org/elder-fraud/ways-to-stop-senior-citizen-scams/