Protect yourself: Stay alert to prevent financial scams

By Dean Rowland CONTRIBUTOR

The golden years for senior citizens can turn into the twilight zone if they don’t take precautions to protect their confidential information, including bank accounts and Social Security numbers.

Personal information can be compromised by phone, through the mail, on the internet, or person-to person. Sometimes, the victim might not even know it’s happening until it’s too late.

Seniors lose more than $3 billion to fraud each year, according to the FBI.

Some of the most common senior scams involve schemes about charities, funerals, investments, reverse mortgages, sweepstakes “winnings,” Medicare claims and more. In Beaufort County, residents have been scammed over a fake Corvette, blackmailed through a dating website, and cheated out of thousands of dollars for paying “taxes” on a false sweepstakes win.

“[Seniors] are the target audience,” said Lt. Eric Calendine, investigations and enforcement officer with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. “It’s easier to take their money than it is to rob a bank.”

If someone unknown to you contacts by phone or by email, Calendine suggests: “Question everything … don’t click on anything.”

The top scam in 2022, he said, was a Geek Squad-type scam telling the victim their account has been compromised.

Calendine said those scammers tell the victim, “We need to access your computer.”

Don’t do it, he warned.

Calendine told of one local woman who was contacted in 2022 by someone claiming to be with Amazon and asking about her recent purchases. When the woman denied making any purchases, the caller transferred the call to a purported “CIA agent.”

Eventually, the woman was coerced into withdrawing $130,000 in gift cards and cash and delivering them to another “agent” a local Walmart parking lot.

Sometimes scammers play on the emotions of the victim.

“We’ve seen people in Sun City lose their homes,” because of romance scams, Calendine said.

Another tactic used is posting a red or blue screen alert on your computer screen. This means “The bad guys already have access to your computer,” Calendine said. “You need to have your computer wiped to remove the malware.”

A current scam is wire transfer frauds, which almost topped $1 million in the county last year.

“These guys have so many tools in their playbook,” he said.

Calendine gives many presentations to senior communities and the public on scam prevention and encourages any group to contact him for assistance.

Here are some tips from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission about how seniors can protect themselves from scams:

• Do not accept calls from an unknown number.

• Never give your name or other personal information over the phone in response to a request that you didn’t expect.

• Do not fall under pressure to act immediately. If they are a legitimate organization, they will not pressure you to make a decision immediately.

• Do not make payments to someone insisting you pay them in wire transfers, using gift cards or with cryptocurrency.

Lowcountry resident Dean Rowland is a veteran senior editor and freelance writer.

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