Panda Picks-Seniors Work on the Net!

The latest scam which is quite prevelant  here in Northwest Ohio, is the caller who claims to be a relative stranded in Canada.  Supposedly they are being detained  and need money for fines and transportation home.  Funds should be sent via wire transfer, Western Union or MoneyGram.  Our Better Business Bureau has been contacted by many reporting this scam.

This scam can be carried out because your name, address, ages  children, phone   are listed on people search sites.  We seniors can become frustrated when we hear a youngster is in trouble and we want to resucue.  Never mind that we don’t recognize the voice.  With our families so scattered we may not have heard the voice of our grandchildren for a long time. 

Radio and Television are getting the scam information out here in our area.  You might alert others in your area as  to this scam  as it is growing rapidly so  a representative of our Better Buseau told me  The Better

Is there a “For Sale Sign” in your yard.  These scammers are not targeting the elderly who can’t defend themselves, they are appealing to the desperate who are having trouble selling there homes.

Go here to read  the descriptions of scam offers to help sell your house.  http://blogs.byownermls.com/2008/11/avoiding-common-homeowner-scams.html  

While on line we have to have our defenses up.  This week, a nice skype chat turned into a blunt statement “Send me more than $150 US dollars”.  The nice thing about skype is that you just don’t respond.  Likewise, as we advertise our business ventures on line by giving out our e-mail address, we become the recipient of scam letters.  You know the one who is sick, father has died and left money in London.  Not original is it? I just learned that there is a place to report these incidents. Facebook has been hit with a Nigerian type scam where the person claims to be your on line friend stranded in another country. This involves high jacking your on line account. Mail on line.com. reports the latest on line scam.

Send your reports to: http://www.antiphishing.org/report_phishing.html

As  seniors we often become victims as we are home, available, believing and trusting.  On line  internet as well as telephone scams are on the rise and we tend to be the victims.  I want to share several scam practices that are going on right now based on police reports as well as my personal experience.

Nov. 11, State Police in Pennsylvania  now report a scam  involving our willingness to co-operate.  The automated phone message asks us to change the pin number to our bank accounts.  When the old pin # is received along with other information, the thiefs have access to banking accounts.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:  recoup the phone number using *69.  Notify local authorities. Call your bank.  Keep track of your account daily  via the internet, watching for any discrepancies.

ON GOING SCAM- This one preys on our wanting to be good citizens.  The caller is warning that we missed  jury duty.  However, they can make it right so that we don’t get in further trouble.  They then want to verify information so that they can eliminate the need for our being punished for our neglect.  They will repeat things like your name, address, phone number asking you to verify.  Now they have you on a role answering questions and agreeing.  “Now what is your social security” they might say “We need to verify that you indeed are Mrs. XXX”.   Your mind is still back on , when was I notified to be on jury duty, what will they do to me for my neglect, etc. You know the rest of the story, you have just been scammed.

A common scam for  on line internet users is to receive a notice that you have just won the lottery. You will receive a notice that you have so many days to claim and here is the contact information.  I received such notices for several months saying I had won the British Lottery.  The notice included lottery numbers they were trying to match to people and of course the number assigned to me was on the list.  I notified the FBI, calling the local number in our community phone book.

I have experienced two on line scams where the e-mail looked very official, with proper stationery headings.  One was for pay pal and the other was for my bank.  Both notices told me to go to a certain url and fill in the information to verify my account as they suspected  a problem with my account.  I contacted pay pal and they told me “WE NEVER ASK FOR YOUR INFORMATION”.  On the bank request they told me they would NEVER send a notice but would contact me in person and ask  me to come in if there were a problem with my account.

When in doubt, always contact the instituion and verify that indeed they were the sender of the information. This is another tactic I find affective.  Thank them and tell them you can’t talk right now but you will get back with them.  Ask for their phone number. 

Panda Picked the subject of phone and on line scams because we seniors are the greatest victims of such cimes.   On line scams and phone scams prey on our  fear, lack of understanding, our willingness to please and  our desire to be honest.

National Do Not Call List-1-888-382-1222

Think You Are A Victim-Action To Take

Common Phone Scams