As many senior citizens spend their retirement traveling with family, pursuing second careers or becoming more active in the community, con artists are creating devious schemes to prey on their accumulated wealth.
Senior citizen scams have long been an issue, but the pandemic has only made those living their golden years more vulnerable and easier prey for fraudsters.
“According to our research, social isolation is a key risk factor for susceptibility to scams, as is financial vulnerability…add increased time spent online and coronavirus creates the ‘perfect storm’ for scammers, because all three of these factors have increased dramatically,” says the Better Business Bureau (BBB) in a 2020 statement.
A report by the BBB showed that seniors aged 65 and over reported losing a median of $350 in 2020 as a result of falling victim to scammers — more than double ($160) the median loss across all age groups.
Here we will look at several common scams aimed at seniors to separate them from their hard-earned money or steal their identities.
1. Health care scam
Senior citizens are most vulnerable to health care scams, according to Tod Burke, former associate dean and professor of criminal justice at Radford University in Virginia. Burke says scammers will call as health care or Medicare representatives to gain access to seniors’ personal or contact information.
They will use their contact information to call seniors back at a later date and say they spoke with their daughter,…
