With the holidays on the horizon, advocates are reminding older Marylanders to watch out for scams during the upcoming season. Federal Trade Commission data through the first three quarters of this year show more than 30-thousand reported incidents of fraud in Maryland. The most common type of consumer fraud in the state is the imposter scam, carried out online or on the phone either via voice call or text message, where a person pretends to represent a government agency, bank or credit card company. Jen Holz with AARP Maryland says if they are contacting you, don’t give out your info.
"Never ever ever give any identifiable information to anyone over the phone who has contacted you. If you're not sure, and you think that this could be legitimate, go and look up the number to your bank or to your credit card company and call them back directly. And then say, 'Hey, did you call me? Is there a problem with my account?' "
The F-T-C ranks Maryland fourth in the nation for imposter scams. AARP Maryland hosts fraud-education events online in addition to periodic document-shredding events. For more info on both, visit AARP.org/MD.
As artificial intelligence has become more accessible to the masses, fraudsters have kept up. One of the most common imposter scams targeting older adults is the so-called "Grandparents scam" where the caller poses as a loved one in crisis, needing money. Current technology enables scammers to not only sound like a loved one, but with caller ID spoofing, even the phone number appears legitimate. Holz says scammers often attempt to get paid in ways that are hard to trace, including cryptocurrency or gift cards.
"If they ask you for a gift card or to go buy a gift card to pay off a debt, then you know instantly without a shadow of a doubt, it is a scam. Gift cards are for gifts. They are not for payments. "
In addition to imposter scams, the FTC tracks numerous types of fraud including online shopping, investments, job opportunities, debt management, sweepstakes, even office supplies. Holz says these fraudsters are professionals, and there are scams out there targeting just about anyone.
"Because these professional scammers are so good at what they're doing, it's happening to people of all types. So all levels of education, all ages, and what AARP is really trying to do is implement, this anti-victim shaming, culture change, if you will, to make sure that we're talking about the scammers as the problem and not the folks who have had this happen to them."