Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Guidelines For Avoiding Elder Fraud

By Diane Anderson


Most people of the baby groomer generation have quite a lot of financial advantage as compared with the current generation. Even so, they remain vulnerable to a lot of scams brought along by the younger generation. It is the mandate of those who are close to these seniors to protect them from such situations. The following are tips for avoiding elder fraud that one can think through.

Start by understanding what these frauds look like. There are quite a lot of things involved when it comes to senior frauds. Fraudsters usually take advantage of the senior at any given opportunity. It might be a simple lottery scam to an adverse situation such as insurance scam or real estate scam. In most cases, seniors find themselves in such situations when lured to invest in a particular project or scheme without consultation.

Check in regularly with the elder. A family member or a friend should be aware of every financial transaction made by the senior. You should discuss vital aspects such as commercial emails, financial transactions, bills, and other aspects that the seniors are not familiar with. Making such a decision will give you an insight into the situation and confirm whether it is real or a scam.

Learn how you can recognize a fraud. Seniors are usually shy when they have incurred a fraudulent situation. However, in one way or another you can realize such a situation. For instance, if you find the affected person having a change of behavior, it might be an indicator of a scam. Apart from that, if you are aware of their banking habits and find unpaid bills or unusual signature, it might be an indicator of a scam.

Take over their vital documents. At some point, seniors end up failing to cater to their financial responsibilities due to adverse age or sickness. At that point, a close relative or an attorney should assume their role in their financial obligations. Therefore, they should take charge of documents such as the wills, HIPAA release documents, and healthcare proxy.

Appoint an additional person to verify the transaction. Most people tend to limit the verification members to the lawyer of their senior and close relatives for security matters. However, it is recommendable to have an additional member who is trustworthy enough to put the interest of the senior first. Most senior might go against such decisions, but their close members should help them understand the importance of such consideration.

Remove their details from public platforms. Most scammers get information about seniors from public avenues. You should consider removing the details of your elder from these platforms to reduce the possibility of a scam. You should help the senior sign for a National Do Not Call which prevent telemarketers from reaching out to their addresses.

Keep updated over information related to senior scams. There are ever-changing trends in the senior scamming. In that case, one has to be careful with this aspect and should look for reliable sources of information to rely on. You can get information online and through government agencies that deal with such a situation. You should also have a helpline that you can use to contact necessary authorities in case you suspect such situations.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment