Any suggestions to protect elder against phone fraud?
My 77-yr-old father just gave his bank account number to a phone number that comes up online as being connected to a financial scam. I made a complaint online and I called his bank to find out what can be done. It isn't much: watch the account for suspicious activity which can then be disputed, or close the account. It's so hard to know what to do. I've warned him not to give out info to people over the phone, but I can't stop it every time. I'm sure there was some slick sales pitch, and he doesn't stand a chance against something like that. Anybody else have parents that still use the phone and are in danger of becoming victim to a scam? How do you handle it? I don't monitor my father's phone calls. It's his house, I want him to have his freedom. I think this incident may have gotten his attention for the moment, but he'll forget soon enough, and a smooth talker is going to get his info right out of him. :-( I REALLY wish the Do Not Call lists actually worked... but criminals aren't going to respect a DNC anyway.
I don't think there's much I can do to prevent this from happening again. But... it's really bothering me right now, so I thought I'd ask if anyone else has similar experience.
You write "It's his house, I want him to have his freedom". I understand that feeling well and also remember being in the "grey area" where my mother could cope with some things, but not with others. It is a time where you need to make decisions between their safety and their desires - keeping them happy and as independent as possible. There are some issues that require the decision to come down on the side of safety. Applying that is not always easy. There is no way I could have "forced" or "coerced" mother to hand over control of her finances to me. Others have been able to take over without too much upset - doing it slowly bit by bit, or quickly if the situation warranted it. I think losing money to scammers is too big a price to pay for his freedom, if you are able to intervene somehow - whether it be by monitoring phone calls or whatever. It sounds like dementia is progressing and, accordingly, your actions on his behalf need to be stepped up. Getting POA in some form is great, If he balks this time, try it again later. I explained to mother that this was for her interests only - in case she became debilitated due to, for example, a stroke and could not look after her own affairs. The person who was really the one who got her to agree to setting up POA was her financial advisor. Some one professional your dad knows may be successful. Good luck to you!
When we arrived, I stayed in the waiting area and dad saw the lady. She was very nice, very patient and explained to dad with emphasis that he must never give any information over the phone- not his address, not his bank account.
When he told me this, I also told him on a regular basis not to give any information over the phone. When I get the computer scammers calls, After hanging up, I explain to him what's happening. They would call daily and I kept hanging up. There was a story in the tv news of an elderly scammed, after it ended, i brought it up to dad and shook my head. Telling him that they Tricked the old man and they took his money. Dad said with authority that you should never give any information over the phone.
He would tell me that he got a call and that he didn't give anything out. When they tried to get his address, he refused because they should know it. When he tells me this, i reinforce it.
Here are some ideas from previous questions... There were more but I'm late...
https://www.agingcare.com/questions/stop-senior-with-dementia-from-being-scammed-154615.htm?cpage=1
https://www.agingcare.com/questions/My-Dad-is-a-victim-of-phone-and-mail-scams-which-he-can-t-recognize-as-scams-He-honestly-thinks-he-w-140159
Last few comments have ideas...
https://www.agingcare.com/articles/prevent-elderly-becoming-scam-victims-138455.htm
I can't take away his checkbook. Unfortunately that's not an option. I did transfer the majority of the money in the account for now so that if the scammers do try to get money, they'll only get a small amount. A new account would be the right thing, but my father is saying he doesn't want to do that. I explained that if they took his money, he would have to dispute the transaction, and he said he would rather do that.
I try to respect his choices, even if my opinion is that they're poor choices. I do intercept most of the solicitation mail and I keep an eye on all of his accounts.
Thanks very much for the input (and jokes! lol). I knew I couldn't be the only one with this issue.
As for my own Dad, the Caregivers answer the phone and give the caller the third degree :) Or if my Dad answers first, the Caregiver will stand close enough to hear the conversation and will stop the call if it sounds suspicious.
Another is to get a submarine horn, or a boat horn, whistle, or something else and encourage him to blow it into the telephone whenever the call is from someone he doesn't know.
The sad thing is seniors are lonely and these scammers know how to manipulate that to their advantage.
And if you can get away with it, don't give your father the new account number.
I wouldn't rely on the bank or wait to "watch for" suspicious activity. I'm dealing with something like this now. Given that the checks were presented to the bank before I even learned about the situation, the funds are gone and can't be recovered. I wasn't alerted. So make the account unavailable so that th bank can't "accidentally" honor the check.
You can report the scam/attempted scam to the FTC. More information is here:
https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/bureaus-offices/bureau-consumer-protection
I'm sorry to say that I think you're not alone in this situation. Something you might do is cancel his existing credit card and have a new one issues which you can use to get what he needs, but leave him with the old one. If he gives that to scammers, they won't get very far.
I have repeatedly said "don't answer any calls if you don't recognize the number" but I might as well be telling Mother Nature not to produce any storms.