/p>Due to their special vulnerability, the elderly are often the target of scams and scams, especially when they do not have a caregiver. In this article offers a series of interesting tips to inform our elders and prevent, as far as possible, these criminal practices.
Every day it amazes me more how Seniors are targeted by scams and not only by people who scam them in a particular way, but what seems even more incredible to me also by telephone sales companies, and in saying this, I do not want to point out any specific company, many times even though their workers are told that They should not use “misleading advertising” we know that sometimes they turn a blind eye so that they can thus reach objectives.
For a few months now I have been meeting more and more elderly people who tell me that they have received a visit of a commercial that a cutlery, a box of wine or a moisturizing cream has been “gridged”…the surprising thing is that they always say that a few days before they received a previous call, and although they insisted that they did not want anything, in the end they ended up agreeing to give their address without barely realizing they were doing it.
I have to say that there are studies that show that in these commercial calls the tactic is to say in the first sentence words like “gift, free, congratulations, fantastic, without any cost, etc…”, generally we only pay attention to that first minute so no matter how much we say “we don’t want anything” we will listen again to the repertoire of “pretty words” and again we will lose the thread of everything that comes after it, the fine print, there they will surely tell you about a cooking course (at pay) that comes with the cutlery, a couple of hams (payable) that comes with the box of wine, or the slimming pack (payable) that comes with the moisturizing cream, then there comes a day when they knock on the door and We don’t even remember that we had said yes, and wham there is the cutlery and in the hand behind the box full of books from the wonderful cooking course with a value of €300, but what cooking course?
I think that most of the previous case will sound directly or indirectly, so it is important to know some useful tips to prevent older people from being scammed:
1.Gas or electricity check
It is the most common scam, it is true that generally once a year companies can carry out gas checks but they always notify you! They generally send a letter announcing the day they will go, always by appointment, they must also be identified, in addition they should never charge you right there in cash, since the real revisions must pass the report to the gas company and it will later invoice and the charge, but to avoid doubts it is advisable to have a series of telephone numbers on hand such as our gas company and ask them after receiving the communication if that appointment is really arranged.
2.Telephone call informing of an award
It is quite common for older people to receive more than one call every day informing them that they have been selected for some reason as winners of a prize, coincidentally from a raffle in which they did not participate and are also unaware. This may not be a scam in itself, but rather a form of telephone sales marketing, which has still caused many older people more than a displeasure. As I said earlier, speaking of this case, generally in the first sentence, by saying a series of “appropriate” words (winner, prize, congratulations, etc.) it makes the person who answers the phone in confusion accept the gift and there is no assimilated the information later and finds himself with a bigger bill to pay when the “gift” arrives at home. If you have a relative who lives alone, you can inform them so that they pay attention when you receive a call of this type so that you can decide whether or not to accept the gift.
3.The card scam
It is one of the oldest known scams and even so it continues to be one of the most common. Every day we can see on the news that someone was robbed through this scam, which consists of a person supposedly lost or with doubtful mental faculties tells them that he has found an envelope with a significant amount of money and a third person appears to mediate (the one who, as they say, happened to be passing by), it is the scam that they call the scammer, in this case, and Given the already strange situation, it is always best to tell the person who approaches asking for help that it is best to inform a local police officer for help.
4.Ask for personal information by phone
Many times our own electricity, gas, and telephone companies call us to offer us promotions or simply to attract new clients. To sign up for new services, they used to ask us by telephone for personal information such as bank account number, among others, although it is In a simple way, over time the companies themselves verified that many people with intentions took advantage and impersonated them, for this reason they usually send us a confirmation letter to confirm that we have made this change in our service. In any case, if you have any doubts or mistrust, it is best to tell the operator who calls you to call us at another time that a family member or trusted person may be at home so that they can confirm these details.
These are one of the most common scams and many times when in doubt it is best not to participate or inform the person generating the doubt that he prefers to have a family member or a trusted person close by to deal with the issues that led him to knock on your door.