Prime women defy the usual stereotypes of females in the second half of life. We don’t want to be thought of as people who sit in rocking chairs. Nor do we want to be considered dumb little old ladies who are easy to take advantage of. Nevertheless, far too many older women (and men) become victims of scams, perhaps because older people are more likely to have some money to steal.
Scammers are usually very clever people who would rather trick the rest of us out of our hard-earned and carefully saved money than work for an honest living. But, to better fool us, they put a lot of time, effort, creativity, and technology into their scams. You don’t have to be dumb to be scammed.
Below are some true stories of actual people who became involved in scams. The details have been changed to protect the vulnerable. Remember that these are only examples, and today’s or tomorrow’s cons may contain new and interesting twists.
The first example occurred in Canada. A woman received a call saying that police were holding her husband and that she would never see him again unless she immediately sent $30,000. She was not to call the police since they were the ones holding her spouse. She panicked. Otherwise, she would have realized that Canada operates under the rule of law. The police are on our side and do not kidnap people.
She immediately sent the $30,000. The fund transfer was successful, but the scammers told her that it had not gone through and that she should resend it. So she sent another $30,000. She was in the middle of sending $30,000 for the third time when her husband walked in the door.
The second example involves a phishing expedition when messages are sent from a supposedly legitimate source to extract valuable data like banking information or credit card numbers. In this case, the message appeared to come from a major phone company. The woman who bit was not your usual victim. She was the recently retired head of a very large, respected organization. However, she had just spent a lot of time and effort installing services from that same phone company, and the scam email appeared legitimate. It was only after she had input far too many personal details that she realized this was a scam and stopped, but by then, she was already faced with changing all the card numbers, etc., that she had already sent to the scammer.
In this case, the MC would not, so the only thing she lost was a booking for an actual wedding in the time slot she had held for the scammer. Others, wishing to be nicer to the scammer and do him a favor, lost thousands when their own check to the scammer was cashed and the check they had received bounced.
Then there are all the old tried and true scams that are still out there because they still work. You have just won/inherited a lot of money, and we just need a few dollars and your banking information to send it to you.
Or, your grandchild is in jail and needs bail, or your mother is in the hospital and needs medical care. Maybe it is something as minor as a not quite legitimate e-tailer who takes your money and never sends what you thought you had ordered. The list goes on and on regarding false claims you might face one day.
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