I just agreed to send $25 to our police association...even though I'm only on widow's benefits. Ive donated in the past but last few times said sorry, I can't but somehow they caught me on a good day. Hope it's not a scam, lol.
I got him on the do not call list. With his hearing impairment, he uses a caption phone. I know this elderly scamming is no joke. I had a patient who's husband cleared his bank account, sold his car (this was true, the old man was riding a bike) and sent all his money to his new friends in Somalia or someplace. The patients daughter stated they tried to get his capacity taken away but he passed the tests. He wasn't senile. Just making poor decisions in old age related to his frontal lobe going out. I do think the mailings give my stepdad something to do and look at. But now post a broken hip does he think he's going to haul bags of papers around. A few years ago when he got in a wreck and his car was totaled, at the collision place I had to help him clear out his car. He had 2 or 3 large garbage bags in the back seat filled to the brim with recyclables and heavy. I had to haul them into my car. I asked him why he had those bags so full. It made no sense, they have a recycling dumpster right in the mobile park where he lives. I told him to just get a plastic kitchen garbage container and take that over to the recycling dumpster when it started getting full. He has yet to do that. Again poor decisions. Why carry these bags in the car when he drives right by the dumpster in his park? This crap is going to kill me.
If he gives sales people his phone number, the do not call list is not going to stop them. You will need to either see his phone bill (so you can see what kinds of calls he is receiving), or be where you can hear him answer it and tell if he is talking with a sales person. If it is a home phone and not a cell phone, then they can’t call him when he is not at home, so that is a good thing. If it is a cell phone, then you might need to change his number, and only give the new number to people you trust or are family. Even if the hip heals, I think that he is not goin to be as mobile as he was before, and they may make him use a walker if he has a history of falling. He also might not be able to drive anymore, so these are all things that you need to try and find out about , Kitty. It is quite possible that the steps on his mobile home might not be doable for him , depending on how his hip heals, and he will need to live elsewhere. You might end up with a mobile home.......
His place will be sold if the case. I won't live there. He doesn't have a cell. I tried to get him to text, no avail. I'm worried about his mobility, walking, the stairs and all of that. I think he thinks he'll just go back to normal. I don't think that will be the case. He has me trapped to take care of all this.
I don't think there's much you can do. Yeah, many of them do have prepaid return envelopes and that might help, but that also takes your time in doing so. Most charities probably make more money from selling addresses than from donations so that will always be a problem. Political campaigns don't necessarily sell the addresses but they are included in political party databases that are shared with other candidates.
If prepaid envelopes are included, just mail the envelopes back with nothing in them. It will cost them postage. I have been getting a bunch of nonsense emails lately, so I assume someone has sold my email address, but I have no idea who.
My wife, who takes more time with such things than I do, has a system that she uses to tell who is selling addresses. If she is going to make a new contribution to someone, she uses just her first and last name on one, her first initial on another and, on others, her middle name, middle initial, maiden name, etc. She has let a couple of charities know why she would not be contributing any longer.
Smart lady! Now I'm worried that the $25 I promised to some police group may not even be one here in Fresno and I'll get on a list.
What did they tell you when you asked them why they wanted the donation, Chrissy ? I remember getting similar calls back when we had a regular phone, but when I questioned them about who got the money, and what it was for, it was not actually going to help my local police force at all, so I did not donate.
I don't remember...I haven't gotten it yet in the mail either. I didnt question it because it sounded a lot like the calls I would get years ago that I always gave something to but the last few years I said I was on widows benefits and couldn't help them...next time maybe. I finally gave in...they caught me on a generous mood day.
I looked online and it appears it's not illegal to send back to them in those pre-paid postage envelopes. Some suggested making them heavier. I would not do that. I'll write "please remove from mailings and sharing" Honestly it could do no good. I may try some. There were about 20 in the mail box today. I'm also finding phone numbers are hard to find if not impossible on some of these mailings. I don't know why I'm going to bother. I opened one that stated "thank you for your 10 dollar donation" and they probably sold his name to 20 others. I should also mention these people seem to be masters at making things seem very official, important and seem like a person had prior contact with them when it's clear they didn't. I opened one and it's for renewing car repair insurance. No one will insure that very old pickup so I know that's a complete phishing solicitation.
I'd have a little bit of a hard time doing that since he's alive. I do have 11 return postage (just from yesterday) envelopes to send out today. I wrote next to the solicitation with his name and address "please remove from mailing list and name sharing. Unable to donate" I hope that works. I am even willing to send ones back I would have to put a stamp on. But I'm going to have to tell my stepfather this has to stop. 3 large garbage bags half full heavy with paper were on the back step landing area. He can't keep hauling this stuff around. It's now becoming my burden. I have to tell him and he has to agree. I can't see any other way.
I told him today I'd start opening and returning the solicitations with the stop request. He agreed. I didn't mentioned I already started the process. I have bought two books of stamps for ones I'll need to pay the postage on. If he agrees to stop donating, it should help. I'll press him on the donating when he is able to get home. If he wants to donate to a couple of places, fine. But he will need to write them and tell them not to share or sell his name.
I have 32 envelopes to mail back today in addition to the 11 mailed yesterday. 21 I put stamps on. I really don't even know if this will make a dent. I did some research online and there is a central database to be taken off for 5 years. Costs 2 dollars. I found this on two sites. I don't know if my stepfather understands what a burden he started. It also mentioned on one site that a 10 dollar donation, just like he makes, can result in many, many name sales. This is what happened.