8 Senior Scams and How to Avoid Them

Since senior residents are much more likely to be taken advantage of by uncaring outsiders, let’s learn about some of the ways that they might be targeted. In assisted living communities, seniors are somewhat more protected, but scams are still possible. Caregivers and staff need to be aware of who is communicating with the seniors in their care and diligent in helping to protect them or notifying their responsible party if anything suspicious is happening.

Here are some things to watch for and tips on how to protect seniors in your care:

Experts say a contributing factor to their vulnerability is isolation and loneliness, especially for residents who receive little monitoring or have few interactions with family and friends. The elderly are hungry for social contact and will talk with anyone with a pleasant-sounding voice and engaging manner. Often a senior loves the attention and enjoys connecting, then scammers know just what to say to gain their trust. Dementia and other symptoms of mental decline add to the problem as well.

This article on Senior Fraud Prevention from AssistedLivingFacilites.org shares some key insights on scams, what to watch for, and how to help your senior residents.

The following downloadable infographic also takes a look at 8 popular scams that are often carried out on vulnerable seniors.

Some Scams That Prey on Older People (see details in the infographic):

1. Cold Call Phone Scam
2. Door-to-Door Imposter
3. Online Shopping Fraud
4. Shady Investment Offers
5. Online Dating Scheme
6. Junk Mail Prize
7. Fake Lottery Win
8. Stolen Identity

The infographic below would be a perfect poster to hang up in your Assisted Living Community Room and Nurses’ Stations to educate your team, residents, friends and family about what to watch for to prevent these financial attacks.

To save the infographic on a Computer:

• Click on the image to open it in a new tab
• Right-click on the image and choose “Save image as…”
• A window will pop up with a list of all the folders on your computer.
• Select the folder where you would like to store the infographic image, then click the “Save” button
• Now the image is stored on your computer and can be printed from there or emailed to a local printer for printing on heavier paper or other material.

Let us know if you like what we’re sharing and what other information you’d like to see in these posts.

Via: Bluebird Care