I found that my parent’s were writing checks to charities on a regular basis, which was a new habit. When I realized that I didn’t recognize many of them, and then saw the amount of mail coming in doubling, the alarm bells went off.
I work with a variety of seniors. Most still live at home, have children who don’t live in the area, and need some simple help keeping track of cash flow and their bill payments. I was recently interviewed for a story on the three common senior scams and hope that you will find some tips on help to help your loved ones avoid becoming a victim to the hideous people hoping to separate them from their savings. Referred.
Related Stories:
– “Be on Guard: 3 Common Senior Scams” by Amy Fontinelle
My mother’s weakness is the “You have already won $25,000. To claim, buy some of this garbage (which you won’t ever use)…”
Ironically, I think it stemmed from a fear of running out of money that made her easy prey for these types of “Reader’s Digest Prize Winner” scams (as I call them… 😉 )
Once she sent in for one, as you observed with your parents, a veritable deluge of catalogues with similar enticement, unlikely to ever come through, was all but guaranteed. Took an absolute age to get them to stop sending them. They just don’t seem to care that the recipient is classed as vulnerable – they may even rely on it! 🙁
Thanks for sharing. That is so true. I started to mail back all the offers with pre-paid postage with no donation. I am hoping that they will take her off once they realize she will no longer donate and mailing to her is costing them money. I doubt it will make a difference, but at least I can protest letter by letter.
So sad that this happens, but boy does it!