An alarming number of scams and thefts target elders.<\/p>\n
One type of scam takes advantage of the public’s confusion over changes in health insurance. Someone perpetrating this type of fraud may call a senior and say that new Medicare cards are being issued and they just need to verify some personal information. A similar trick is for callers to say they are IRS agents. The goal is to obtain personal details such as Social Security numbers, which can be used to set up credit cards or loans in victims’ names, or claim their income tax refunds.<\/p>\n
Seniors may be targeted in part because they are more likely to answer the phone, because they may have retirement savings or because they are perceived as more trusting. However, scammers will defraud anyone they can. The federal government reported that almost 83,000 complaints of this type of imposter scam were received in 2012, an increase of (more…)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An alarming number of scams and thefts target elders. One type of scam takes advantage of the public’s confusion over changes in health insurance. Someone perpetrating this type of fraud may call a senior and say that new Medicare cards…<\/span><\/p>\n