Seniors
Related: About this forumGot a Fraud Protection booklet for older adults in the mail from my Credit Union.
It says it's based on a Comparitech Study, May 2023, so I looked for it online.
This article has basically the same information: scams and hotlines you can call.
For you and relatives and friends.
https://www.comparitech.com/blog/information-security/elder-fraud/
How to avoid and detect elder fraud
A Comparitech study found that while more than 200,000 elder fraud scams are reported to US authorities each year, resulting in an estimated $1.17 billion in damages, this is likely only part of the story. Based on our study findings, we estimated that the real number of annual elder fraud cases in the US was closer to 5 million, equating to roughly $27.4 billion in damages.
In this post, we explain more about what elder fraud is, why the elderly are targeted in scams, and what you can do to prevent elder fraud.
Share the link.
keithbvadu2
(36,829 posts)On January 3, 2023, received a call from My Timeshare Sales Experts in Florida. They had a buyer for our timeshare in N.C. We have a double unit and sale price was $32,900.00. I was told I would have to pay for legal fees for $950.00. However, over next seven days I was getting calls for various other fees. These fees totaled $13,150.00. This amount included $2900.00 in taxes for the sale of timeshare. On the 10th, I got a call saying they were going to deliver my check by FedEx in 10 minutes but they wanted another $3500.00 or I would not get my check. I told him I did not have any more money. He got very nasty and aggressive on the phone. At this point I cancelled the sale and stated I wanted a refund. I also have a letter from the president of company saying if sale did not occur I would get a full refund I was told that I had to wait 60 days for refund. When 60 days were up I started calling the numbers I had. I was getting voice messages to leave a number. No one called back, never answered my emails. In my searches I discovered they have changed their name of company and one of the phone numbers goes to home improvement. Other names are TimesharesTimeshares, Smart Timeshare Owner. All of these have the same address 1060 Woodcock Road, Suite 62867 in Orlando, Florida.
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other scams in your area
https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/tracking-map.html?CMP=EMC-MIM-GOI-OTH-FRD-1521003-1775801-7443802-NA-07202023-FraudResourcesJuly_Light-HERO-Hero-IMG-1775801_FLI-Fraud&encparam=w%2fGz%2fkcDjbdX3YQPDuNfzpiNp9R7WLWP33pPJ5bipoU%3d