Have You Been Affected by a Scam?  Wise & Healthy Aging’s Elder Abuse Prevention ‘Seniors Against Scammers’ Support Group Can Help!

Since early in the week, Jane had been feeling distracted by sad news involving a close friend. Adding to her stress, she got a call that her brother was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

As Jane made travel plans to go see her brother, she received an email that her bank account had been frozen. The email had her bank’s official logo and looked professional. Frazzled, she called the phone number on the email and got connected to customer service. She was told that the fraud on her account was committed via online banking, and that they needed to access her account to resolve the issue. All she needed to do was download an application on her smartphone and to hit “yes” when asked to confirm “remote access.” In her haste to get the issue resolved, Jane followed their instructions without thinking about the possibility that she had just given scammers access to her smart phone.

Emails like the one Jane got are one of thousands sent out by scammers each day pretending to be a trusted business while intending to catch people off guard. Just like Jane, victims of scams commonly report that they were feeling emotionally distressed or overwhelmed at the time they received the scammer’s initial email.

The financial loss can be devastating. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, adults over the age of 60 lost more to tech support scams than all other age groups combined, and reportedly remortgaged/foreclosed homes, emptied retirement accounts, and borrowed from family and friends to cover losses from these scams.

If you have been affected by a scam, you do not have to be alone. Wise & Healthy Aging’s Elder Abuse Prevention program offers a FREE virtual and phone-in support group, where older adults can get confidential support from peers in the comfort of their own home.

Common scams include romance, lottery and sweepstakes, identity theft, grandparent/impostor and IRS scams.

While fraud is the most reported type of elder abuse, other abuses include physical, sexual and emotional abuse, or neglect. To help the community recognize the signs of abuse and learn how to prevent and report it, our WISE Elder Abuse Prevention team provides workshops, training and presentations throughout Los Angeles.

Our newly released Elder Justice Guides (available in six languages) provide a great resource for individuals throughout Los Angeles County to help spread the word about how to identify, protect and prevent abuse. The guides feature our Elder Justice League – a cast of superheroes – to help spread the word about how people can identify, protect against and prevent abuse.

Wise & Healthy Aging is a multiservice, community-based nonprofit organization serving older adults and their families and caregivers throughout Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties. Headquartered in Santa Monica, Wise & Healthy Aging operates out of seven regional offices and offers a wide range of services that address older adults and their caregivers, including the following:

• Adult Day Center: Care and activities for older adults with memory loss and respite for their caregiver
• Care Management: Connects older adults to services to help them maintain independence at home
• The Club: Social programs that provide seniors with fitness, social, travel programs, workshops, classes and hot lunches to promote wellness.
• Elder Abuse Prevention: Protects seniors from becoming victims of financial, physical and emotional abuse.
• Long-Term Care Ombudsman: Investigates complaints and advocates for those living in skilled nursing homes and care facilities.

For more information about our programs and services, please contact us at: (310) 394-9871, or visit www.wiseandhealthyaging.org.