June 15 is designated each year as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. In recognition of this extremely important day, the Better Business Bureau and many other organizations have come together to help provide resources, raise awareness and prevent elder abuse throughout the year.
Business owners can also partner by ensuring that employees are trained on the signs of abuse and how to report any suspected mistreatment.
The most common types of abuse are physical, emotional, financial and verbal. The National Council on Aging says up to 5 million older Americans are abused yearly, and the annual loss by victims of financial abuse is estimated to be at least $28.3 billion. Given such large numbers, it’s almost guaranteed business owners and employees will encounter someone who is experiencing a form of elder abuse.
Employees who interact with people regularly can help by watching for signs of someone being targeted by financial scams, as well as other types of signs of abuse. The National Council on Aging provides helpful details on its site to assist in identifying these signs. In addition to encouraging employers to share those details with their team, we encourage anyone who has older family members to access this information as well.
Together, we can help those who are unable to speak up for themselves.
This is also a perfect time to identify the signs that your loved one may be an ongoing victim of fraud. A much younger demographic — our 18- to 24-year-old population — is now deemed the most targeted by scams due to the growth in online shopping scams. However, there are still many types of schemes and approaches being used to trick older Americans into sharing their information and money.
Here are some warning signs that fraud is occurring:
— Frequent junk mail and spam calls. Incoming junk mail (illegitimate sweepstakes offers, etc.) or frequent calls from people offering valuable rewards or asking for charitable donations are signs that fraud has occurred or at least could easily occur.
— Unfamiliar payments are being made. Checks written or payments made to unfamiliar or out-of-state companies or individuals should be considered a red flag.
— Acting secretively about phone calls or messages. When someone hides or acts secretively about phone calls and messages, it could signify that they have been engaged by a scammer.
— Sudden problems paying bills or buying food and other necessities. A sudden lack of funds could mean an individual’s money is being drained in some form of scam activity. The cause should be investigated. It could be a sign of fraud or financial exploitation by a caregiver or family member.
The BBB offers the following tips towards helping your loved one avoid fraud:
— Become familiar with common scams targeting older adults. Knowing the most common tactics used to target older adults can help you more quickly identify when scams occur. Encourage older Americans to let calls go to voicemail if they don’t recognize the caller. Answering a phone significantly increases the likelihood that they’ll fall for a scam. At a minimum, answering a phone makes it likely that a scammer will sell their name and number.
— Emphasize the criminal nature of telemarketing and email fraud. Help your loved one learn how to identify it and help them understand that these tactics are illegal. Some could even pull them into unknowingly engaging in criminal activity themselves.
— Encourage the person to ignore phone calls and messages that appear suspicious. They should never reply to or click links within emails or text messages from senders they’re unfamiliar with.
— Have a calm discussion about securing accounts and monitoring finances. Helping older adults monitor their finances can be a great way to help them prevent scam activity and also to identify if it they have been a victim of fraud.
— Help the person change their phone number. If constant calls continue, changing the person’s phone number may be worth doing.
Here’s a few of the top types of fraud that continue to target our older population:
— Grandparents scam. Thanks to AI, these schemes in which someone falsely claims to be a grandchild with an emergency situation sound all the more realistic. We’ve seen people lose $5,000 or more after they were convinced that an emergency existed and transferred money to the person pretending to be their family member.
— Bogus sweepstakes/lottery scam. These are coming by email, phone and even text messages. The sender claims to be a contest organizer who is informing the older adult that they’ve won a prize but needs money up front to release the funds. No matter if someone claims you have to pay taxes, shipping or handling fees up front, you should never be required to send money if you’ve won money. While you would likely owe taxes on your winnings, you’ll pay those to the IRS as part of an annual tax return.
— Tech support scam. Seniors are the biggest target of this scheme, which comes either by a phone call or a pop-up alert on their computer screen. In either case, someone claiming to be with tech support from a well-known software company will say that there’s an issue with your computer that needs to be fixed. They’ll offer to do it for you immediately if you provide them remote access to the alleged infected computer.
If access is granted, they may pretend to run a “scan” and then claim the computer is infected with viruses, all the while copying your information or adding spyware to let them gather your information and steal your identity. But it doesn’t stop there, they will usually scare a senior into paying a hefty fee of $450 or more to fix the problem and add on additional costs if the older adult is willing to purchase anti-virus software from them.
Report suspected fraud to:
— Your bank or credit card company. Depending on the fraud, they may be able to reverse charges for purchases made months or more before.
— Government agencies. The Department of Justice’s Elder Justice Initiative website (justice.gov/elderjustice) features an Elder Abuse Resource Roadmap to help quickly find the right reporting agency, financial topics, and helpful resources.
For more information, please visit BBB’ s older adults resource page.
Michele Mason is president of the Better Business Bureau in Chattanooga.