National Senior Fraud Awareness Day is observed on May 15 every year. Its objective is to raise awareness of fraudulent schemes older adults often fall prey to and lose enormous amounts of money due to financial fraud. The U.S. Congress declared the establishment of National Senior Fraud Awareness Day to promote awareness about and improvement of methods to ensure the safety of elderly U.S. residents. National Senior Fraud Awareness Day was established in 2018 and has remained an annual occurrence.

According to the National Council on Aging, in 2021, there were 92,371 older victims of fraud resulting in $1.7 billion in losses.  Fraudsters and con artists tend to go after older adults because they believe this population has plenty of money in the bank. Not only the wealthy seniors are targeted, older adults with low income are also at risk of fraud.

Financial scams often go unreported or can be tough to prosecute, so they’re viewed as a “low-risk” crime. However, they’re devastating to many older adults and can leave them in a vulnerable position, with limited ability to recover their losses.

The top five scams below account for over 65% of the complaints received.

1. Government Impersonation Scams – Typically these involve calls threatening the senior that they have unpaid taxes due or a threat that their Medicare benefits will terminated unless they provide sensitive personal information immediately.
2. Sweepstakes or Lottery Scams -Scammers call an older adult to tell them they’ve won a lottery or prize of some kind. If they want to claim their winnings, the older adult must send money, cash, or gift cards up front—sometimes thousands of dollars’ worth—to cover supposed taxes and processing fees.
3. Robocalls and Phone Scams – A common example is the “Can you hear me?” call. When the older person says “yes,” the scammer records their voice and hangs up. The criminal then has a voice signature to authorize unwanted charges on items like stolen credit cards.
4. Computer Tech Support Scams – A pop-up message or blank screen usually appears on a computer or phone, telling the victim their device is damaged and needs fixing. When they call the support number for help, the scammer may either request remote access to the older person’s computer and/or demand they pay a fee to have it repaired
5. The Grandparent Scam – Scammers call a would-be grandparent and say something along the lines of: “Hi, Grandma, do you know who this is?” When the unaware grandparent guesses the name of the grandchild the scammer most sounds like, the scammer is able to instantly secure their trust. The fake grandchild then asks for money to solve some urgent financial problem via gift card or money wire.

It is important to remember NOT to give out any personal information to anyone who calls you.  Ask for the person’s name, company, and phone number.  Do some research or ask someone if this sounds legitimate or to help you research it before you return the call.  Better to be safe than sorry.

If you have received a scam phone call, email, or message, you may report it to the Federal Trade Commission online or by calling 877–FTC–HELP (877–382–4357). After reporting the incident to the FTC, please contact the Hotline at 833-372-8311 so we can track the frequency with which this scam is happening.

About CBHomeCare

CBHomeCare and our Family of Providers is part of the Community Based Care (CBC) Family of Companies which also includes CBCIDD. We have the privilege of serving families, children and seniors across a number of states on the east coast for the past twenty years. We have built a network of extraordinary homecare provider agencies that passionately live their mission; to keep our clients safe and independent so they can live in the place they love, their home. We do this by providing high quality personal care, companion care, respite care and private duty services needed to remain in their place of residence no matter their level of need or type of insurance.

If you are seeking to learn more about homecare and home and community-based services that are available, you have come to the right place. The healthcare industry can be challenging to navigate and sometimes difficult to understand the various types of caregiving services available to an individual and who will pay for those services. Sometimes there can be more than one source of funding. We have a compiled a list of Resources and Frequently Asked Questions along with General Information regarding the types of homecare services available and how to obtain payment for these services.

Please contact us if you would like more information.