In Spring 2020, my grandparents' doorbell rang. The man at the door assured my grandfather that he was with the electric company and that he was checking on the grid in the yard. While my grandfather was distracted with this imposter, two other men slipped into my grandpa’s home. They stole his gold, precious coins, and cash. My grandfather was devastated. Embarrassed. And out over $10,000.

Last year, there were nearly 90,000 complaints of fraud. This fraudulent behavior resulted in $3.1 billion in losses from people age 60+. We need to help our elderly community protect themselves from fraud.

I spent some time over the holiday break talking to Andrew Barlow, a previous law enforcement officer. He offered these three tips for keeping our older family members safe.

1. Scrutinize emails. The best thing to check is the email address of the sender, if it doesn’t match the name of your institution, don't trust it!
2. Create a "safe word" with loved one. Protect against AI voice spoofing scams by establishing a unique phrase to verify identities.
3. Medi-what? Every person 65+ has access to Medi-care which makes the Medi-care scam popular. Hang up and call Medi-care back directly. 

Our law enforcement work incredibly hard to keep our community safe. We can partner with them and keep an eye out on our elderly neighbors and family members.

Two more resources:

• Send your favorite seniors this Seniors Against Scams video link. 
• You can report fraud by clicking here. 

Here to serve,