Welcome to the Senior Scam Alert, a column designed to inform seniors of scams and cons that are regularly committed against them. Seniors are victims of cons more often than any other age group. Seniors tend to be more trusting, and less apt to question someone who portrays himself as an “expert”. People over 65 are targeted for scams more than any other age group, and account for 56% of all fraud cases, even though they are only about 13% of the US population.

“Individuals who grew up in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s were generally raised to be polite and trusting. Two very important and positive personality traits, except when it comes to dealing with a con-man.”- Federal Trade Commission

Prize and Sweepstakes Scams!

This scam alert will focus on the common “sweepstakes” scam. There are many variations on this scam, and all of them are designed to swindle consumers out of money or personal information. Even the most innocuous of these scams is designed to obtain personal information that can be sold to telemarketers and other sweepstakes companies.

1. Prizewinning Phone Call Scam

This scam is usually perpetrated by sending a postcard or an automated call to an unsuspecting victim. They offer a free prize if the recipient calls a 1-900 telephone number. The phone call then costs as much as $10.00 per minute. Most consumers who responded to such post-cards did not receive the prize even after having spent a large sum of money making the telephone call. Sometimes, the caller will be asked for a “processing fee” or a fee for “postage”. The caller then gives out a credit card number, which leads to further fraud, and false charges.

2. Foreign Lottery Scams

If you receive a call about winning a foreign lottery, hang up! This is a scam. All foreign lotteries solicited by mail are illegal. The con usually involves a “fee” to wire the money, and can range anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars. There should never be a “fee” for winning any lottery. If the caller says that the “fee” is for tax payment, this is also a lie. Genuine lotteries will always subtract income taxes from your gross winnings and give you a check for the remainder.

Some of these fraud artists will go so far as to issue counterfeit checks. Upon receiving their fee, the telemarketer issues counterfeit checks to the victims in the amount of the bogus lottery prize. The check then bounces, and the victim’s bank goes after the victim for the charges. Issuing the check makes the con more malicious, and also gives the thief a few more days to cover his tracks.

According to the FTC, millions of these bogus scams and cons are intercepted by mail carriers every year, but the scam letters that do get through do considerable damage. At least $120 million is lost by consumers every year responding to bogus foreign lotteries.

If you do receive postal mail that looks like it is from a foreign lottery, give it to your postmaster, and also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission with as much information as possible from the mailing.

Contact the FTC: www.ftc.gov or 1-877-FTC-HELP.

Sources: Better Business Bureau, Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, The Federal Trade Commission