Senior Fraud Alerts: How to handle?

Ricky6, those calls usually come by robo call, thus the computer dials one number and if there is no answer, it goes to the next number which is one digit higher.

Usually the calls come from "spoofed" numbers, meaning the Caller ID will show a well known company or a local telephone number making you think it could be someone down the street calling.

My Dad [90+] got a spam call, the caller said that there was a bank robbery and he happened to have witnessed it, got Dad's license plate number and tracked down his address/telephone number. The caller said he would keep quiet if Dad paid him.....

Dad called me in a panic, he wanted me to find out who bought his car from the charity where it was donated months prior. Told Dad that call was a scam. Dad was so worried. Told him I had taken off the license plate before the car was taken by the charity. And no, the "witness" could not have gotten close enough to see the vin number. Dad just happened to have been caught off guard, this could happen to anyone of us.

The stores in my area, the clerks are tuned in if they see someone purchasing a lot of certain gift cards and start to quiz the customer. If something doesn't sound right, the clerk will advice the customer that this may be a scam.

Another recent one is that they are calling you and your phone says it's your voicemail, it says there has been suspicion activity and your account has been frozen and your service suspended. Please press 1 to reactivate, at which time you are prompted to provide personal information and account numbers and pins or Press 2 to speak to a customers representative and they will happily take any information you willingly provide.

Ricky, a family friend, 93 years old, got caught with the "hi grandma" and she sent 2k and thankfully, the next day when she was going to send more, a very clever Walmart worker, whom helped her the day before, caught this as a scam. When said grandson was called to check, he was fine and did not call her the day before. This was all a result of sharing his life and movements on social media for the scum of the earth to read and exploit. (Note: the caller acted hysterical and that made it impossible to identify the voice and served to shake grandma up.)

It is unfortunate that we can't even answer our phones any more without the risk of being exploited.

Thanks for sharing that that fraud is back in circulation.

It is sad. I wish phones were like email, they can pick out the scam calls. For me, I have my cell set to only those who are on my contacts ring thru. Not sure if landlines can be set up this way to now.