Why do senior's tend to give their money to scammers?

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
They will not give their money to family members who may actually need money, but a total stranger calls them or rings the doorbell and they are willing to hand over money without question.
 

Perhaps.... they are going senile which makes them vulnerable to vultures ready to prey on them
They become scared
They become lonely and
..... they desperately want to trust someone.

I’ve been dealing with this concerning my folks and it’s very sad.
 
These scammers weren’t coming to the door.
They were the online kind. You can see the computers camera going on so I suggest to everyone out there to cover up your computers camera which predators can see you with.

Then a loud siren will go off scaring the user. While they are frightened and vulnerable they then leave a message to call a certain number so they can help fix this. When they call they are then asked to use a credit card and pay $300 or $400 in order for them to stop the alarm.

It’s happened four or five times while at my folks house. Then don’t like much when I talk to them 🤬😡.... and they don’t usually call back. Lol 😆
 
This is not a criticism of Deb, but "senior" is mostly a legal term which encompasses the ages from 50 to over 100 years old. I don't believe that 50 year old's have their brains turn to mush on their 50th birthday. And I never considered myself a old brain-dead person at that age and also not at my age of 71. I really dislike putting people into categories like that. That's why people look at us so-called "seniors" as decrepit smelly old people. Could we stop that, please?

Maybe a forum called "Still With-It People Over 50". I would be attracted to that one.
 
I'm more on the careful side, so far I have never fallen for scammers request for money or info. I remember years ago when my Mom was in her 70's when a stranger Knocked on her door and asked if she had anything to donate to the poor. He asked to go inside and she let him. He saw a Grandfather clock in her living and asked if she wanted to donate it.She said yes and he took it out. I almost went crazy . I had an alarm system put in and told her never to answer her door again. We lived across the street from one another and I told her if anyone knocked on her door she should call me and I would tell her if she could answer the door. She wasn't happy with me telling her what to do,but she listened to what I said and never opened the door again.
 
A few years ago, my uncle was the victim of identity theft. One day he received a phone call from someone that said there was a problem with a check he had used to pay his electric bill and they needed his bank account and social security number. He trustingky gave them the information. A few months went by and he didn't receive any bank statements. He had a friend investigate for him and come to find out, his staements were being sent to an address in the midwest and $12,000 had been withdrawn from his account from an ATM in Tennessee. In his defense, my uncle lived like a recluse. He didn't have a TV or radio and never left his apartment, so he never heard about all these scams.
 
Physical "Age" is not a reliable indicator of a person's fitness and mental capacity. Some people are still "sharp" well into their 90's, or more....while others need help adding 2+2 successfully at age 50.
 
Keesha said:
Over 85!
Click to expand...

That's a lot better. Thank you. But I don't believe that's the age that Deb meant. But I'm willing to listen to any clarification from her or anyone else.

So, on my 85th birthday, anyone, start lining up at my front door for wads of money thrown into the air. Just kidding. but not really. My dad is 92. His brain is still working well. He didn't retire from a position that required signing contracts of up to millions of dollars until he was age 88. And that was voluntary. He was still sharp, and also in the people sense. When the new person took his place numerous people left because of that new guy being an hard ass. There's lots more to people than being brain smart. There's also people smart and understanding what it takes to keep people happy.
 
........ I don't believe that 50 year old's have their brains turn to mush on their 50th birthday. And I never considered myself a old brain-dead person at that age and also not at my age of 71. I really dislike putting people into categories like that. That's why people look at us so-called "seniors" as decrepit smelly old people. Could we stop that, please?.....
Click to expand...
Yup!!!! A major pet peeve for me. As far as I'm concerned, scammers get by due to plain old, everyday, ignorance. There are just too many people who do not watch or read any news. I see postings on other forums warning of such-and-such a scam and often, it's scams that have been around over a decade. It's been repeated, so many times, that 'real business' is conducted via mail, not telephone. You never give out any personal info, etc. I just can't believe how many people (apparently) there are that just don't know this. Being older should not be an excuse --- they should know better from experience.
 
I think that people of all ages fall for scammers. Many of us can tell when someone is trying to scam us whether in person or online. It's always helpful to learn from the news and other sources on forums like this of the latest scams, especially phone scams which are so popular these days. I've never been very trusting of strangers and will always think twice before doing anything where my money is involved.
 
Keesha said:
Perhaps.... they are going senile which makes them vulnerable to vultures ready to prey on them
They become scared
They become lonely and
..... they desperately want to trust someone.

I’ve been dealing with this concerning my folks and it’s very sad.
Click to expand...
Sometimes seniors are not senile; they're just stupid. My sister & I were visiting our mother & she answered the phone. We could tell it was some scammer selling "Discounted Phone Plans." We kept telling her to hang up, but she was the type of person who just had to show everyone that she was the smartest person in the world. She constantly bragged to people that at 80, she had the memory of a teenager.
The guy on the phone ended up selling her a plan. When she got the bill & realized it was 4 times the cost of her previous phone plan, she decided to "teach them a lesson" by not paying the bill. Her phone was shut off. I helped her get the phone back on, since it was dangerous for her not to have a phone. After she continued to be stupid, we finally told her, "Next time you're scammed, you're on your own, since you won't listen to us." Over the next year, she was ripped off for more than $9,000.00.
 
Sometimes it's just as hard to determine if a family member or someone close to you is running a game on you as it is with a total stranger.

IMO the safest thing for a truly elderly infirm person to do is not answering the telephone if the caller is not in their contact list.

The same with a knock at the door if you don't recognize the person don't open the door.

We live in a different world today and we need to play by different rules.
 
I
Cybersecurity
You May Be Surprised Who’s Getting Scammed the Most
By
Matt Tatham
March 12, 2018 • 2 min read


Scams are big business these days, accounting for $50 billion in lost and stolen money, according to the 2017 Better Business Bureau (BBB) Scam Tracker Annual Risk Report. One surprising trend: More young people are falling victim to fraud and scams than older people.

The BBB report showed that Americans ages 18 to 34 were more susceptible to scams (43.7% were victims) than Americans 55 and older (27.6% were victims). However, while occurrences are less for older Americans, seniors still lose more money in scams than younger victims.

U.S. Youth Scammed More Often,

Seniors Scammed for More Money

https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/you-may-be-surprised-whos-getting-scammed-the-most/**************************************
Overall it has more to do with the kind of scam & what the person scammed feels they will gain or lose.
 
The scam artists have got it down to a science. They have virtually turned into chameleons nowadays and many people can get scammed young to old. Every day some new scams are out there and all these rotten people do is think of ways to trick people. Instead of everybody saying well you know that old person was just demented or the young person was just too naïve we need to focus on going after these scammers, Although I’m sure it’s very difficult to do.
 
Years ago the company that I worked for and a few others locally were scammed by a group of people that sent fake bills for maintenance/repair contracts on various pieces of office equipment. The bills were small-dollar amounts and when they went to accounts payable the clerks did not bother to match the serial numbers to our existing inventory they just sent out a check.
 
People in general, are often naive, and as the saying goes,
believe everyone is innocent before proven guilty.
I on the other hand, assume the opposite. People are sneaky and out for themselves
and are not doing me favors or a square deal. This view is called egoism in philosophy.
Seniors are likely to remember the old days when you could trust more.
 
I don’t fall for scam calls , I say I might be old but I’m not stupid yet :) (y)

On the other hand I dont understand why seniors both male and female don’t smell a rat when these online dating scammers start asking for money 💰
 
i had someone call me from a collection agency and said i owed a dr 57 dollars so i checked my records and it was all ready paid they called again and i told them to send me form with my i .d. number on it --so they said it would be in a plain envelope so i told them i wanted a return address on the envelope--they said they didnt like doing that--they sent the form with the return address on it---they waited a few days and called again --i told them i sent the payment in already-they said they havent recieved it --i told them i sent it to the doctor--they said i should have sent it to them--that bill had been paid over a year ago--
 

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