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MY THOUGHTS - One of my favorite LA Times columnists is Steve Lopez. Maybe because he always looks at the human side of what he is reporting. A short time ago, he wrote a column explaining he was changing his focus. As he was approaching seventy, he wanted to highlight all the great things Seniors were doing in their golden years and at the same time cut back on the frequency of his columns.
Having taken a similar action myself last year, I was curious to see what tack he would take. So far, he has done a good job in showing that many Seniors… and Senior Seniors (over 80)… are still accomplishing all kinds of things aside from playing golf and pickle tennis. He also highlighted a 102-year-old man living by himself who received a $595 LADWP bill for his one bedroom home. Many readers offered to help pay the bill!
Too often, ageism, depending on your profession, curtails your professional activities, either through physical problems, emotional burdens or plain “just want to have fun” desires. We are going to be hearing a lot about the “elderly” as we enter the 2024 election cycle, which feels like it gets longer and longer each election. I think a six- month lead up to an election is quite sufficient and obviously less costly; however, that is a different column for another time. With technology taking us into new frontiers, whatever we could discover about our candidates can be done in six months. Who knows maybe ChatGPT and its artificial intelligence competitors will be writing all the political speeches. Might be an improvement!
Along with the myriad of other challenges seniors face, there are many smart-ass scammers out there who target those of us of a certain age. They have become far too successful in separating us from our well- earned material and psychological assets. When I first started being on the receiving end of the “sucker” list, I found it rather amusing and would enjoy playing along. I took perverse pleasure in leading my opponent on and just when they were coming in for the kill…cutting them off. Now I just get pissed! Admittedly, I still lead some of the more ambitious scammers into a dead end. It keeps my mind sharp.
I must admit, I almost fell prey to a couple recently, which I will share with you. In January on a rainy morning, I received a phone call from the Department of Water and Power. The man on the other end asked if I had received a notice that my power was being cut off at 1:00 that afternoon. I asked why and he said non-payment of 2 bills. I told him that couldn’t be right because I had paid those bills and had proof. He told me to check my account and call him back. He even gave me a phone number etc. I only panicked a little because knowing the LADWP and its many errors, it was indeed a possibility it had misplaced my payments.
I quickly called my son (the lawyer) and after hearing my unusual panic he told me it was a scam. The utility companies always send written letters. He had me call the number I had been given and it answered, “Department of Water and Power.” BUT it didn’t answer, LA Department of Water of Power. Apparently, the next step was to have me pay on account for next month directly to the “turning off the electricity” Supervisor, so they could stop the work order and have time to straighten the account. Needless to say, I came close to falling for it, so if you get a phone call from a utility, saying they are cutting your whatever, it probably is this new scam.
The second one is amusing in retrospect but caused some financial headaches. My credit card was being hacked almost every other month. One of my granddaughters suggested I was not just on a list but starred!!! The credit card company would send me a text asking if I had made the purchase in question. If I texted “no” they would close the account and issue a new card. The problem was having certain monthly bills paid like Netflex etc, caused them to shut the service. I would then have to notify my monthly charges I had a new card.
I checked my statement, to see IF maybe I had purchased something and forgot from where? Called the phone number on the statement and it was a “customer service” third party contractor. They couldn’t tell me what I purchased or the name of the company I had purchased it from. They could only confirm the amount. They suggested I call the credit card company, which might have more information.
I won’t bore you with the multiple phone calls, disconnections, “let me transfer you”, and “Please hold for the next available decade” etc. in getting through to the credit card company. I swear they do these things to discourage one from bothering them. I finally spoke to a fraud supervisor, who was very helpful.
In checking my last two monthly statements, she discovered ten charges of varying amounts from $2.99 to $29.99 all from four different companies using random assorted capital letters for their names. When she discovered what I had purchased, she cleared her throat, I’m sure hiding a smirk, and said,” they were all for Escort Services.” My immediate thought was… what kind of escort does one get for $29.99, and what kind of service for 12.99.???
This group of creative scammers would test a hacked account, by billing insignificant amounts. Once they saw the payments were accepted, they would return, charging large amounts. As a result, I have now gone through several of my credit card payments not being honored. The Credit card company spokesperson said they have tried to curtail this scam. One can get a “virtual account” for purchasing online. It is not your real credit card number, but an alias that goes directly to your permanent number, making it very difficult to hack on line purchases. It is like the virtual password.
Be sure to check your statement, and if it’s a charge from an unfamiliar company…no matter how small…check it. Don’t think you Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Zs are exempt. According to Studies you were more likely than seniors to report losing money to fraud. Maybe we old-timers are too embarrassed to admit succumbing to a scam.
Suffering financial loss from fraud, scams, and identity theft is devastating. The ugly truth is that fraudsters are always looking for new ways to scam you. To stay safe, you need to keep up to date with the latest scams going around — and learn how to avoid them.
Scammers will often get their victims to fall for some sort of overpayment scheme or ask for money in other ways, requesting payment in very specific – and red-flaggy – ways. Requesting payment in cryptocurrency, gift cards, wire transfers, or cash only -should be red flag!
Scams targeting older adults are on the rise. In 2021, there were 92,371 older victims of fraud resulting in $1.7 billion in losses. The most common financial scams targeting older people include government impersonation scams, sweepstakes scams, robocall scam, the Foreign Prince and of course the Grand Romantic Lover.
If any of you have been the victim or almost the victim of an unusual scam, please share. Will treat responses as anonymous.
(Denyse Selesnick is a CityWatch columnist and a former publisher/journalist/international event organizer. Denyse can be reached at: [email protected].)
