Another June Observance next week— World Elder Abuse Awareness Day June 15th.
The 15th of June in 2022 commemorates the elderly – it’s World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. This date calls attention to a global problem of an aging society. Older people are often dependent on the home care of their relatives who might be unable to cope with that. Domestic violence and abuse of the elder is the sad consequence World Elder Abuse Awareness points to.
Despite it being a topic of discussion and legislation for decades, elder abuse of all types continues to be misunderstood, underreported, and frequently perpetrated.
With all this in mind, I want to bring some light to the Grandparent Scam. This scam is a nationwide problem that affects our elderly every day.
Grandparents often have a hard time saying no to their grandchildren, which is something scam artists know all too well.
Scammers who gain access to consumers’ personal information – by mining social media or purchasing data from cyber thieves – are creating storylines to prey on the fears of grandparents. The scammers then call and impersonate a grandchild in a crisis situation, asking for immediate financial assistance. The callers may “spoof” the caller ID that appears on the recipient’s phone to make an incoming call look like it’s coming from a trusted source.
In a recent report from the FBI in Buffalo, N.Y., a caller contacted an elderly person in western New York state and claimed to be a grandchild who had just been in a serious car accident and arrested for drunk driving. The imposter pressed the grandparent for money to post bond, then passed the phone to someone else who claimed to be the caller’s attorney.
That phony attorney told the grandparent to come up with approximately $15,000 in cash and to put it in an envelope to be picked up at their house by a courier at a designated time. When the courier arrived, the unsuspecting grandparent handed over the cash. The FBI reports that these scams may use ride-share companies to retrieve the cash from victims.
Please discuss these scams with your elderly friends and family, and come up with a plan to prevent them from becoming a victim. Awareness and prevention is the key.
We all can get caught up in our day-to-day lives, but stopping to make time to check in on our elderly friends and family, and having these conversations, are so important. When you find yourself older and relying on others, how will you want to be treated and taken care of?
If you suspect that a vulnerable adult is the victim of abuse, neglect or exploitation, please submit an online report at www.OKHotline.org. You may also call the Abuse and Neglect hotline at 1-800-522-3511.
More Elder Abuse resources: https://ncea.acl.gov/Resources.aspx
As always, Haven Advocates are here to help.
Thank you for reading this week FYI Friday.
