and identity theft
by Pat McNees (updated 1-15-24)
Gathered here are links to helpful articles about the many kinds of abuse elders (and all of us) may be subject to (including physical, sexual, and financial abuse) and steps they can take to avoid fraud and scams. Sadly, abusers may be friends, family, caregivers, and professional advisors. Do your homework and protect yourself and those you care about. Click on:
Fraud, scams, and abuse, generally
(how to avoid being taken in)
Where to monitor credit reports, check a charity's status
Where to file a complaint if you've been scammed, defrauded, hacked, abused, cheated, etc.
Fraud, abuse, neglect in elder guardianship system
Home improvement and other types of scams
Telemarketing and phone fraud, including IRS scams
How scammers, imposters, and fraudsters operate
ATM and tax fraud and identity theft
FRAUD, SCAMS, AND ABUSE GENERALLY,
AND HOW TO AVOID THEM!
• Elliott Report. Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott's super organization/website -- a nonprofit organization that offers free advice and advocacy for consumers. For example:
---How to get your money back from a Zelle scam or accidental money transfer (Christopher Elliott, 5-9-23)
---Unauthorized charges on your PayPal account? Here’s how to get your money back
• Fraud Watch Network (AARP).
---Fraud Watch Hotline: 1-877-908-3360
---Victims and people who would like to report elder abuse should call Eldercare Locator at 800-677-1116 or the Adult Abuse Hotline at 800-222-8000.
• To discourage sales calls, fraudulent and otherwise:
---National Do Not Call Registry
---Opt Out of Unsolicited Mail, Telemarketing, and Email (Federal Trade Commission)
• How Walmart’s Financial Services Became a Fraud Magnet (Craig Silverman and Peter Elkind, ProPublica, 1-17-24) Scammers have duped consumers out of more than $1 billion by exploiting Walmart’s lax security. The company has resisted taking responsibility while breaking promises to regulators and skimping on training.
• Scammers prefer gift cards, but not just any card will do ?Scammers tell people to go to a specific store (Target, Walmart, Best Buy, CVS, Walgreen's) or buy a specific gift card (Target, Google Play, Apple, eBay, Walmart). Scammers favor gift cards because they are easy for people to find and buy, and they have fewer protections for buyers compared to some other payment options. Scammers can get quick cash, the transaction is largely irreversible, and they can remain anonymous."
• Stop Gift Card Scams Toolkit (Federal Trade Commission)
---Social media tools for stopping gift card scams
• Report Gift Cards Used in a Scam (FTC video)
• Fighting back against spams, scams and schemes (Brittany Luse, Alexis Williams, Barton Girdwood, Liam McBain, Corey Antonio Rose, Jessica Mendoza, Jessica Placzek, Jamal Michel, Veralyn Williams, It's Been a Minute, NPR, 3-31-23) A 23-minute listen. Host Brittany Luse talks first to Laci Mosley, host of a podcast called Scam Goddess, about how even a scam queen can become a victim. Then, Brittany chats with Susan Tompor, money columnist at the Detroit Free Press, about how these scams work, what's being done about them and why we all need to stop judging people who've fallen prey to scams.
• The latest scams, and how to avoid, report, and recover from them. (Federal Trade Commission, in English and Spanish)
• Cons, Scams, and Frauds Facebook group
How to avoid a scam (recognize common signs; search for Consumer Alerts on various types of scams--a long list!)
What to do if you were scammed (steps to take)
Report frauds, scams, and bad business practices (your report could help the FTC stop the scammers).
---How to Avoid Imposter Scams (Federal Trade Commission)
Imposter scams all work the same way: a scammer pretends to be someone you trust to convince you to send them money. Learn how to spot various types of imposter scams: Government impersonators, utilility company impersonators, nanny and caregiver scams, tech support scams, family emergency scams, romance scams.
• Scammers use Best Buy and Geek Squad name to attempt to steal from people (Fox5, 9-5-22)
• 8 Red-Hot Scams in 2022 (Sari Harrar, AARP, 4-11-22) Google Voice scams, rental assistance cons, fake-job frauds, fake Amazon employees, cryptocurrency ATM payments, local tax impostors, 'favor for a friend' gift cards, PTP payment requests (payment via money-transfer apps like Venmo, Zelle and Cash App, which can't be canceled).
• The Perfect Scam (AARP's weekly podcast) The stories of people who find themselves the target of a scam.
• Tech Scams Exposed (video, 6.58 min) Dr. Phil and AARP Foundation fraud expert Amy Nofziger talk popular tech scams and tips for protecting yourself.
• AARP Watchdog Alert Handbook (PDF). 13 ways con artists steal your money.
• A Scammer Who Tricks Instagram Into Banning Influencers Has Never Been Identified. We May Have Found Him. (Craig Silverman and Bianca Fortis, ProPublica, 3-26-23) Murphy was in the crosshairs of one of a booming underground community of Instagram scammers and hackers who shut down profiles on the social network and then demand payment to reactivate them. While they also target TikTok and other platforms, takedown-for-hire scammers like OBN are proliferating on Instagram, exploiting the app’s slow and often ineffective customer support services and its easily manipulated account reporting systems. Account banning is just one of several lucrative schemes that prey on Instagram, which is uniquely important for celebrities, entrepreneurs, influencers and anyone seeking clout and status. Last year, a ProPublica investigation exposed a million-dollar operation that saw people pay $25,000 or more to fraudulently obtain verified accounts.
• The Coronavirus, The Economy, Your Money: Thoughtful Decisions Win (Foolproof Me) Info about fake package delivery scams, Covid-19 vaccine scams, Senior scams.
• Helping Banks Flag Fraud Against Seniors (Elizabeth Olson, NY Times, 8-18-18) Why it is important for front-line bank employees to identify red flags early. A proposal in Maine: "Encourage state officials to start a pilot program that would train bank employees to recognize suspicious activity, like sudden large transfers, in exchange for greater protection from legal liability for reporting it." The act is too new to have a national track record, but in Maine, Ms. Shaw said that since 2014, reports to her office about seniors being exploited financially jumped to a total of 70 — from zero.
• How to remove yourself from the top people-search sites (Reputation Defender)
• How to Avoid a Scam (Federal Trade Commission Consumer information)
• Common Scams and Frauds (USA.gov) Common scans and frauds, housing scams, identity theft, IRS scams, online safety, privacy, report scams and frauds)
• How to Avoid Fraud (Investor.gov) Tips from U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.
• BBB Tips: 10 Steps to Avoid Scams (Better Business Bureau, 4-30-2020)
• Various types of scams (Snopes.com)
• Online Shopping Safety Guide (Steve Weisman, Coupon Chief) Today’s online shoppers think nothing of filling out forms and providing data to ecommerce sites, social media sites, and even in public forums. Examples involving Data Breaches.
• The Ultimate Internet Safety Guide for Seniors (Safety Detectives) See also their Known Vulnerabilities Scanner.
• Scams are always with us (RuthThaler-Carter, An AmericanEditor, 5-11-2020) The skinny on overpayment schemes (where you refund the overpaid part). See also The apraxia/overpayment scam continues (12-7-2020)
• How Many Times Has Your Personal Information Been Exposed to Hackers? ( K.K. Rebecca Lai, Nicole Perlroth, Tiffany Hsu, and Josh Keller, NY Times, 5-29-15) Note that this article was in 2015 so some hacking incidents won't be reported here. But you can follow the advice, anyway.
• Caring for Aging Parents, With an Eye on the Broker Handling Their Savings (Tara Siegel Bernard, NY Times, 8-24-18) How one woman discovered excessive and unauthorized trading in a fund meant to support her mother and father in their later years.
• A Caregiver’s Guide to Understanding, Recognizing, and Preventing Elder Abuse (Maryville University Online)
• FTC report on fraud (infographic) (Consumer Sentinel Network, Data Book 2017, Federal Trade Commission) 2.7 million reports--top 3 categories: Debt collection, identity theft, and imposter scams. "Younger people reported losing money to fraud more often than older people. But when people aged 70+ had a loss, the median loss was higher." 1 in 5 people lost money in impostor scams. Credit card fraud was up. Tax fraud was down. "As customers age, they become a prime target for fraud, experts say, because they can have a lifetime of savings sitting in their accounts. More than 60 percent of bank customers are older than 50, and they hold 70 percent of deposit balances..."
• Fight Back Against Scams in Your State (AARP's Fraud Watch Network). Sign up for alerts.
• The Hidden Nature of Elder Abuse (Justice Clearinghouse)
• Guard Your Medical ID (Sid Kirchheimer, AARP, 6-29-14, on CareGivers America) With medical identity theft, crooks use your insurance or personal information to get treatment or medication, or to submit false billings in your name. Don't carry your Social Security card -- carry a copy, and black out a couple of the numbers.
• Protect yourself from scams (Social Security Administration)
• Common Fraud Schemes That Target Senior Citizens. This FBI site describe es important variations on fraud and scams involving health care, health insurance, counterfeit prescription drugs, funeral and cemetery arrangements, anti-aging products, investment schemes, and reverse mortgages. Telemarketing scams often involve offers of free prizes, low-cost vitamins and health care products, and inexpensive vacations.)
• StopFraud.gov (The Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force's advice on how to protect yourself from health/medicare fraud, identity theft, phone and Internet fraud, mortgage and lending fraud, securities and investment fraud, tax fraud, and other dangers)
• How Stories Deceive by Maria Konnikova, a fascinating (long) story in the New Yorker, makes it clear how we can be conned by a good storyteller. "When we’re immersed in a story, we let down our guard. We focus in a way we wouldn’t if someone were just trying to catch us with a random phrase or picture or interaction....In those moments of fully immersed attention, we may absorb things, under the radar, that would normally pass us by or put us on high alert. Later, we may find ourselves thinking that some idea or concept is coming from our own brilliant, fertile minds, when, in reality, it was planted there by the story we just heard or read." From the book The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time by Maria Konnikova
• Seattle man gets prison for using power of attorney to steal mom's estate (Connie Thompson, KomoNews.com, 3-24-17) John Hanni 'pleaded guilty to stealing more than $600,000 from his mother, MaryAnn Hanni, who suffered from acute dementia. She had no way of understanding the son she put in charge of her money was a thief. "He basically went through all of her accounts and cashed them in and spent them." said Ann Hanni, one of John's seven adult siblings...Instead of using his mother's money to pay for her dementia care at the Bayview Manor nursing facility in Seattle, investigators say John Hanni used the money for himself -- gambling most of it away at local casinos. Court records show the exploitation went on for eight years.'
• Aging Panel Looks into Debit Card Scams (PDF, Herb Weiss, Pawtucket Times, 11-21-14) "“Two debit card companies – Green Dot and InComm-- told members of the Senate Aging panel of the decision to drop products favored by fraudsters, even though the products had legitimate uses. Although the third company, Blackhawk, did not drop products, it tightened up its security measures on its similar reloadable debit card product.”
• Money Smart for Older Adults (download free PDF, from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)
• Planning for Diminished Capacity and Illness (download free PDF, from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Securities and Exchange Commission)
• Frank Abagnale Will Catch You If You Scam (Hugh Delehanty, AARP Bulletin, May 2016) Useful tips on how to avoid being scammed or ripped off: Shred everything with a micro-shedder from which information could be used to raid your bank or other account (e.g., bills, receipts, bank statements); use credit bureau services that let you know if someone is trying to use your credit; don't use a straight-on photo of yourself on social media; never post your full date of birth or where you were born as those are two keys to open your identity.
WHERE TO MONITOR CREDIT REPORTS, CHECK A CHARITY'S STATUS
• Sites recommended to check a charity's status include
---Charity Navigator
---Charity Watch ,
---Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance
• Monitor credit reports often to watch for fraud. This is a reputable site for requesting a free annual credit card: AnnualCreditReport.com.
• If you don't want to receive pre-screened offers of credit and insurance, you can opt out of receiving them for five years or opt out of receiving them permanently here, online (https:.//www.optoutprescreen.com/, or, if you don't have access to the Internet, you may send a written request to permanently opt out to each of the major consumer reporting companies. Make sure your request includes your home telephone number, name, Social Security number, and date of birth.
Experian
Opt Out
P.O. Box 919
Allen, TX 75013
TransUnion
Name Removal Option
P.O. Box 505
Woodlyn, PA 19094
Equifax, Inc.
Options
P.O. Box 740123
Atlanta, GA 30374
Innovis Consumer Assistance
P.O. Box 495
Pittsburgh, PA 15230
WHERE TO FILE A COMPLAINT IF YOU'VE BEEN SCAMMED, DEFRAUDED, HACKED, ABUSED, CHEATED, ETC.
---U.S. Federal Trade Commission or 877.FTC.HELP
---Better Business Bureau https://www.bbb.org/
---Call for Action http://callforaction.org/
---Locate your state attorney general (National Association of Attorneys General) http://www.naag.org/
---Locate your state consumer protection agency https://www.usa.gov/state-consumer
---Financial Fraud Enforcement Hotline https://www.stopfraud.gov/report.html
---How to Get Legal Assistance (National Consumer Law Center)
• Hacked and Hijacked: What to Do if Your E-mail Account Gets Compromised (Jon Chase, Switched, 2-24-11). Preventive advice includes this: "Set up at least two new e-mail addresses. Use your original e-mail address for personal or business communication as you'd normally do. The secondary e-mail address is insurance against future hacks; use it to communicate with your service provider, since many now ask for an alternative address as added protection. Then, use a third e-mail address only for registering for sites, newsletters, online shopping and other services. It may seem paranoid and excessive (hey, that's us!), but the idea is to compartmentalize your online life a bit. That way, each "world" has its own discrete e-mail account, and will minimize the damage that can be done by any future hacks."
ELDER ABUSE AND NEGLECT
• Elder Abuse (GAO Fact Sheet)
• Elder Abuse and Neglect Spotting the warning signs and getting help.
• Elder abuse commonly committed by relatives, study indicates (Liz Seegert, Covering Health, AHCJ, 8-23-19) "Relatives, not strangers, may be the people most likely to take advantage of older adults, according to a new study by University of Southern California researchers. Their analysis found that family members were allegedly most likely at fault across all abuse types, except for sexual abuse and self-neglect....Of the nearly 2,000 calls logged for the study, more than 42% (818 calls) alleged abuse. Financial abuse was the most commonly reported at nearly 55% (449 calls). The most common abuse perpetrated by the family was financial abuse (61.8%), followed by emotional abuse (35%), neglect (20.1%), physical abuse (12%) and sexual abuse (0.3%). Of the calls that alleged abuse by a family member, more than 32% reported more than one abuse type."
• The Hidden Nature of Elder Abuse (Justice Clearinghouse)
• CFPB Issues Advisory and Report for Financial Institutions on Preventing Elder Financial Abuse (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 3-23-16) One in Five Older Americans Report Being Victims of Financial Exploitation. Recommendations for financial institutions to consider include:
Training staff to recognize abuse
Using fraud detection technologies
Offering age-friendly services
Reporting suspicious activity to authorities
Tips for consumers on how to work with their financial institutions to protect themselves from financial abuse can be found at Older Americans are not alone in the fight to stop financial abuse (Stacy Canan and Naomi Karp, CFPB, 3-13-16)
• Why Have Our Parents Become Targets for Financial Abuse? (Robert Mauterstock, HuffPost,10-5-15) Scam artists go where the money is. Forty-four percent of all wealth in America lies with older Americans.
• Keeping Our Seniors Safe From Scams (Heather R. Chubb, ElderCareMatters.com). Popular scams for elders include surveys (they do NOT have to fill them out--they can toss them!) and letters or emails about sweepstakes and lottery winners.
• How to avoid and detect Elder Fraud: A guide for older people, carers and relatives (Jon Watson, Comparitech, 8-2-17)
• Financial Abuse of the Elderly: Sometimes Unnoticed, Always Predatory (Elizabeth Olson, NY Times, 11-27-15) Mariana Cooper, a widow in Seattle who lost her home and now lives in a retirement community, is one of an estimated five million older American residents annually who are victimized to some extent by a caregiver, friend, family member, lawyer or financial adviser.
• How to Identify and Avoid Scams Targeting Senior Citizens and the Elderly (Fiscal Tiger)
• Stop Theft From Elders: A Checklist to Age-Proof a Home Against Theft This is on the helpful website of elder law attorney Paula McCann: On the Way to Dying See also How to Stop Thefts from Elders and the Dead. "Preventing thefts and recovering assets stolen from vulnerable adults, elders and the dead has been the focus of my elder law practice for the past decade."
• Dehydration in Nursing Home Patients (ConsumerDangers.com)
• Reporting Nursing Home Abuse (ConsumerDangers.com)
• The Last Days of Stan Lee (David Hochman, AARP, (A long read.) A heartbreaking tragedy about the (alleged) abuse of the Marvel Comics creator by those who swear they loved him. "Abuse of the elderly routinely cloaks itself in love, which is, in many cases, returned by the victim. The perpetrators might even call love their motivation."
• 7 Ways to Prevent Financial Elder Abuse (John Rosengren, AARP Bulletin, 8-29-18) High-profile charges of financial exploitation raise troubling questions. Here's how to protect yourself and your family
---Victims and people who would like to report elder abuse should call Eldercare Locator at 800-677-1116 or the Adult Abuse Hotline at 800-222-8000.
• Quiz: Elder Financial Abuse (AARP)
• Are These Cases of Loving Families or Elder Abuse? (David Hochman, AARP, 10-1-19) Learn from real court cases how to protect older adults from fraud
• Growing Kind of Elder Abuse: Marrying Seniors for Their Money (Cathy Cassata, Healthline, 9-15-15) Lack of legal repercussions puts seniors at risk of marriage scams, experts say. And it’s happening more often.
• Romance Scams. Among other stories about this old way to scam lonely people: 'Are You Real?' — Inside an Online Dating Scam (Doug Shadel and David Dudley, AARP, June/July 2015). A Nigerian con man steals one woman's heart — and $300,000. Here's how it happened.
• Elder Abuse – A National Tragedy (Ashley Carson Cottingham, Compassion & Choices). A rarely discussed form of elder abuse occurs when an older adult’s expressed wishes at the end of life are ignored, and as a result they are subjected to unwanted and invasive medical treatment.
• State Resources (National Center on Elder Abuse, NCEA) Click on the state or territory on this map to see a directory listing of state reporting numbers, government agencies, state laws, state-specific data and statistics, and other resources.
• Eldercare Locator (click on topic, including elder abuse prevention, and type in zip code)
• Elder Abuse Prevention (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Understanding Elder Abuse (CDC)
• Expert panel tackles elder abuse at workshop on aging — part one (Liz Seegert, Covering Health, AHCJ, 10-31-19)
• Elder Abuse in RI: Sitting down with the journalist (From the Newsroom: The Providence Journal, 8-24-18) A year-long investigation by a team of Brown University students found that 87 percent of those charged with elder-abuse offenses in R.I. between 2000 and 2017 did not go to prison for those crimes, leaving their elderly victims vulnerable to repeated attacks. Part of a 9-part series.
• Elder Abuse: Definitions
• Statistics on elder abuse (National Center on Elder Abuse, NCEA) The size of the problem, relation to dementia, who are the perpetrators, abuse of those with disabilities, abuse in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, impact of elder abuse)
• Elder Mistreatment: Priorities for Consideration by the White House Conference on Aging (Karl Pillemer, Marie-Therese Connolly, Risa Breckman, Nathan Spreng, and Mark S. Lachs, The Gerontologist, 2014)
• Doctors, lawyers and even the bank can help identify elder abuse (Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News, Bangor Daily News, 11-17-15) Elder abuse, which can take the form of sexual or emotional abuse, physical violence and even financial manipulation, affects at least 10 percent of older Americans, according to a review article in the Nov. 12 New England Journal of Medicine. Elder abuse can happen to residents in nursing homes or those living with family members. The “young old” are more likely to be affected.
• When Love Hurts: The Heartbreak of Elder Abuse (Robert B. Blancato, Huff Post, 2-11-14) According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, one-third of abused children will eventually abuse their children. Many social service agencies attempt to educate victims of child abuse in order to stop the cycle of violence. However, one part of this cycle that is often overlooked is the role of the abused child as a caregiver for his or her abusive parent in the later years of life.
FRAUD, ABUSE, NEGLECT IN ELDER GUARDIANSHIP SYSTEM
• "License to Steal" From Seniors: How to Protect the Elderly from the People They've Chosen to Trust (Business Week 5-31-06) Eighty-seven-year-old Elizabeth suspected something was awry when her son told her she couldn't afford to move into an upscale assisted living facility. A few years before, she had given her son durable power of attorney... Elizabeth knew she had the money, and when she questioned him about the shortage of funds, he just told her she was wrong. Elizabeth, wary of her son's response, told a friend who contacted Pennsylvania's Adult Protective Services (APS). An investigation by the agency revealed that her son had transferred $225,000 from her account into his own.... 80,000 such cases were reported the previous year, and more than two-thirds of the victims were defrauded by someone close to them.
• The Kindness of Strangers . Barbara Peters Smith's three-part investigative series for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune exposing tragic gaps in Florida’s system of senior guardianships (called conservatorships in other states). Florida’s elder guardianship system was set up to protect vulnerable citizens from fraud, abuse or neglect. But critics say the system often ignores individual rights, virtually imprisoning some elders who are not incapacitated. And most guardianship decisions are made in hearings and files closed to the public. (And Florida is one of the good states!)
---Part 1: Elder guardianship: A well-oiled machine Florida's system of guardianship for helpless elders — easily set in motion, but notoriously difficult to stop — often ignores basic individual rights.
--- Part 2: Elder Guardianship: Between a rock and a hard place
---Update: Bunny and Claflin Garst A bitter court battle ended with a paid professional guardian in charge of her husband’s finances and his private life.
---Guardian put ex-husband in "rat's nest". Florida’s underfunded elder guardianship system subsists mostly on the assets of its thousands of wards.
---Elder guardianship: Listening to the elders Linda-Kaye Bous insists she does not belong in the assisted-living facility for dementia patients where her guardian has placed her, yet she does not have the right to go home
---Linda-Kaye Bous, 66, talks about life in a facility for dementia patients.
---Update: Claudine and Thomas O'Connor. The couple met late in life, married and had an apparently idyllic existence on Longboat Key until their failing memories embroiled them in separate guardianships — in the midst of a feud between the offspring of their first marriages.
---Elder Guardianship: Where to learn more
---The elder guardianship system in Florida (PDF, graphic depiction of how it works, a little slow loading)
• Studies suggest elder abuse in Chinese American communities needs deeper exploration (Liz Seegert, Covering Health, AHCJ, 9-5-19) Not enough is being done to prevent elder abuse in the Chinese American community, according to several recent Rutgers University studies. Child abuse, intimate partner violence, negative social support, and isolation from family can be potential predictors of elder abuse, including psychological and physical mistreatment, caregiver neglect, and financial exploitation.
• Abuse of Power: Exploitation of Older Americans by Guardians and Others they Trust (PDF, Testimony of Pamela B. Teaster Before the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging, 4-18-18) Teaster recommended the following reforms of the system:
Greater clarity and training when persons assume the role of guardian ad litem, and of guardians themselves;
Deeper consideration of appropriateness and scope of appointment;
Bonding;
Meaningful insertion of person-centeredness and supported decision making;
Limited orders;
Reasonable, appropriate, and timely monitoring post establishment;
Constant consideration of the restoration of rights;
Zero tolerance for the pockets of collusion and corruption that exist around this country among actors in the system.
“Despite estimates that some 1.5 million adults are under guardianship, in 2018, not one single state in the country can identify its people under guardianship — incomprehensible in the information age,” Teaster said. “That makes it impossible to have an appropriate level of accountability. Mechanisms put in place in order to establish it, to documents its execution, and to facilitate its revocation are impeded by not knowing the very people it serves.”
• Probe shows court-appointed guardians often not screened or monitored (Jen Christensen, CNN, 10-27-10)
HOUSING AND FINANCIAL FRAUD
• The Ugly Truth Behind “We Buy Ugly Houses” ( Anjeanette Damon, Byard Duncan and Mollie Simon, for ProPublica, The Dallas Morning News and Shelterforce, 5-11-23) HomeVestors of America, the self-proclaimed “largest homebuyer in the U.S.,” trains its nearly 1,150 franchisees to zero in on homeowners’ desperation. "Unlike real estate agents, house flippers operate in a largely unregulated space." HomeVestors franchisees used deception and targeted the elderly, infirm and those so close to poverty that they feared homelessness would be a consequence of selling.
---HomeVestors Praised ProPublica’s Reporting, Then Tried to “Bury It”
---Real Estate Investors Sold Somali Families on a Fast Track to Homeownership in Minnesota. The Buyers Risk Losing Everything. (Jessica Lussenhop, ProPublica, and Joey Peters, Sahan Journal, with data analysis by Haru Coryne, ProPublica) For Somali Muslim families in Minnesota, a contract for deed seems like an easier path to homeownership. But predatory practices and poor regulation can make it a financial trap rather than a good deal. Plus more in this series.
• Home Is Where the Fraud Is by David Dayen, on Longreads. The true story of how a group of ordinary Americans took on the nation’s banks at the height of the housing crisis, calling into question fraudulent foreclosure practices. A long excerpt from Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street's Great Foreclosure Fraud by David Dayan.
"Chain of Title is a sweeping work of investigative journalism that traces the arc of a criminally underreported story in America, the collapse of the rule of law in the home mortgage industry. By following three victims of illegal foreclosure practices, Dayen humanizes and brilliantly illuminates a vast scam unseen by the public because it’s been indecipherable to everyone but a few industrious housing lawyers—as he shows, even judges don’t understand it. The nightmare scavenger-hunt pursued by homeowners like Lisa Epstein leads to a horror-ending: behind the dream of home ownership lies a lawless jungle, owned and operated by banks, where there are no rules to protect families and their property."
—Matt Taibbi, author of The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap
• Fraudsters’ Latest Target: The Already Defrauded (Ann Carns, Your Money, NY Times, 2-12-16) So-called asset-recovery firms target people who have lost money in another type of fraud — often, a bogus work-at-home scheme or a fake time share investment, according to an advisory issued this week by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
• New breed of investor profits by financing surgeries for desperate women patients (Alison Frankel and Jessica Dye, Reuters Investigates, 8-18-15) In the little known world of medical lending, financiers invest in operations to remove pelvic implants from women suing device makers - and reap an inflated share of the payouts when cases settle.
• 1 in 5 Seniors Has Fallen Prey to a Financial Swindle, But This Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg (Martha T.S. Laham, HuffPost, 8-11-15)
HOME IMPROVEMENT and other types of SCAMS
• The apraxia/overpayment scam continues (Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, An American Editor, 12-7-2020)
• Home Improvement Scams: Tools to Reduce Your Risk (EldercareLocator) Strategies scam artists often employ include:
---Using high-pressure tactics to sell a range of services including roof, sidewalk and driveway repairs
---Charging inflated prices
---Delivering sub-standard work
---Posing as a building inspector or other official so they can demand immediate repairs
---Obtaining funds to pay for services by urging the homeowner to work with a certain lender or advising them to get a reverse mortgage
---Identifying potential victims by scouting out neighborhoods ((most notably after natural disasters), then targeting vulnerable older adult homeowners
• Reverse Mortgages, Pro and Con (links to several articles from experts and consumer protection bureaus)
• Home Improvement Scams Alert (National Consumer Law Center) After a case study, talks about deceptive sales tactics, deceptive financing schemes, problems with contracted work, mortgages and liens (when a senior's home may be at stake); the seniors ability to cancel a contract by giving written notice; warranties; unfair practices; third party lenders. Offers Home Improvement Contractor Litigation Tips. .
• Home Improvement Contractors: A Model State Statute (attorneys Elizabeth Renuart and Rich DuBois, National Consumer Law Center, a project of the AARP Strategic Activity on Financial Protection)
• Fraud Against Seniors The FBI’s Common Fraud Schemes webpage provides tips on how you can protect yourself and your family from fraud. An excellent explanation of why elders are more vulnerable to exploitation by fraud schemes. (They're more likely to have a nest egg, they've probably been trained to be polite, they aren't usually good witnesses in a trial, and "are more interested in and susceptible to products promising increased cognitive function, virility, physical conditioning, anti-cancer properties, and so on. In a country where new cures and vaccinations for old diseases have given every American hope for a long and fruitful life, it is not so unbelievable that the con artists’ products can do what they claim."
TELEMARKETING AND PHONE FRAUD, including IRS SCAMS
• Inside an International Tech-Support Scam (Doug Shadel and Neil Wertheimer, AARP, 4-1-21) How a computer hacker infiltrated a phone scam operation — exposing fraudsters and their schemes. (Fascinating.) How scammers operate and how and why scammers succeed.
• The Perfect Scam podcast (AARP)
• A 3-hour phone call that brought her to tears: Imposter scams cost Americans billions (Dara Kerr, NPR, 6-19-23) The Federal Trade Commission says nearly 200,000 people have been targeted this year alone. And last year, people lost a total of $2.6 billion to imposter scams--which dupe a relatively high rate of people. The top fraud in the U.S. right now involves the perpetrator impersonating an authority figure and using scare tactics to reel in victims. Con artists use real names of law enforcement officers that show up with caller ID from an actual office and even local accents. They told her if she didn't act that day, her bank account would be immediately frozen and she wouldn't be able to access her money for anywhere between six months and three years.
• Caller ID Spoofing (FCC video and text) Don't hang on. Hang up!
• Telemarketing Fraud (FBI again) "If you are age 60 or older—and especially if you are an older woman living alone—you may be a special target of people who sell bogus products and services by telephone. Telemarketing scams often involve offers of free prizes, low-cost vitamins and health care products, and inexpensive vacations."
• Phone Scams Continue to be a Serious Threat, Remain on IRS “Dirty Dozen” List of Tax Scams for the 2016 Filing SeasonThe IRS will never:
---Call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.
---Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.
---Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.
---Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
---Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.
Do not give out any information. Hang up immediately.
• That is NOT the IRS Calling You! (Michelle Singletary, WaPo, 8-25-16)
• I.R.S. Calling to Demand Cash? Don’t Pay Up. Hang Up. (David Segal, Wash Post, 2-28-16) About 900,000 people have reported getting a call from I.R.S. phone scammers, and not all of these people hung up unscathed. The IRS will NEVER call you to demand money. Just hang up.
ATM AND TAX FRAUD AND IDENTITY THEFT
• Different Types of Identity Theft (Michael Osakwe, NextAdvisor, 1-10-17) Financial, banking, medical, social media, criminal -- five types of identity theft, how to protect yourself, and what to do if you fall victim.
• Ghosting: Help Better Protect Deceased Loved Ones from Identity Theft (ID Watchdog) "Stealing the identity of someone who is deceased—sometimes called ghosting—can go on for months before the crime is detected. This may be because identity thieves know how to take advantage of the time between when a person dies and when government agencies or financial institutions are notified of the death. How can you better protect your loved ones from identity theft even after they pass away?" See also A Haunting Tale of Deceased Identity Theft (Identity Theft Resource Center, ITRC, 888.400.5530) and What You Should Know About ID Theft After Death (Best Company).
• Guard Your Medical ID (Sid Kirchheimer, AARP, 6-29-14, on CareGivers America) With medical identity theft, crooks use your insurance or personal information to get treatment or medication, or to submit false billings in your name. Don't carry your Social Security card -- carry a copy, and black out a couple of the numbers.
• 7 quick tasks to protect your ID (Karen Haywood Queen, CreditCards.com, 1-7-16) Got 10 minutes? Then you can take a step to prevent identity theft
• Identity theft and the top 12 tax scams of 2013 (Peter O'Dowd, Marketplace Morning Report 5-15-13)
• Consumer information on identity theft (what to do and types of identity theft to specify)
• "10 Ways to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft," scroll down for this, on this Scottrade page: Secure Online Investing & Identity Theft Protection
• Smart Tips for Protecting Yourself from ATM Fraud and Theft (Scottrade)
• “She Stole My Life!”: A Cautionary True Tale About Identity Theft Everyone Must Read (Doug Shadel, AARP on Reader's Digest, Oct.-Nov. 2014) "A few miles away, Alice Lipski was taking over Anderson’s identity. She signed Anderson up for a credit-monitoring service that was designed to protect customers from identity theft. Instead, it exposed her full credit history. The report revealed a mother lode of old accounts; over her life, Anderson had acquired dozens of cards from stores and banks. Most were inactive. Lipski reported those as lost or stolen, so the companies assigned new numbers with new usernames, passwords, and security questions that only Lipski knew, locking Anderson out of the accounts. “I knew everything about her,” Lipski says. “And what I didn’t know, I changed to what I wanted it to be.” She ordered Anderson’s mail forwarded to Lipski’s boyfriend’s house, then to a post office box. Since Anderson still received junk mail, it took weeks for her to notice that checks and bills had stopped coming."
• Where to get started when you suspect you have a problem with identity theft (IdentityTheft.gov, Federal Trade Commission)
MISCELLANEOUS OTHER SCAMS
• Inside the Davos cash machine (Ben Smith and Liz Hoffman, Semafor, 1-14-24) The World Economic Forum's biggest financial problem these days is too much cash. It’s become a little embarrassing, in fact, for a Swiss non-profit to be sitting on a Scrooge-McDuck pile of Swiss francs that employers are paying to get delegates. Business partnerships begin at CHF 15,000 ($17,600), a spokesman said, and go up to CHF 600,000 ($705,000) for the annual subscriptions that include the right to spend tens of thousands more on tickets, as of 2017. And so the Forum has been quietly buying some of the world’s most expensive real estate
• 6 Top Scams to Watch Out for in 2024 (AARP) Criminals are getting more sophisticated and supercharging old scams with new technology
• 8 cool side hustles to earn extra money without getting scammed (AARP)
• PODCAST: The Perfect Scam AARP’s weekly podcast The Perfect ScamSM tells the stories of people who find themselves the target of a scam. Host Bob Sullivan introduces listeners to those who have experienced scams firsthand, as well as leading experts who pull back the curtain on how scammers operate.