DATCP Providing Ways for Seniors to Recognize Scams

Scammers are continuing to find new ways to trick people into handing over money – but many of the scams are very similar. 

Due to the fact that many scammers target an older audience, Michelle Reinen from the Department of Ag, Trade, and Consumer Protection says there are customized bookmarks to keep near the phone that “reminds consumers what to look out for with these scams. It names the ones that target seniors and gives those safety tips and short little phrases so everyone can have that visual reminder that it’s okay to hang up the phone. You don’t have to engage in these conversations.”

Reinen adds that the numbers last year were not favorable to victims. She tells us “we found out in 2017 that those in their seventies that fell victim to
these scams lost a median amount of money of more than $600. When you hit your
eighties, we were over $1,100. But there were more than $900-million dollars
lost to these scams nationally last year.”