Episode 55: Fraud, Scams, and How to Protect Yourself - What Every Senior Needs to Know
Host: Jamie Callahan
JAMIE CALLAHAN: Hi, this is Jamie Callahan with the Team Senior Podcast. Our goal is to simplify aging. Society grooms us to plan for retirement, but what about life beyond retirement, where the rubber meets the road? Perhaps you've had a stroke, or you've been diagnosed with cancer, or maybe you're forgetting things and now you have dementia. That's our area of expertise, and we are here to share our insight.
And now, the Team Senior Podcast.
Hi, this is Jamie Callahan. I am here by myself today to talk about something that has been brought to my attention several times recently and over the years. We get a lot of calls from people that are inquiring about fraud. They feel like something is happening in their world with their bank or the IRS or a credit card or even Amazon where they've been requested to provide information. And I regret to say that many of these people called us when it was too late, and they had already been completely taken advantage of.
So I want to share some things that you should know.
Let's first talk about the IRS. I want to make it very clear that the IRS will never call you. They do not call, they do not text, and they do not email. They're never going to ask you for your Social Security number, your bank account information, any form of immediate payment.
To this point, I just spoke with someone on the phone yesterday who was sharing with me that their Social Security check is being sent to their California address, and the person in California received information, got a phone call from supposedly the IRS saying that the IRS is pressing fraudulent charges against them because their Social Security check is not being mailed to the address where they are at right now. They even said that the FBI was pressing charges and that there were going to be all of these fines. And the very second that this gentleman started talking, I interrupted him and said, "I do want to hear all of your story, but I want to start by saying you are not at risk. This is a scam." And so we three-way called with the person that is in California getting this individual's mail and depositing their Social Security check. We ensured all of them that this is a complete and total scam, and then we were able to circle in a local attorney here in Southern Oregon so that they could confirm everything that I was saying.
Again, I want to reiterate — the IRS does not call you. They're never going to call you, text you, or email you. If someone claims to be from the IRS and pressures you, it is a scam. The IRS communicates primarily by mail, not by phone calls. Now, of course, if you call the IRS and you ask for a return phone call, that's different. But to be clear, they're not going to call you.
I also want to share that you should never, ever share codes sent to your phone. A one-time passcode or a verification code that's sent to you — those are completely private and meant for your eyes only. There is no legitimate company ever that's going to ask you to read a code that was texted to you on your phone.
So with all the things that are happening out there with security these days, there's something called two-factor authentication. To get into your email sometimes, or to get into your bank, or maybe you're trying to log into Facebook or any other form of social media, many times there is now a two-factor authentication. So that might mean that you're putting in your email, you're putting in your password, and because at some point along the line you've shared your phone number as well, that organization that you're trying to log into — whether it's your bank or social media — they're also going to send you a text. That is the two-factor authentication. Providing your passcode or your password these days is sometimes not enough, and they're doing that for your protection.
So if somebody is trying to scam you and log into your email and they have your email address and your password, they're going to need that code. So if someone then calls you and says, "Hi, I'm calling from US Bank or Bank of America or Rogue Credit Union, and we're having some difficulty with your account," they're probably going to be able to provide you with your address, your spouse's name, several other things, and they're going to ask you to read back to them that authentication code on your phone. Do not ever do that. You just want to hang up immediately.
My recommendation in that case would be to change your password and to call your bank and alert them that this is happening so that should they be able to access anything that they are trying to break into, you are then also alerting the organization that they're trying to break into. If somebody asks you for it again, just immediately hang up. Never, ever share those codes that are sent to your phone.
Many times scammers like to pressure you. What we know in the sales industry is that urgency closes the deal, right? So they're going to say things to you like, "We're going to repossess your home," or, "They're going to drain your bank account," or, "The IRS is going to give you a $50,000 fine if you don't do this right now." Scammers often say things like, "You must act now. Your account will be closed. You'll be arrested if you don't pay today."
I'm going to tell you right now that real organizations give you time and options. They are never going to rush you. If you're being rushed, it is a scam. Scammers rush you on purpose. They rush you on purpose because what everybody's taught in the sales industry is that to close a deal, the sense of urgency sets precedence. They want you to do it right now before you have a chance to really think it through and realize that you're being taken advantage of. So again, a red flag is if you're being pressured or somebody's delivering a sense of urgency. Do not fall for that. That is a scam.
I also want to recommend that you hang up and you call back using a trusted phone number. If anybody ever calls you from your investment accounts, your bank — let me give you an example. So a couple of months ago, I was sitting at my desk, and I always have Amazon up because we buy a lot of our household goods from there — toilet paper, towels, things like that, things that I want to buy in bulk that I don't want to have to put in my car and bring home. So Amazon calls me while I'm sitting at my desk, and they started by saying that there was a problem with my account. And the problem that they were describing seemed very strange to me because, as I said, I was sitting at my desk and I had Amazon up in a tab right then. So I was able to click on that tab where Amazon was, and the second that they started sharing with me the types of problems that my Amazon account was having, I said, "That's really interesting because I'm sitting at my computer right now and I'm logged into my Amazon account, and what you're telling me doesn't make any sense at all." They actually hung up on me.
So I want to encourage you to take an empowered position because even if the IRS or your bank or social media account is reaching out to you and it's legit — which I'm telling you it's not — but even if it was, they are not going to be hurt in any way. It is not going to hurt their feelings if you hang up for your own protection and call them back.
Do not give information to anybody that is calling you and trying to get information about your bank, Medicare, Social Security, a utility company, not anything. Hang up right away and call them back using a trusted telephone number. But also be very careful about how you get that trusted telephone number.
So let's take the example of — my dad recently put Venmo on his phone, and he did that because I have Venmo, and I often grab things from them at Costco when I do shopping in Medford. So he got Venmo on his phone, and he was able to send me the $150 or whatever it was that he sent me to reimburse me for the things that I had purchased for him at Costco. And a few days later, he was told that he was contacted by someone at Venmo, supposedly. And my dad's pretty sharp, so I was really surprised that he fell for this. But he was going to transfer $10,000 to me, but he wasn't supposed to tell me that he was doing that. It just happened to be that I called my dad that afternoon, and we were — I called him for something completely unrelated, and he was sharing with me what was going on, and I immediately said, "Stop. Where did you get that telephone number from?" And what he had done is he had Googled Venmo, and the scam with the organic search put the telephone number for Venmo right at the top, and he called that number instead of really calling Venmo.
One thing that I will say is that if you have apps on your phone — legitimate apps like Venmo or Google or anything like that — and you need to call them, use the phone number that you can access through the app, unless you know with absolute certainty that the telephone number that you are calling online is the telephone number for the organization that you're trying to reach.
I know another person recently that got a telephone call from a place where they had bought some plane tickets, and they were saying that they needed their credit card information to update something in their system regarding plane tickets that they had purchased. This individual gave their credit card information, and you can imagine what happened. They were scammed out of thousands of dollars, and it was because they provided the information that was being requested based on a transaction that was very current in that individual's mind. In that scenario, like every other scenario that we have discussed here, I can guarantee you that United Airlines is not going to be offended if you say, "I'm sorry, United, I'm not giving you any of that information right now, but I'm going to hang up and I'm going to call United Airlines and I'm going to inquire about what they really need."
Don't ever give your information to anybody, ever, that is calling you. Hang up, call them back. Call the number on your statement, call the back of the debit or credit card number, or use a phone number that you already know and trust. Again, when you're looking up phone numbers online, it can get very confusing that way also.
Government agencies do not ask for payment in gift cards. So I'll share another story. I have some employees that work all over Southern Oregon, and I was headed to Roseburg to host an event there, and the individual that I was meeting up there had received an email supposedly from me. The email said something like, "I don't have time to talk to you. I'm in a really big hurry this morning, but I need you to go get three gift cards in the amount of $100 each, and then I need you to send me all the information on those gift cards right away." This individual, being a very intelligent person in their early 50s, working as an executive director for a large property in Medford, followed those instructions and went and got all of those gift cards because the email came supposedly from my email.
So let's talk about email for a minute. Emails get hacked every day, multiple times a day. Do not ever, when you receive an email from somebody that looks suspicious, trust that it's really from that person. There are all kinds of different ways where people can create an email that looks confusingly similar to the email that belongs to the individual that they're claiming it belongs to.
If I get an email where there's an attachment or a link or anything like that — here's an example. Today, just this morning, I got an email from Jerry's Rogue Jet Boats that said that attached was my invoice for a trip that I had booked. I didn't respond to that. I didn't click on the invoice. I didn't do anything. I tried to call Jerry's Rogue Jet Boats, and when they answered, I talked through whether or not they ever sent me an email. The email was signed by somebody who actually works there. The email address looked exactly like an email address that would come from Jerry's Rogue Jet Boats or whatever they're called. But I knew immediately that it was a scam. I don't ever click on anything in an email unless I know the person that's sending it to me, and if anything in the email looks suspicious at all, because this happens all the time.
Here's another example about emails. On my website for teamsenior.org, if you go to our About Us page, you can see all of my staff listed there, their telephone numbers, and their email addresses. So one thing that I do when I'm onboarding people as a new employee is explain to them that because their email addresses are public on our website, and because I'm listed at the very top as the CEO and founder, you're going to get emails that look like they're from me because they're going to access your email address from my website where it shows that I'm your boss. And that email is oftentimes going to sound something like, "I can't log into my email. Can you please send me money or information or the codes to get into the business Facebook page?" Or whatever that looks like, and it will appear as though it's coming from me. They can steal my signature. They can steal my photo. They can steal all kinds of things and make that email look authentic.
Again, if you are ever being requested to do anything that sounds suspicious — call, hang up. And I really want to encourage you to know that there are all kinds of people that are willing to help you. The clerk at the bank is willing to help you. Team Senior is willing to help you. Club 60 is willing to help you. If you just hang up the phone and go in and share what has just happened, I can guarantee you that there are a lot of very credible people that are willing to help you with whether or not what you're being requested of is legitimate. And again, 99% of the time it is not going to be legit.
No legitimate organization will ask you to make a payment to them in the form of a gift card, a wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or prepaid debit cards. There is no legitimate organization that is going to ask you to pay them with any one of those forms of payment. This is a guaranteed sign of fraud. Do not trust anybody that is asking you for anything like that.
The other real unfortunate thing with things like gift cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, prepaid debit cards, is that if you go all the way through with this, you cannot get those things back. Oftentimes a withdrawal is made from your bank as a result of fraud — sometimes you can get that back. But you cannot get back something that you have prepaid for and then handed off to somebody.
Also, do not trust the caller ID alone. Scammers are very capable of spoofing or faking phone numbers that look like they are legitimate. Do not trust telephone numbers or caller IDs alone. Even if the name or the number looks familiar, verify independently. Again, look it up online, look on the back of your credit card, look on the back of your investment statements. Don't just trust that the person that's calling you, because their telephone number looks familiar, that they are credible. Hang up and call that organization back.
Again, I could tell you a million times over — the IRS is not going to be offended if you hang up on them. The bank is not going to be offended if you hang up on them. Nobody's going to be offended. They are going to be proud of you that you stood up for yourself and you did not get scammed.
I want to close with offering our contact information. Again, this is Jamie Callahan. I own Team Senior. It is our number one objective to protect seniors from everything, including scams. If you need assistance, or you feel in any way, shape, or form that you are being taken advantage of, or maybe you just have a question about what's happening and you're not really sure if it's legit or not, please call us. We are so happy to get on a three-way call with you and help navigate what's really happening. You can call us directly at any time at 541-295-8230. Again, 541-295-8230.
Again, this is Jamie Callahan. I'm so grateful to be able to be here sharing this information with you. And if you have any questions, please give us a call. Have a great day.
Thank you for listening to the Team Senior Podcast. We're here every week sharing new and relevant information. Remember that we're just a phone call away. Team Senior can be reached at 541-295-8230. Again, 541-295-8230. Until next time, this is Jamie Callahan.
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