This is the time of year when someone who looks like a capable, experienced contractor might show up at your door offering to do that driveway or roofing work they somehow sense you want done. Be wary.
Aging Edge’s newest Expert Q-and-A is an interview with Phillip Little from the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office about the type of tactics used by swindlers of one kind or another who particularly prey on the elderly. He cites a couple of reasons why older adults are targeted, including the perception that they’re a more trusting part of the population who can thus more easily be parted from their money. There are seasonal shifts to the scams, he says, including the timely home contracting ruse of getting up-front money out of people and never returning to do the work.
By a coincidence of sorts, Aging Edge has just posted a Washington Post article about arrests made in an IRS scam (meaning someone pretending to be the IRS, in this case, rather than the whipping-boy IRS being the perpetrator of any evil) that has bilked many seniors out of some of their life savings. While some financial fraud is perpetrated over the Internet, both the Post article and Mr. Little note that many criminals are still pursuing the elderly population the old-fashioned way: over the phone.
The bottom line in all of this is not to give out money or personal information to people before verifying that they are legitimately who they say are and that you have real reason to respond to them or do business with them.
Upcoming Events in Aging:
The Good Grief Center for Bereavement Support is hosting an educational series on Wednesday afternoons this month for adults dealing with the loss of someone meaningful. The sessions run from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on June 8, 15, 22 and 29 at the center, 2717 Murray Ave. in Greenfield/Squirrel Hill. There’s a $30 cost, and advance registration is required by this Friday by calling 412-224-4700.
Gary Rotstein: grotstein@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1255.
First Published: June 1, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
