Print This Out For Your Parents: Common Scams Targeting Seniors

Seniors are always a target of scams and cons, but such scams go on the rise when the economy is bad, Illinois Attorney General's Office Community Outreach Liaison Skip Gonsoulin told Tinley Park's Seniors and Law Enforcement Together group on Monday.

While talking to SALT, Gonsoulin talked about the variety of services the attorney general's office offers to seniors, and warned them of several common scams targeting seniors. A sampling are presented below,

If you think you or anyone you know has been a victim of any of these scams, immediately call the Illinois Attorney General's Senior Fraud Helpline at 1-800-243-5377 or 1-800-964-3013 (TTY).

What it is:

"You'll get a call, a frantic call that your 'grandson,' your 'granddaughter' is in a situation and needs you to wire them money," Gonsoulin said.

The attorney general's office recently heard from someone who wired thousands of dollars to help a nephew who was "arrested in Canada," Gonsoulin said. Needless to say, the nephew was fine and the money was never seen again.

What to do:

Take down the caller's information and then call your relatives. Call your children and find out if your grandchild (or nephew, niece, son or daughter) is OK. Call the grandchild directly – odds are they're fine.

If the person on the phone tells you there's no time to call the relative or otherwise tries to discourage you from calling your family, that's a big red flag.

What it is:

This scam starts many ways, including promises of work as a "secret shopper," other employment or even telling you you've won a foreign lottery.

But at some point, all these scams will involve the scammers sending you a check. They'll tell you to deposit in your bank account so you can wire the money (minus your percentage) back to them.

Let's take a step back and talk about how checks work.

When you deposit a check, it actually takes several days or even weeks for your bank to get the money from the bank that issued the check. Your bank wants you to have the money sooner, so they put their money in your account for the amount of the check and then wait to get reimbursed.

So if you get a check for $1,000 on Monday, your bank puts $1,000 in your account on Tuesday morning and then waits for the check-writer's bank to send over $1,000. This happens with every check.

But with this scam, that money's never coming. The check you deposited in your account is actually a very good fake. So when the scammers ask you to wire them the money, you're actually wiring them the bank's money.

It will take a couple weeks for the bank to realize the money isn't coming. And when they do, that leaves the person who deposited the fraudulent check – you – responsible for the full amount.

What to do:

Don't get involved.

If someone says the word "transfer" or asks you to deposit a check before wiring them money, it's a scam. Companies don't recruit secret shoppers or otherwise pay employees that way. You can't win a lottery you didn't enter. It is a scam.

Another red flag is when they ask you to wire the money, rather than get it to them some other way.

"You will always in this scam always have to wire the money," Gonsoulin said. "Always."

What it is:

Identity theft is a blanket term meaning any time someone poses as another person to make purchases, get services or otherwise defraud you. It can include someone using your credit line at a department store, stealing your credit card number or getting a credit card in your name.

It is the fastest-growing crime in the nation, Gonsoulin said, adding that it's worse than being held up at gunpoint. The person who robs you at gunpoint gets all the money you're carrying at that particular moment, but an identity thief can cause you financial difficulties for years.

The Illinois Attorney General's Office's Identity Theft Hotline number is 1-866-999-5630.

What to do:

Gonsoulin offered a few tips.

Don't give any information to people who call you. If someone claiming to be from your bank calls, asking you to "verify" your Social Security number or other information, it's a scam. They already have that information.

If you're not sure, get off the phone. Call your bank (or Medicare or whatever group the person is claiming to be from) and verify the person is who they say you are.

Don't trust your caller ID. Some scammers can falsify the number that shows up on your caller ID, making it look like they are from your bank or Medicare. You don't know who's calling you, but it you're the one who made the call, you can be sure of who you're talking to.

Shred all the documents you throw out.

Sometimes "dumpster divers" actually pick through your trash looking for financial documents, documents with your Social Security number or even discarded credit card offers.

Similarly, do not keep the documents in plain sight in the house. Identity theft is a crime of access, Gonsoulin said. This is especially important for seniors, who often have caretakers come in to help them.

It's not rude or suspicious to put your financial paperwork away before people come over. It's common sense. Even the sweetest person in the world might find a piece of paper with Social Security number or credit line at a store too big a temptation, Gonsoulin said.

"You wouldn't leave you money lying around," he said. "You wouldn't leave your best jewelry lying around. So put (the paperwork) away too."