I received an email at noon saying that my delivery was pending. To resolve this issue, all I had to do was click on a web link and enter my postal code.
“Have a great day from the USPS team!” the text read.
The awkwardly worded message (with incorrect punctuation and an international phone number) clearly did not come from the post office. If I had to take a wild guess, I don’t think the sender really wanted me to have a great day.
They tried to deceive me, so a word to the wise this holiday season.
Please watch your wallet.
California is about to experience a wave of aging, and Steve Lopez is riding the wave. His column focuses on the benefits and burdens of aging and how some people are challenging the prejudices against older people.
Fraud is a multi-billion dollar international business year round. But as AARP warned on Nov. 18, the season of joy is a wide-open opportunity for thieves.
“People need to be wary when buying gifts, making travel arrangements, or donating to charity this holiday season, as scammers are looking to take advantage of consumers from all angles. revealed in a new AARP research study.
Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention for AARP’s Fraud Watch Network, said many of the scams are perpetrated by sophisticated international syndicates. These scammers use all channels to target victims, including emails, phone calls, text messages, flyers, and regular mail.
Unwitting people are being scammed out of money via gift cards, cryptocurrencies, credit cards, cash, wire transfers, and more. It is often virtually impossible to recover losses because the money is abroad before the victim even realizes they have been robbed.
Stokes said a common rip-off involves thieves targeting people who own a timeshare and are looking to sell it.
“There’s a lot of paperwork that makes it look legitimate, like you’re paying to get out of a timeshare,” Stokes said. But while the target is still tied up in the timeshare, the scammers are making off with thousands of dollars.
Last week, at a national conference on scams targeting seniors, Deborah Royster of the Federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned that consumers are quickly becoming extinct.
“Retirement funds and other assets that people have spent a lifetime building and relying on can be wiped out in an instant,” Royster said.
At the same conference, Julie M. Strandley, a lawyer from Virginia, said her 85-year-old mother suffered frequent complaints between Thanksgiving and Christmas five years ago, starting with “flashing graphics and loud voices” on her computer screen. He said he lost $80,000 to a scam and warned: virus.
“There’s a phone number to call for help, but it’s not really Microsoft,” Strandley said.
Her mother falls for the ruse and gives the criminals remote access to unlock her frozen computer. She was then led to believe they had deposited money into her account and had to pay it back in cash and gift cards to Best Buy and Target.
Los Angeles Police Department Detective Division as Los Angeles Police Department Chief Police Officer Carlos Diaz (left) looks on. In June 2023, after giving a presentation on financial fraud and physical abuse of the elderly at St. Barnabas Senior Services in Los Angeles, Albert Smith left Marta Barillas with his business card.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Steve McFarland, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau region, which covers Palo Alto to Long Beach, said his office receives 1,100 consumer complaints of all types every day. He said it has been received.
He repeated the number, not kidding.
McFarland and other sources say millennials are more likely to report fraud than older adults, but the latter group suffers more. And gift card fraud is currently prevalent among people of all ages, McFarland said.
The barcodes on these cards can be tampered with or photographed by someone before they are sold, McFarland said. Card buyers go to the register, put, say, $100 onto the card and redeem it at Target, Burger King, or other establishments.
However, when the recipient goes to redeem, the funds are gone. This happened to L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn last year. He bought a $100 VISA gift card for his nephew, but it turned out to be worth not a nickel. Hahn later warned about the scam on L.A.’s Eyewitness News with McFarland.
“This is known as the gift card breach, and scammers have figured out some clever ways to trick unsuspecting shoppers,” Hahn said.
In addition to outright scams, your mailbox can be filled with solicitations for charitable donations this time of year.
“Many charities are trying to get their hands on a lot of money, but criminals are knowingly competing for the same money,” Stokes said.
If it’s not an established charity known for its good work, Stokes advises visiting the Better Business Bureau’s website give.org and typing in the charity’s name to see if it’s legitimate. did. You can also see what percentage of your donation goes toward expenses.
Unfortunately, your best bet is to question everything. I recently received a letter in my window with my mortgage lender’s name on it, and when I opened it, it warned me that this was a “final notice” to avoid an increase in my monthly payments.
It looked dingy and the fine print on the back page told me the mail was from a lender not affiliated with my mortgage company.
If it says “Final Notice,” “Urgent,” “Benefits Enclosed,” etc., you don’t have to open the envelope.
A friend shared with me a tall stack of mail that kept arriving addressed to her mother, who passed away a few months ago. When I looked into it, I found one attempt after another to separate mothers from their money. “I’ve enclosed a copy of your final check,” one said, and a cellophane window contained what appeared to be a check for $437.18 with the words, “Payable on order for…”
But of course it wasn’t a check. It was a solicitation from a lobbying firm that claimed to fight to preserve Social Security funding (by the way, she received a ton of emails from groups claiming to be trying to do the same thing). ).
The fake check was described as an example of what she stands to lose if she doesn’t immediately support the cause by pulling out her credit card and making an “emergency donation” to keep her Social Security going.
There was also a request from an organization representing Noah’s Ark, a collection of endangered animals. I’m an animal lover, but how do I even begin to sort through all the petitions?
Please save the pig. horses. bees. Lions. Donkeys.
One envelope read: “On Sunday, a young donkey was torn from its mother and abused.”
There are many appeals to dogs. It also includes a photo of a dog with amazing linguistic abilities, and judging by the dog’s words, “I hope no one else gets hurt the way humans hurt me.” Masu”.
I feel sorry for the dog, but if he could actually talk, I would hire him a representative and send him on tour so the kid could collect property for his cause. Sho.
Of course, there are many good charities worthy of your generosity, but be careful.
There is a solicitation. Includes email. With text. There is a phone.
Everything.
Banks must do more to prevent repeated suspicious and unusual withdrawals and wire transfers. The gift card industry could curb rampant fraud by implementing smarter security measures.
And people of all ages are becoming more discerning, refusing to provide personal information like social security numbers, and asking trusted friends and loved ones before signing checks or doing business with strangers. You need to get some advice.
Last year I wrote about two retired L.A. residents, a former teacher and a former banker, who were each defrauded of about $80,000 in an internet scam. Earlier this year I wrote about a Redwood City woman who was scammed out of $1.8 million and Alice Lin, an Alhambra woman who lost $720,000 in an “investment” scheme she was introduced to by a man she met on a chat app. I wrote it.
I contacted Lynn. He gave me some good advice about all forms of communication from unknown or unreliable sources.
“Don’t respond,” Lin said. “Don’t touch me.”
steve.lopez@latimes.com
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