Elderly Americans lose millions to Internet scams

Iria · Jul 28, 2005, 06:45 AM

Scams involving Internet auctions, as well as identity theft, lotteries, prizes and sweepstakes, top the list of fraud complaints by older Americans, who lost $152 million to con artists last year, U.S. officials told a Senate panel on Wednesday.

Internet-based scams are growing and now account for about 41 percent of fraud complaints the Federal Trade Commission receives from people over 50, Lois Greisman of the FTC's consumer protection division told the Senate Committee on Aging.

"This figure is all the more dramatic when one considers that Internet-related fraud represented only 33 percent of all fraud complaints from this age group in 2002," she said.

Older consumers reported being defrauded of more than $43 million last year through Internet scams, with online auctions topping the complaint list, she said.

But more old-fashioned scams continue to take their toll. Lottery and sweepstakes frauds, in which victims are asked to pay "taxes" or other fees to claim prizes, cost older Americans $35 million last year, Greisman said. People older than 70 are particular targets of that kind of scam, she added. Another popular scam involves fake credit card protection or discount drug services, she said. Others involve scam artists saying they need bank account information for Social Security or Medicare benefits.
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Read More / Source: ZDNet

mike2h · Jul 28, 2005, 07:40 AM

sorry, this sounds really bad, but please use common sense & do a little bit of reseach.
unfortunatelty, i bet these are the same people that get scammed by 'tele-avangelist' types. while this is abhorrently wrong it is a problem that the governments need to address aggresively.
most of these people are just doing what they beleive is right. not realizing how many assholes there truly are out there. while being naive, this should not make them determined as incompetent. it should make the people that prey on these uninformed victims guilty of class a felonys.
these prics are deliberately screwing people out of something they have worked their whole lives for - a fixed income retirement, that hopefully, they can determine how the rest of their lives are lived & to what means their limited, nonreplaceable incomes are used.

MEMize · Jul 28, 2005, 09:15 AM

My Grandma likes to do jigsaw puzzles

The_Neon_Cowboy · Jul 28, 2005, 10:17 AM

Sad things is many of the people that are "taken" for a ride fall for several sceemes

brywalker · Jul 28, 2005, 02:19 PM

I need a new career.

Jul 28, 2005, 06:45 AM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 89	Elderly Americans lose millions to Internet scams Scams involving Internet auctions, as well as identity theft, lotteries, prizes and sweepstakes, top the list of fraud complaints by older Americans, who lost $152 million to con artists last year, U.S. officials told a Senate panel on Wednesday. Internet-based scams are growing and now account for about 41 percent of fraud complaints the Federal Trade Commission receives from people over 50, Lois Greisman of the FTC's consumer protection division told the Senate Committee on Aging. "This figure is all the more dramatic when one considers that Internet-related fraud represented only 33 percent of all fraud complaints from this age group in 2002," she said. Older consumers reported being defrauded of more than $43 million last year through Internet scams, with online auctions topping the complaint list, she said. But more old-fashioned scams continue to take their toll. Lottery and sweepstakes frauds, in which victims are asked to pay "taxes" or other fees to claim prizes, cost older Americans $35 million last year, Greisman said. People older than 70 are particular targets of that kind of scam, she added. Another popular scam involves fake credit card protection or discount drug services, she said. Others involve scam artists saying they need bank account information for Social Security or Medicare benefits. __________ Read More / Source: ZDNet

Jul 28, 2005, 07:40 AM	#2
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 91 System Specs	sorry, this sounds really bad, but please use common sense & do a little bit of reseach. unfortunatelty, i bet these are the same people that get scammed by 'tele-avangelist' types. while this is abhorrently wrong it is a problem that the governments need to address aggresively. most of these people are just doing what they beleive is right. not realizing how many assholes there truly are out there. while being naive, this should not make them determined as incompetent. it should make the people that prey on these uninformed victims guilty of class a felonys. these prics are deliberately screwing people out of something they have worked their whole lives for - a fixed income retirement, that hopefully, they can determine how the rest of their lives are lived & to what means their limited, nonreplaceable incomes are used. __________________

Jul 28, 2005, 10:17 AM	#4
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	Sad things is many of the people that are "taken" for a ride fall for several sceemes __________________

Jul 28, 2005, 09:15 AM	#3
MEMize DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 7 Rep Power: 0	My Grandma likes to do jigsaw puzzles

Jul 28, 2005, 02:19 PM	#5
brywalker DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 87 Rep Power: 0	I need a new career.