Your elderly relatives worked very hard to provide for their families and set aside some retirement funds. They have enough to get by but there is little margin for error.
Sadly, there is a common misconception that elderly people are always wealthy. For this reason, they are often the prime target of scams. Recognizing some of the more common scams could help you to protect your elderly family members. Outlined below are a few things to look out for.
Unnecessary home repairs
Your elderly parents still live in their own home and you help them if any maintenance is required. Unfortunately, you cannot be there 24/7. Scammers often try to find out which areas contain the highest proportion of older people, so that they can target these locations aggressively. One thing they like to do is to try and sell unnecessary home improvements.
On your most recent visit, your older relatives told you that they are buying new windows. This is strange because you know that the windows were only installed a few years ago. The price of these windows also exceeds three times the market average. They’ve clearly been the victim of a scam.
Fake lottery wins
When you’re retired it’s important to find things to pass the time. One thing your elderly parents may enjoy is games. They’ve called you up to inform you that they’ve won big on the lottery. Someone sent an email and asked them to give their bank details over so that the winnings could be paid instantly. The game was fraudulent and the winnings aren’t real. Instead, the bank details have been taken to withdraw your relative’s hard-earned cash.
Elderly people can be vulnerable to financial scams. Fortunately, there are a number of ways that you can protect them. Seeking some legal guidance from someone in the field of Elder law will help you to come up with a plan.
