Common Scams Elderly People Are Being Hit With...
There are some common scams elderly are facing these days. Local companies are using calling centers to scam senior citizens in many different ways. Times may be tough, but seriously. Do companies get away with using calling centers to scam seniors? How crooked can business owners get and still sleep at night? There must be more people void of a conscience than I thought.
My wife and I moved 3000 miles recently to be with her dad, as her mom had passed away and her dad wasn't coping so well on his own. So we are temporarily living with him until we get a place of our own here in the area. One of the first things I noticed that he wasn't able to make his monthly payments, so I was wondering what payments he had. So we found out he had mortgage payments. I said how come, because I knew his house was paid for.
Someone had talked him into mortgaging 80% of his house, so he could draw interest from that. Within a few months he stopped receiving his interest payments. Now he is making mortgage payments on a home that is already paid for and still not receiving any interest money.
He was receiving phone calls about the duct work in the house. The first guy came and checked it all out and took pictures of the inside of the duct work. There was another company that had called and also wanted to come and check the duct work for him. He said "Okay", so before they came we told him that the other guy was already here and checked it all and gave a quote, but he said the guy told him that it wouldn't cost him anything for them to come. Do my dad let him come and check it. When he was here, we showed him the quote that he was given from the other guy and they simply made a phone call and then left.
When these calling centers call, they make it sound like it is all going to be free so the senior figures it's all okay and why not let them come. These are scammers just trying to get money from seniors for services that are entirely unnecessary. The home he lives in is only a few years old and is in no need of anything.
He had a company calling for months and bugging about replacing his water heater. They had called at least 2 or 3 times per week. We didn't realize this at first because he was answering the phone and we didn't hear about it until the time he said okay come. They told him this would not cost him anything for them to come and replace the water heater. When the guy was here he told my dad that this and this needed to be done in order for them to change the water heater. So, in the end it was suppose to cost him money, which they told him it wouldn't cost a cent. Scam????? I happened to be here when the service guy came for time he had said. After he explained what renovations needed to be done to meet the local bi laws in order to replace the heater on a just about brand new house, then I told the service guy that thank you for stopping by and we had not ordered anything and there was no need for this to be replaced, because the water heater is working perfectly. I asked the service man why he was here and he had no idea accept for the fact that the company had made this appointment. Then after he left, my dad still kept receiving calls for this service for a few more weeks, until he told them that he did not need a new water heater.
There are so many seniors in the world that are getting scammed by people, who are just trying to get money for totally unnecessary things that don't need to be done.
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This is a disgrace. Seniors are often confused by the language they hear. It sounds serious and official, and they do not want to make a mistake and neglect something.
They live in stress, which is very much like being on drugs, and they probably are on drugs, too. They are afraid of so many things because they know they are no longer in control. Thank Heavens this individual now has help.
I guess you are right, because if I hadn't been here to stop the project from proceeding, it would have cost my father-n-law $1000s that he doesn't have. And the truth is, he didn't need anything.
Thank you for that comment.
Seniors are easy targets for scammers.....not just in phone calls, either. I live with my 93 yr. old mother, and she gets mail daily from different organizations wanting her to fill out a questionnaire and then send it in with a donation so that they can fight a particular political fight in Congress. I told her that our congressmen get paid a good salary to do their jobs, and we don't need to send more money to get them to do the job at hand. I'm retired, too, but I don't get the mail scams that she does.
The number of charities seeking money is increasing, too. I like to support charities that provide for people who can't provide for themselves, but I never know whether my money is going for the good cause or if it is being spent on lavish items for the administrators of that charity.
It's sad to live in a world where you can't decide who can be trusted.
Pat
This is one of the lowest things a person can do. It amazes me how many people there are in this word willing to do anything for easy money! May God protect our elderly, and those most likely to be taken advantage of!
Same problem in Eupore, money make people crazy ... I prefer work hard to make honnest money than cheat and abuse about weak people. We need money because we need to survive but when we die, only the soul stay ... ;)
Unfortunately this happens a lot. not just the elderly. I receive many phone call a day ranging from loan approvals to car insurance. My personal favorite so far is a voice mail stating I had a restraining order against me and I had 24 hours to respond.
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This rings a bell. When my father was still living he had a man come around one day to check his house for termites. Termite that I am I just happened to be there at the time. I was ornery and let the man crawl around under dad's house for about 30 minutes. When he crawled out he presented dad with an estimate of $800.00 to get rid of the termite. I thanked him for his time but told him dads house had just been fumigated last week. You can just imagine what he said to me before he left!