While our Life Enrichment team provides a lot of entertaining programs throughout the month, it’s not always just fun and games. This week, Life Enrichment hosted an important program on Senior Scam Prevention and Safety. The program was presented by Michael Bannon, Director of Bucks County Office of Consumer Protection / Weights & Measures.
In addition to speaking about a variety of fraud, Mr. Bannon provided numerous handouts with tips on various scams and cons. He also answered questions from residents. One of Mr. Bannon’s main themes was Knowledge and Education equals Knowledge.
To share that knowledge, he provided tips on the following scams:
- Romance scams: Criminals pose as interested romantic partners on social media or dating website to capitalize on their elderly victims’ desire to find companions
- Family / caregiver scam: Relatives or acquaintances of the elderly victim take advantage of them to get their money
- Sweepstakes / charity / lottery scam: Criminals claim to work for legitimate charitable organizations to gain victims’ trust. Or they claim their targets have won a foreign lottery or sweepstake, which they can collect for a “fee.”
- Phone scams: Be suspicious! Specifically, do not answer the incoming call if you do not recognize the name or number. The number you see on your caller ID may be altered to make it appear similar to a name or number that you recognize. Remember, if the call is important, the caller will leave a message
- Tech support scam: Criminals pose as technology support representatives and offer to fix non-existent computer issues. The scammers gain remote access to victims’ devices and sensitive information
- Grandparent scam: Criminals pose as a relative – usually a child or grandchild – claiming to be in immediate financial need
- Government impersonation scam: Criminals pose as government employees and threaten to arrest or prosecute victims unless they agree to provide funds or other payments.
- Home repair scam: Criminals appear in person and charge homeowners in advance for home improvement services that they never provide.
To help on these or any other fraud schemes, contact Bucks County Crimes Against Older Adults Task Force at 888-942-8257.