I recently attended a reunion dinner with my college friends whom, unfortunately, I have been out of touch for almost 30 years. We spoke of new friends and old friends, careers and our children, who are now graduating from college and beginning their careers.
The conversation then turned to our parents. Many sadly had passed, and others are not as mentally sharp as they were when they visited us at college many years ago. A common theme arose. As our children are entering adulthood, our parents need more of our time for many reasons — one being that older adults often fall victim to scams, often on the internet or over the phone. We are guiding our children to avoid unfortunate financial decisions in the same way our parents helped us when we were young.
Now, the negative effects of aging, combined with the craftiness of telephone, text message and email scammers, causes us to worry about our parents’ financial safety. Ironically, my classmates and I all have similar stories, and I’ve encountered others in my legal career.
- “Someone called my mom and told her that my son (her grandson) had been arrested on spring break in Colorado. Cash bail would need to be sent by FedEx to Las Vegas. The person said my son asked that his grandma not call his parents.”
- “A person posing as an IRS agent called my mom and told her that my recently deceased father owed $20,000 in back taxes, interest and penalties. The person said she was responsible since they filed joint returns,…
