Beware of scams. As you are probably familiar, scammers often target seniors, thinking that we are likely to be naive, trusting, or so desperate for a break that we will grasp at unlikely carrots that might be dangled in front of us. I subscribe to a spam filter that filters out known scammers and spammers before their registrations are even approved. Along with our other greeters, we do our best to remove likely scams from the forum, but with the increased availability of VPNs and email providers, some of them will still get through. As Greeters here, we do our best to remove likely scam or spam posts from the forum as we come across them, but where there is doubt, we will sometimes opt to give people the benefit of it. Since we can't get to everything, please report suspicious posts using the Report feature or message one of the Greeters. What we cannot police is the private Conversations area, so if you receive a message by Conversation that looks suspicious, such as someone with whom you have no prior relationship offering you a deal out of the blue or asking for personal information, please report that as well. You can also invite one of the Greeters to the Conversation if you'd like us to help keep you safe. Although I have no interest in monitoring what you do outside of the forum or who you do it with, I do want you to be safe. Generally, something that seems too good to be true is indeed too good to be true, so please be careful with your personal information.
She has been online here since about 5am this morning, and every time I looked at her profile, it says that Anita Johnson is engaged in conversation, so it seems likely to me that she is some kind of a scammer and has been messaging people all day long. Since she probably does not know who is here to read the messages, some of them might not have gone to active members, but we did already get one report of a strange private message from this person.
Yes, & they target seniors for worse than just scams. When my mom reached 80, she started having moments of dementia. When I took her to one of her doctors, he explained that it was common & it involved being careless about danger; leaving the stovetop on, answering the door & letting anyone in, etc. I decided to keep an eye on her. One afternoon, she answered the door before I could get to it & stop her. I listened from a hallway without being seen. Two young guys gave her a sales pitch I already heard about on the news: "Hi, we just catered a big party down the street & we have a lot of extra food we're selling cheap, come with us out to our van & look," & he grabbed her arm & started leading her out to their van & she started walking out with them. I stepped out into the hallway with a gun at my side, pointed down, or course, but visible & said, "Let go of her; she's not interested." They looked at the gun & said, "Whoa." I said, "Bye." After they left, I called police. They told me they're familiar with that scam. They also said we were fortunate; if they got her into their van, it's unlikely we would have ever seen her again. They're experienced with scamming the elderly; they'll take them to the bank, have them withdraw their cash, etc. then dump them somewhere after they've taken everything they can. He also added, "They know they're less likely to get caught if they kill the victim so she/he can't describe them or their vehicle, which is usualy a van without windows."
An elderly woman I went to church with decided to sell her home and move into assisted living when she got scammed and the stole her car. "You won a brand new Cadillac! We'll take your old car away so you don't have to deal with it." She realized how vulnerable she was.
A scammer just very rudely interrupted my time on here ( Just now ) ,by saying I’ve been scammed of $300 on eBay and $1000 on international purchases and did I want to be put through to the scam depart of the bank ……sure I might be old but I’m not stupid YET ..
On here? When someone does something like that on here, please let me know so that I can ban them from the site.
Lunch time (my Time which is now 11.45 am ) on Wednesday is a prime time for scam callers in South Aust @Ken Anderson Most scams show up as a Queensland number starting with area code 07… or New South Wales which is area code 02, we never get any that show up as starting with 08 which is SA area code And anyone who phones / calls us from Adelaide has to put 08 first even tho our area code is the same code.
Yeah I have been suspicious of that Anita Johnson when she only said Hi to me in status.Plus, with no avatar and or other info to identify them, that to me is suspicious by itself. Also over the years have had to contact Ken about private messages sent from men whom, um were questionable with their intentions. You just can't do anything anymore without some dirt wad wanting to mess things.
FBI Webpage on Scams and Safety https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/safety-resources/scams-and-safety +++ FBI on Cyber Crime https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/cyber +++
Crime Prevention Tips for Seniors from the New York City Police Department... https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_prevention/crime-prevention-tips-for-seniors.pdf
Some elderly people are smart enough to admit they aren't as sharp as they used to be. My mom wasn't. She always had to show superiority. When she was 80, she'd exaggerate her age - saying, "I'm over 90 & I'm as sharp as I was at 20." Not facing reality is what made her so vulnerable.