Don't Get Scammed

Join us on this episode as we take a deep dive into all of the different ways that you may be targeted in a scam. It can happen to anyone, but unfortunately the bad guys will specifically target seniors in a variety of different ways. Dr. Pam Tronetti and Janet Rooks with the Parrish Consultation Center share their own experiences and eye opening scams that will help you to know what to look for to keep yourself and your finances safe!

This podcast represents the opinions of Dr. Tronetti and her guests. The content here is for informational, educational and entertainment purposes only, and should not be taken as medical advice. Please consult your healthcare professional for any medical questions or before making any changes in your personal health regimen. No other use, including without limitation, reproduction, retransmission or editing, of this podcast may be made without the prior written permission of Parrish Medical Center. This podcast is HIPPA compliant. All people, places, and scenarios mentioned in this podcast have been changed to protect patient confidentiality.This website and podcast should not be used in any legal capacity whatsoever, including but not limited to establishing standards of care in a legal sense or as a basis for expert witness testimony. No guarantee is given regarding the accuracy of any statements or opinions made on this podcast.In no way does listening, reading, emailing or interacting on social media with our content establish a doctor-patient relationship. Dr. Tronetti does not receive any money from the pharmaceutical industry.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_04 0:01

Thank you for joining today's Senior Living Guide.com podcast. I am your host, Arlene Mahoney, with Senior Living Guide.com. Please visit our seniorlivingguide.com page because we are your one-stop resource helping to make the stress, take the stress out of your search for your next home, whether you need active and independent living or even assisted skilled memory care, or even looking to just age in place, looking for great home health care and caregiving solutions. All these options are available in one easy to navigate site. How easy is that, right? So I would like to really welcome our guests today that we have in the podcast studio. We have Dr. Pam Trinetti and Janet Rooks. Dr. Trinetti is an osteopathic physician who specializes in geriatrics, and Janet Rooks is a social worker and a dementia care specialist. They work together at the Parish Senior Consultation Center, where they focus on the care of patients with dementia. Dr. Trinetti is a director of aging services at Parish, and Janet Rooks coordinates Parish Senior Solutions, which provides education, resources, and support for seniors and their caregivers. And today we are going to talk about how to not get scammed. And I would like to first start out by acknowledging the beautiful Dr. Tinetti. She recently received an amazing honor. Um, you were named a master of the National Institute of Geriatrics. Do you want to tell us about that?

SPEAKER_06 1:32

Yes, and it was a wonderful big honor, and there's only one little tiny problem. Do tell. There is no National Institute of Geriatrics. Oh no. Um they wanted me to buy a $600 plaque. Oh, wow. It was a scam. So it can happen to anybody. Wow. And that's what we want to talk about today to protect you from things that sound so nice.

SPEAKER_04 1:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 1:59

And are so bad.

SPEAKER_04 2:00

They are so bad. There's they're out there.

SPEAKER_06 2:03

They're out there.

SPEAKER_04 2:04

They're out there on every single level. Um, so no one's really immune for scams, right? Especially seniors.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 2:12

Yeah. So according to data in 2020, seniors have lost money to scams at four times the rate of 20 and 30 year olds. Yeah. So on an average between 500 and $1,700. Wow, that's a lot of money. It is. Yeah. So why are seniors more at risk?

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Well, seniors are a plot. You know, they they they don't want to say no. And when someone calls, they're scared, you know. Oh, well, yeah, let me do that. Uh, if it's something involving a family member, they want to rescue them. But the they are their scam, I mean, they are victims to the scams. They want that product, but they they're just they're very polite. They're gonna say yes. Well, they they answer the phone.

SPEAKER_06 2:58

Yeah. The rest of us screen our calls or we just look and say, No, I don't recognize that number. But especially when you have early dementia or mild cognitive impairment, these folks are at higher risk for scams, and some of it from the research has to do with uh difficulty actually identifying somebody who's uh untrustworthy. Right.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Yeah, and they're really quick to give their social security number out because they know that number, it's deep there. They they learned it a long, long time ago, and the scammers will look for that number and they want that number because that can link them into a lot of resources.

SPEAKER_04 3:40

Right. And they probably have more landlines, yes, which are more accessible than a cell phone, cell phone information. Um, so tell me a couple of different types of scams.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Well, there's the internet scam, uh, you know, and we can all be victims of that. You know, they'll you're you've got a virus there, so they're gonna click on it. There's also the phone scams, and we mentioned that with the landlines, but our cell phones, you know, it's interesting when your cell phone rings and it's your phone number, or your cell phone rings and it it's it's a number that's local, and you think, oh well, it's a family member, I'm gonna answer it. You know, we don't answer our phones unless I don't. I don't answer my phone unless I know who it is. Right. But our seniors do, and other victim other victims, other folks do as well.

SPEAKER_08 4:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

And you know, unless if if they don't want to need to talk to me, they're gonna leave a voicemail. There's also real life victims, those scammers that come out, they're gonna knock on your door. Oh, I want to trim your trees, I wanna sell you something. And our seniors are raised, as I mentioned earlier, not to say no. We're gonna be plot, they're gonna invite them in and they're gonna do that. The garage door's up, they're gonna see what's in there. And it it's it's really sad.

SPEAKER_04 5:00

Yeah, and so kind of separating these out, looking at a real life uh scam. Part of that I think, just from like a senior perspective, um, they enjoy talking with people. Absolutely. So they're they're a little bit more social because they've they're not working anymore, they're they're they don't have family, sometimes not right right by, or they don't get to visit with family as much as they did um, you know, when they they had kids at home and that type of stuff. So when people do come to the door and they start, they're friendly, they're chatting it up, they they enjoy that interaction, so they're more likely.

SPEAKER_06 5:31

Do you think that that's absolutely yeah, because uh again, to have that conversation, and maybe it's a clerk at a store, maybe it's a waitress at the coffee shop, and the conversation gets more personal, and then it's oh, you know, my kids uh they need something for Christmas, I can't want can't afford it. And the senior who's been raised to be charitable and giving, and maybe has seen hard times, said, Well, let me help you out. Or it's somebody from the church who shows up with a cake and and has a sob story. Um there's a lot of folks out there and it's nice people get scammed because they can't imagine doing this to somebody else, so they can't imagine that anybody would do that to them. Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

They also build up relationships, those trusting relationships, to where that the senior may get scammed by someone and then they hide it. They hide it from their family because they're embarrassed, but they're lonely. They're lonely. So when someone tells those these stories of, you know, my electricity is gonna be turned off, I need to, you know, I I can't go to college because I don't have the funds, uh, my car broke down, they've got some really good stories. And they're lonely. So they have a friend that has entrusted that's gonna be there for them. And but they've also have several other friends that they're doing this too.

SPEAKER_04 6:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

So yeah, it it they're lonesome.

SPEAKER_04 6:58

So I think, you know, honestly, if you have a senior that's your loved one and they're telling you about a restaurant that they're maybe going to every day, because we know seniors are creatures of habits a lot of times, and they've really made good friends with a specific waitress or something like that, and they know a lot of personal things about this waitress, that might be something you want to maybe dig a little bit deeper into.

SPEAKER_06 7:22

You you do, and you have to do it right, so the senior accepts this. You know, we worry about like identity theft. Most identity theft is done by people who know you. Right. They've come to your house, they've picked up your mail, they've looked at your credit card. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:38

And even a caregiver.

SPEAKER_06 7:39

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 7:40

Yeah, that's something you really you really need to do.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

You know, the the senior may give the the the credit card to their caregiver to go down and pick up something, pick up groceries, pick up something at the store, and it's like, well, just you know, and then all of a sudden those numbers get written down somewhere, or just keep it. You'll need you need to go to the store tomorrow. And so someone needs to keep their eyes on that statement. Keep their eyes on the banks are really good about unnecessary or frequent purchases, but that's just one set of eyes. Family members also need to keep an eye on that. Right.

SPEAKER_06 8:15

Yeah, and that's sometimes really hard because folks often, especially with early dementia, may have a little paranoia and they don't want their family to know their business. So the person they should trust, they haven't invited in, and the person that you shouldn't trust has access. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:31

And sometimes on families that's hard too, because you have as a child, you've always respected your parents in their financial, you know, decisions. Like I was always taught not to go through my mother's purse. I didn't ever ask how much my father made. You know, you always respected that because of your parents, at least that's how I was raised. So it is really hard to say, show me your checkbook, show me, you know, because you want to help, but it's you don't want to really accept that your parent may need that and you don't want to disrespect them. But at some point, unfortunately, especially when there's you know a cognitive decline, you have to cross that line. And sometimes it's really hard for children to do that. It is. But you have to do it.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Yeah, that role reversal comes eventually.

SPEAKER_04 9:15

But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Well, and there's also times when there's not that cognitive decline. It's just that someone will take advantage of that person just because, just because they called and you know, they they bought a new roof. They um purchased something that they saw on TV and and it was several thousand dollars. And all of a sudden the money's not there to pay the bills, and they're hiding all that from the family. Yeah, you know, and all of a sudden, you know, they're having to borrow money or they're doing without because or the electricity's being turned off, the water's being turned off, and they're ashamed of it. Yeah. And the family's out of town, they come in, and all of a sudden, you know, why is you know, why is there no water here? Why is this happening? And oh well, just because it it's not my fault, it's the electricity, it's the power company's fault, it's this, that, and the other. And they don't want anybody to know. And it's not a matter of the any memory decline, it's a matter of being embarrassed.

SPEAKER_04 10:13

Yeah. No, I I totally get that. So phone scams, which you know, you know, we've heard about those, and you know, we've seen pe people that have gotten them and they've taped them or videoed them and they've they shared them, you know, online at different places like that. So give me a few examples of phone scams that are dangerous.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Well, I I received a phone call from someone, this was uh last year, saying that there was a warrant for my arrest. And I needed to go, I needed to turn myself in to the local police department, that there was a warrant for my arrest. Well, ironically, I was meeting the public uh officer with the Tysville Police Department at that time because we were doing a community event. So I walked up to her and held my wrist out and I said, Here I am. And she said, What are you doing? I said, I'm turning myself in.

SPEAKER_10 11:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

And I had it on tape. I shared it with her and they put it on their uh Facebook. Wow. So yeah, I've you know, I the police department's not gonna call you and tell you there's a warrant for your arrest, they're gonna come to your house. Um IRS is not gonna come, not gonna call you and tell you that you owe them money. You know, there's those type of scams that these public, you know, it they're not gonna the courthouse is not gonna say a call you and tell you you missed your um summons for jury duty. So, but people will send checks, they will give them debit cards with numbers thousands of dollars, because people will call and say you owe us thousands of dollars because you missed the warrant for uh summons for jury duty. Those are sums that are out there, and I have had seniors that have gone to local grocery stores and sat in the parking lot and given them debit card numbers that they have bought those. Uh you know, and it's just crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 12:00

Yeah, a lot of times like phone, text, internet, they kind of overlap uh, you know, some are the scary calls, the imposter scams. This is the bank, there's been a breach, this is the government, this is the DEA, and you're in trouble now. Um then there's the uh emergency. The pastor texts you and says, one of our parishioners are in trouble, can you please help us out? The old grandparent scam, this is your grandson. Uh, you know, we're I've heard of that one. That's scary. It really is. Yeah. And the thing is, is people get to know about you and your family because of everything you post on the internet.

SPEAKER_04 12:42

Social media. Yeah, absolutely. So, word to the wise, don't give anyone that you do not personally know your social security number, your credit card number, your bank card number, your check number. Um, and don't meet people in parking lots.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

No, no.

SPEAKER_04 13:00

That's a really bad idea.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Well, and also, you know, some of our seniors are paranoid, but we need to be paranoid too. Not to the point that we can't function, but be aware. Just be aware of the of the folks that are out there. They that's what they do for a living. I mean, the three of us get up every morning, we get ready for work and we go to work. We work, they get up every morning or every evening or whatever, and their objective is to see what they can get from somebody. And it's all illegal.

SPEAKER_10 13:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 13:33

Yeah. And another thing that's very common are what we call spoofing, that uh you get a request, say, for a charity, but instead of St. Jude's Children's Hospital, it's St. Judy's.

unknown 13:46

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 13:46

Or instead of Shriner's, it's Shiner's. And you think you're giving to a legitimate, good charity, and instead you're sending it to heaven knows where. Right. I did not even think about that. Yeah, and the same with it's not First National Bank, it's First Nation Bank. So you think it's your bank. You think it's your internet provider.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

And things like with banks and things like that, and a bank calls you and it seems legitimate, people panic. I think, and so you're literally in like a panic mode, so you're really not thinking clearly, and you think you've got to do something about it quickly and stop, breathe for a few minutes, and say, you know what, give me a phone number where I can call you back and get the information from, you know, if it's something regarding your grandchild, your family member, or your bank, call your bank and say, Hey, listen. I know I so I received this one time that it was just I received this cashier's check for like five thousand dollars that said, Deposit that out of nowhere. And it came like Federal Express. I mean, it was fancy schmancy. Deposit this very legitimate looking cashier's check. Deposit this, and then just I can't even remember what the scam was, and then you'll get more back or something like that. And I'm like, I I used to be in banking for a long time, and I'm like, this is this is a scam if I've ever seen one. And I'm looking at this check, it looks pretty darn legitimate. I call the bank that it's drawn on, and she said, Oh, do not know that is not legitimate. These are these are forged checks. And so basically, I I don't remember how the scam was gonna work, but I was like, This is insane. Yeah. So it was a I had to like text them or something. I can't remember what the deal was, but it was bananas, but it was so easy for anyone to fall for because it looked like a legitimate check.

SPEAKER_06 15:42

See, and that the key is they heighten your emotions. Yeah. So, oh, look at this, things are a little tough. I can I can put this in and and pay for my grandson's college. Yeah. A happy excitement, yeah, or the fear. Yeah, you don't make good decisions when you're stressed out.

SPEAKER_04 15:58

Yeah, and it came federal, legitimate federal they pay for federal express. So they they put a lot of stock in the fact that I was gonna buy what they were selling. So yeah, they made a bad mistake. But um, yeah, it was crazy, and I'm thinking, oh my gosh. But they had done this all over the place. So I have no idea. Crazy, crazy stuff. Wow.

SPEAKER_06 16:17

So let's talk a little bit about the internet, which is just it's the wild west out there. And again, it's all over the world. There are people uh call uh sending messages from all kinds of countries. Again, they're trying to amass your information. I always say that if the product is free, then you're the product. So if they offer you something for free, they want your personal information and your numbers. You know, that's one of the big internet scams. There's also um uh like virus protection. Click here if you want your computer protected from a virus. Well, you click there and all of a sudden you have a virus. Yes, yeah. Long-term warranties are another thing. You know, here we'll give you a warranty on your washer, your dryer, your fridge. And you live in an apartment. You don't need a warranty on this stuff, it doesn't belong to you. But people sign up for it anyway.

SPEAKER_04 17:14

Yeah, yeah. So I did want to go back um if you don't mind, um, because I did want to talk about this and I did forget in our when we were talking about um scams, and this is very general. Um well, maybe we'll talk about this in a few minutes. We'll talk about this after the break. But all right, keep going on the internet. Sorry, I apologize.

SPEAKER_06 17:32

Well, and one of the big ones are romance scams. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

Yes, oh yes, you know every we've seen a lot of seniors that are lonely. Yeah. And so, you know, there'll be someone that'll send them a picture. Well, it's not a picture of them, it's a picture that they've snapshot from somebody else's either Facebook or somewhere they found. And, you know, uh, I can't come see you, um, I'm in uh I've been arrested, my passport's been uh locked, lost, or whatever. Uh the romance scams are awful. People lose they're catfishing.

SPEAKER_06 18:11

People lose more, uh seniors lose more in their 60s and 70s to a romance scam than anything else. And the person who seems to be exactly like you. If you like horses, they like horses. If you like Italian food, they like Italian food. Because they know who you are, because they've looked at your Facebook page. Right. Or you've signed up for a dating site. But they always have this exciting, well-paying job that keeps them out of the country or unavailable. And yet they make a million dollars a year, but they can't get the camera fixed on their laptop. Right. So you can never see them.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Right. Or they're somewhere that they don't have the uh access to use FaceTime. I mean it's just Yeah. It's unreal.

SPEAKER_04 18:54

Yeah, and you know, I've heard anyone honestly can fall for that. So it's it's seniors should not feel bad if they do get involved in that because it is something that 20-year-olds, 30-year-olds, anyone can really fall for that because it is a matter of the heart.

SPEAKER_09 19:12

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

And it's it's so hard when because you do, it's you do fall for someone based on what you think and feel with a personality and a connection that you think you're feeling with someone, and then you're realizing it's not that person. It's it's gotta be devastating.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

We all want to be loved, we all want to be cared about, we all want to feel needed. And that's that's their uh mantra. They that's that's what they want to do to that's their hook in you is to make you feel good about yourself and to make you feel needed.

SPEAKER_04 19:43

Yeah. Absolutely. So one of the ones that um I know that you know can be really hard on seniors as far as on the internet side are like tech support because seniors sometimes can be a little bit not quite tech savvy. Now, as you know, some of the baby boomers are getting into the scene, they they grew up tech because they they were doing a lot of computer support jobs, that type of thing. So they they may not have some of these issues, but computer, I mean, support, tech support is something that I you know we all kind of need. So how do those some of those scams?

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Well, I had heard the other day I talked to I had to take my laptop in and have it repaired. I mean it's a hundred years old, but it still works. Right. Um and updated. And the lady that was working on it told me that there's, you know, they changed the name of the tech support by one or two letters, just like she was talking about with the the other stuff. And instead of calling for one tech support, they're calling for another, and then they get into your computer. They get into and they know who your bankers are, they know you know who your bank is because let's face it, a lot of people are doing online banking. So they get in there and they find out what you've got and they can clean out your bank account, they can clean out all of that information. So your tech support is not necessary, you're not signing up for that tech support, your virus support, this sort of thing. You're signing up for somebody, you're just turning your your computer over to someone that is just gonna take advantage of it.

SPEAKER_06 21:13

Again, when I need tech support, I reach out to them. They don't contact me and say, Do you need anything? Right. Can I help you with anything? Right. No. So somebody reaching out to you to offer to clean up your computer, do this or that, is not who you think they are. Right.

SPEAKER_04 21:29

So how can you avoid some of these internet scams, do you think?

SPEAKER_06 21:33

I think take a deep breath, take your time and call back or contact whoever your provider is, your bank, and just do the double check.

SPEAKER_04 21:44

Mm-hmm. Yeah, and when you get a pop up, don't s don't click on it.

SPEAKER_06 21:48

No, correct.

SPEAKER_04 21:49

And you may need to I've done. I have too. Because you panic and you go, oh my gosh, it's because it looks like it's a virus, or you have to do yeah. I d have learned from that mistake, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Don't accept accept uh emails from everybody that that sends you one. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 22:04

Especially with attachments.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Mm-hmm. And also, you know, t y you might need to utilize your children, your grandchildren, and i don't think you need to know everything about your computer. Reach out for help from other folks. Yeah, definitely. It really is. It's you don't have to know everything about it.

SPEAKER_04 22:22

Yeah. And I I I really, really encourage my son has really taught me this. Mom, your passwords, because I sometimes I have him do things for me. He's like, This password, anybody can figure out this password. And he works as he's in computer software, and he's like, This password's terrible. It's super hackable. And I'm so he's got me doing passwords that I'm like going, I gotta write this down because it's hard. You need to have a difficult password. Do not use your dog's name, do not use your children's name, do not use your spouse's name. Um, and you do need to have a little bit more of a difficult password than what you may have. So I definitely encourage that as well in or in order to have safety on your computer.

SPEAKER_06 23:03

Really, and I know they've said, oh, well, don't write down your password. Well, the chance of somebody breaking into your house and getting into a locked drawer to get your password list is pretty low. Yeah. But the chance of you doing one, two, three, four is your password and them guessing it is pretty high. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:19

And I will tell you, you know, I had the hardest time when my dad I was trying to access my dad's information when he wasn't able to remember them. Um, it was hellacious because he did not write his passwords down, or at least I could not find them. And I had the hardest time um getting the help that I needed for him because I did not have passwords. And I actually was never able to access his email. Oh my. So it was even but even to cancel certain things, they were like, What's his password? I don't know what his password is for his XYZ account for the house, you know, those types of things. Um, they actually had me try to guess his favorite artist, his favorite music artist. And I'm literally I was literally crying on the phone because I kept guessing it. And they knew that my story, and I had power of attorney, complete power of attorney. This is not even a joke. And I'm I'm I'm guessing and guessing and guessing, and finally I said, I don't know. I mean, he's 70 years old, and I finally said, um, Abba. And they said, Winner, you're done. I'll let you in. And I'm like going, oh my gracious. But I had, I'm like, the Beatles, Elvis. We listened to Abba the whole time I was growing up, but my dad was very diverse in music, but he did he played ABBA, Abba, Abba, Abba all the time on Sundays. So I'm like, the man loved himself some ABBA.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

So I I had uh it was uh I had I couldn't remember my password at one company, and they said, Who's your favorite actor? Well, I told them, and they just they the person on the phone cracked up because they had no idea who it was. I said, from years ago, yes, okay, but it was really funny because she had no idea. She was younger, a whole lot younger, and it was just really fun. I said, Look her up, look him up, just look him up. You two, yeah, maybe not now, but years ago, yes. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_10 25:10

Yeah. Oh my goodness. It was funny.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

So but there's also, you know, the scams of um you trust your family. You know, you trust your family that they're gonna take care of you. But don't leave things out that might be temptating, I mean tempting, this sort of thing. So, you know, um family members can take advantage of you too. And I just need to say that um because they will.

SPEAKER_04 25:36

Yeah. That that is that is absolutely true. Yeah. So, you know, going back to our previous podcast, having all of your documents, I think, is very important as well. That's helpful in in avoiding some of those things, making sure your power of attorney is set up and you know who can who can access your accounts and making sure that if you have a checking account and you want to have someone else on it, it's very specific on who you design for that. So um, just I think we're gonna go to break here. Um, and um, we'll be back in a few minutes and we'll talk about some more scams that um seniors can avoid Parish Healthcare.

SPEAKER_05 26:29

We believe in our community. We believe in keeping our community safe, we believe in the art of healing, we believe in healing patients, healing families, healing communities. We believe in the best and brightest working together for the common good. At Parish Healthcare, our team focuses on you as an individual because every life is a work of art. To us, Parish Healthcare, where the art of healing comes to life. Visit ParishHealthcare.com slash healthaware for a free health risk assessment.

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I I just I don't know where to find anything. I just need everything in like one place and know what all the options are.

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SPEAKER_04 28:51

So let's chat and uh finish our discussion about scamming or being scammed, not scamming specifically. I did want to talk a little bit and just kind of throw this out here. Um when I um after my dad uh had um been diagnosed with dementia and I started going through all of his financials and kind of going through that, I discovered where for about a year he was paying um a, and I'm gonna use this term light with in quotation marks, a law firm $500 a month. And he'd been paying that law firm for a year. And I I said to him, and I mean he was, you know, he was cognitive, but he was definitely having some issues. I said, Dad, what what is this for? And he said, I don't know, but they told me that if I did not pay them, they were gonna turn me in, that I was in trouble. So I just keep sending them money. And I had seen where every month he was sending them a check and they were invoicing him. Well, I clearly stopped. I'm like, Yeah, I don't think so. I don't know what this is for. There's no explanation. I've never heard of these people, and they were in a they were in Tennessee. We live in Florida. I don't even know who these people are. Um, so I stopped paying them and then they sent him a late notice. I was so entrenched in getting everything done, I didn't even reach back out. They sent him a late notice pay now collection type notice. So I called them, there was no answer. I I think I sent the I e I in the invoice. I don't know what this is for, this is a scam, blah, blah, blah, and never heard from them again. No invoice, no collection, no anything. They just disappeared. I could not find their information online. It was a scam.

SPEAKER_06 30:32

Oh wow. And and you didn't have the energy to notify the district attorney or somebody to follow up. No, I mean you just you're in the middle of it.

SPEAKER_04 30:42

Yeah, to be honest with you, at that point in time, I was in the middle of taking care of my dad, taking care of his finances. We were doing um not Medicaid, but we were getting all of his military stuff ready in order to to get that. I mean, it was it was literally every day was spent doing that. And that was at the bottom of and then I'd spent an hour and a half just trying to get cable disconnected or credit given back for his guessing, you know, what band was his favorite or his favorite artist. So it literally was it was just all time consuming, and I just were done with it. I'm just getting it off my plate, and um, and then he was my mom had passed away a year before and he was paying bills that were underneath her name that were supposed to have been closed out. I don't even know what that was about. So, you know, just getting all this stuff straightened out, I was just it's done, it's over, moving on.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

He was blessed to have you. So really blessed to have you.

SPEAKER_04 31:43

Uh well, I w you know, in retrospect, we won't talk about the guilt thing again, but I wish that I had been more of a proactive, but I just wanted I didn't want to take away his independence and get in his business. But probably should have done it sooner. But yeah. So let's talk a little bit about one thing that is important to seniors medical equipment. So that can actually be a scam as well, which is very scary.

SPEAKER_06 32:13

It is, and the senior gets um something on their phone, on their internet, or they see an ad on TV. Do you have back pain? Do you think a back support would help you? Just call us and we'll send the order to your doctor and they'll sign the prescription for it and we'll send it to you free of charge. Your insurance. Oh, it sounds amazing. Isn't that wonderful? I want to sign up. Exactly. You don't have Medicare. The the trouble is so we'll get these requests and what the senior doesn't realize is that again, your insurance wants medical necessity. They want uh X-rays, uh uh medical records. What did we do other than give you this back brace? So it's not just doctors gonna write a prescription for it. And uh uh uh the we will actually get a letter from the medical supply company, and I'll use that term loosely, that says we want this person's medical records to justify to Medicare. Well, now you've just given your medical records, your all your insurance information, your social security number, your address, your phone number, has gone to this place. Now, they may or may not send you that back brace, and it may or may not be something that you could pick up for 1995 at the local drugstore. Meanwhile, they've built Medicare $160 for it.

SPEAKER_04 33:37

Oh my gracious.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

And also they're really fli uh the ones we've seen, mm-hmm, they're really flimsy and i it's it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_06 33:47

It really is just ridiculous. So if you think you need a piece of medical equipment, uh you talk to your doctor about it and you go to a local medical supply store and try a couple of them out, see what works best for you, and let them design something for you that you know is quality and that you could take back to the store.

SPEAKER_04 34:05

Yeah, this is huge to me. This I did not even know this was going on. This is huge. So are there any other um things that you need to talk to your doctor about when it comes to the medical equipment, if if if they need it specifically, as far as when when people are calling them, do they need to let the doctors know? I mean, are the doctors keeping track of people that are getting these types of scams? I guess is what I'm asking.

SPEAKER_02 34:31

Well so I've seen it sometimes at health fairs. I've also seen you know it's the middle of the night. You know, the when you can't sleep, you turn the TV on, they're there in the middle of the night. Well, a lot of the seniors will be awake watching these infomercials and you'll have someone there endorsing it. Well, they're getting paid to endorse these products. Also, the the audience that's behind that everybody's nodding, they're getting paid to do this as well. And sometimes who they say is a physician that is endorsing this product may or may not be a physician. Just be leery. If you feel as like Dr. Dr. Pam said, if you feel you need this equipment, you need to talk to your physician, your provider, because there has to be a medical need for it. And it it needs to be supported with it with a visit from your doctor, and it may not be that you need it. You may need to just there may be other options other than a piece of equipment.

SPEAKER_04 35:27

Yeah, definitely. Well, that's really good information. I really appreciate that because honestly, it just never really occurred to me. So what other types of scams and things like that that you think are really important to like cover today?

SPEAKER_06 35:41

Well, the latest we've seen medically is the DNA scam. That people go to a health fair or they get contacted to say, don't you want to know if your DNA makes you genetically uh at an increased risk for cancer or Alzheimer's or diabetes? Um we'll send you this DNA kit and we'll bill your insurance.

unknown 36:01

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_10 36:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:03

What you don't know is that it might be $10,000 or $20,000 worth of genetic testing that may or may not be covered. Because as you're signing a paper for them, it probably says something like, um, I assume the risk if it's not covered by my insurance to pay this. In a small print. Very small print. Or you have a copay of several thousand dollars. And it may or may not be accurate. You know, if you if you really need to know, am I my family prone to breast cancer or colon cancer, there are legitimate DNA testing. But you know, if again, somebody tries to give you something for free, they're giving you something for free. Right.

SPEAKER_04 36:49

I I was always taught it's called I was tin staffle. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Yeah, it just there just isn't in life. I mean, you keep trying to fit a square peg and a round hole. Um, so with that said, these DNA tests that people might be interested in, doctors can always do that. That's something that can be done. It can be done properly under your medical insurance, um Medicare or whatever. Um, so that can actually be done. You just need to talk to your doctor. Um, but typically those would probably be done, and I'm just spitballing here, um, under a predisposed. So if you have it in your family, that type of thing. So, you know, you don't want to also like kind of feed into a paranoia, get me tested for everything under the sun, even though no one in my family has ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever had this particular type of disease. So it would probably be You're absolutely right. Yeah, because you you get people that they want to be tested for everything because they think they're gonna avoid, you know, everything or want to find out everything prior to. So I don't know, I'm just throwing that out there. But um, so uh fraudulent like products.

SPEAKER_02 37:58

This is Janet's late late, uh middle of the night, infomercial. Right. It they they're out there. Yeah, every type of product that you could ever imagine, it blows my mind. It really does. And you know, I'll wake up, I'll click the TV on, which you know I hope the folks at the sleep blob aren't listening to me because that's not what you're supposed to do. Right. But I mean there's a product for everything. Yeah. You know, uh they can help you sit straighter, they can help you, you know, eat healthier, they can cook the meal faster, they can do everything. You know, um sometimes we need some of these products, don't get me wrong, but it's like you don't buy these things, you know. Um you don't need them. There are, I mean, the the it's like, oh my, but you could have Amazon dropping things off at your house daily or UPS dropping things off, and then your bank's your your bank account's empty.

SPEAKER_10 38:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:54

But there are products out there as seen on TV that you can go to the drugstores and there they are. And dirt cheap. Dirt cheap.

SPEAKER_06 39:01

The quality of them is is dirt cheap too. And and I'd like to give you an example that uh somebody bought a product that was going to lower cholesterol and de decrease your arthritis. And it was fifty dollars a month. And when I read the ingredients, it was basically metamucile and aspirin. And which is so uh yes, fiber, a high fiber diet can help your lower your cholesterol, aspirin can certainly help your arthritis, but you're paying fifty dollars a month because you watch the infomercial. Right. And a lot of times, yes, you can get the same products because they play on your fear, big fear, Alzheimer's, cancer. Yeah, right. And those are the two biggies.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

I mean, it's right and sometimes they're longer infomercials. I mean, they'll go on for hours. Right. And you know, it's it's really sad because I'll we'll have people, I mean, I take in all of our new patient um appointments, and people will call and they want to know about this. They are scared, you know, and they want to know, Will will this product help me? Well, we're not gonna tell them over the phone. We don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:15

Well, and it's even on the internet because now they have the long form video where if you click, and clearly it's typically in social media, where you click on the ad and then it takes you to a page where you literally have to listen and listen and you get more stories before you find out the end game. But it sucks you in, sucks you in, sucks you in, and a lot of times celebrities are the ones that are endorsing these products, so you have this odd faith just because it's a celebrity, which I don't really understand. But um well, and they're getting paid.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

There was a product a few years ago that you know, I actually that they had a celebrity, it was some type of face cream stuff, a million dollars. She was getting paid for this product.

SPEAKER_06 41:04

And it was like wow. Yeah. I think one of the big things, and and we see too, there's full-page newspaper ads, doctors don't want you to know about this product. And the thing is, is I will say to the person, because they'll say, Can I use Gooden Brain? Is should I take this? Well, what's in it? Well, I don't know. If you read the label as we talk about it, talk about it was loaded with caffeine. So can caffeine make you focus and concentrate better? Sure, we all know that. We all have our little cup of coffee when we were studying. So that's a true statement. But does somebody who's 85 years old with a heart rhythm abnormality and high blood pressure need two cups of coffee, essentially? Right. But they they want to believe. Yeah, yeah, and especially in the evening, taking it twice a day.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:50

Yeah, exactly. Um so what are some other just basically it's medications and these different types of things that you know you get you would get on um you know, you were talking about the you know, the midnight things, you think that they target, I think, honestly, some of these products in the middle of the night because they know seniors are awake as well. And I always want to kind of go back because I think to myself, at night, um, or or some of these like online or uh ads as seen on TV. If you go back into the time machine, remember like the Suzanne Summers, you know, the Thy Master.

SPEAKER_02 42:31

Didn't work she still uses it though.

SPEAKER_04 42:34

Well, nobody else does. So all these products that were all these amazing, as seen on TV, this they're gone. They don't exist because they were not amazing. And all these diet products that they come out with, because you know, that is overwhelming as well. Um, they don't work because if they were so amazing, no one would be overweight. Everybody would be doing it, right? Because it's 20 bucks a month, 30 bucks a month, and it makes you skinny. Everybody be going, they'd be climbing on board that train, but it really actually in actuality doesn't really work. So you have to really sit back and think for a minute. If this was so amazing, why would they be selling it at this price on an infomercial? It would be like at three o'clock in the morning. At three o'clock in the morning. You have to sit back and think.

SPEAKER_02 43:18

Well, and the latest thing is the anti-aging creams, you know. This this forty dollar bottle will make you look ten years younger.

SPEAKER_10 43:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:29

Well, all of us want to look younger. Yeah, you know, but yeah, the anti-aging creams. But you go to the any of the drug stores are and there's like rows and rows and of because none of us want to face that we might be getting older. Might. Might.

SPEAKER_06 43:45

Well but that won't kill you. Some of these products that you get. Yeah. Um there was a uh, let's say, male enhancement drug that people were buying from across the world. Yeah. And what they didn't know is that. It was mixed with a diabetes drug. So people were taking it and passing out with a sugar of twenty or thirty. Wow. Because they it was adulterated.

SPEAKER_04 44:11

Wow. Yeah, I think definitely taking any type of prescription type of thing that you got on what I would basically call the black market is a really bad idea.

SPEAKER_07 44:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:22

Yeah. Really bad idea. You're risking your life at that point. Yeah. Super bad idea. So tell me a little bit about your your award. Did you ever receive your award?

SPEAKER_06 44:32

Uh well, I didn't send for this award.

SPEAKER_04 44:35

Okay. So that's it.

SPEAKER_06 44:36

That's because I recognized it. Okay. However, part of why I recognized it is because 25 years ago I received a similar offer in the mail. We've noticed your achievements and we want to give you this plaque because you're one of the foremost physicians in the United States. Right. And I sent $300. Uh-and I never got anything. You never got your plaque. So again, nobody's immune to getting scams. They keep trying and keep trying. It's a matter of recognizing what you're getting into.

SPEAKER_04 45:09

You can frame your letter. Yes, I could frame my letter of recognition.

SPEAKER_06 45:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:15

Well, you know, you never know. That plaque could have just got lost in the mail. I'm just kidding. I'm sure that would have been their excuse, right? Um, yeah, you're absolutely right. Um, so what are some last-minute thoughts as far as advice on how to avoid in general all of these scams in a nutshell to seniors that might be, you know, prone and kind of what causes them to be prone so that they can kind of recognize those in themselves?

SPEAKER_02 45:43

I think loneliness, uh wanting to be needed, wanting to feel independent. You know, I can do this myself, I don't need anybody to help me. Um, and you know, I can do I can handle things on my computer, uh, I can make those phone calls, that impulsiveness that, you know, like you were talking about, they they want to they want to be responsible. I want to pay those bills, I want to get things done, and I want to be in control. I want to be trustworthy because they've always been trustworthy. They that's the way that they were taught. They're not suspicious. Um, they need to be a little suspicious, a little leery, a little aware of what might be going on. That's the greatest thing that I could that that I could say in a nutshell is don't trust everything you hear, don't trust everything you read. I'm not saying be paranoid in life, but be aware in life that everything, if it seems too good, it probably is.

SPEAKER_10 46:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 46:37

And a couple of thoughts is if if you're walking down the street at night and you look and down the alley or some shady characters, you hold your purse really close to you and you try to walk away, you can't recognize the shady characters on on the internet or over the phone. You have to kind of harden your heart and use your brain.

SPEAKER_10 46:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 47:00

And I I'm thinking there's uh like about the charity scams, you know, they they just tug at your heart strings, you want to send money and go ahead and send it to a local charity, send it to a respected charity that's established, but don't send to everybody, and that's also what happens. Yeah. So you have to kind of say no and be protective of yourself. And I also was thinking, Janet, a lot of TV shows, especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas, oh, the the poor person who works um at the local store and you the the main character takes them in and takes care of their children and everything turns out fine, it doesn't always turn out so fine. No in real life.

SPEAKER_04 47:47

Right, right. So I think if you have a a charity that's near and dear to your heart, um if it's St. Jude's or you know, cancer research or any of those things, no matter what it is, it's it's your money, your charity, um, go online, find research it, and then you can do it directly to them that way.

SPEAKER_06 48:08

Right.

SPEAKER_04 48:09

Versus giving it to someone over the phone or in an envelope or anything like that. I think that that is really honestly the safest way to make sure that your money that you would like to donate goes directly to the cause that you would like it to go to. I think that's the best way.

SPEAKER_02 48:22

If you're reaching out to them as opposed to them reaching out to you, keep that in mind. I mean, if you don't pull away anything from this, is you reach out to them, not them reaching out to you.

SPEAKER_04 48:34

Exactly. Even if someone calls you and tells you this amazing cause and you're super interested, say that's great. You know what? I'm gonna research it and then I will let you know or I will I will donate directly. I think just donating directly is probably the best plan. And then you can do that if it's something that piques your interest, maybe something you never heard of before. Like if you know you get contact about big brothers, big sisters, never thought that was your your thing.

SPEAKER_02 48:58

Ask for their phone number and you'll call them back.

SPEAKER_04 49:00

Yeah. But I yeah, I think it's a really great idea to just make that your your plan to make sure your money goes in the right way.

SPEAKER_02 49:09

Don't harden your heart to where that you don't want to to be a giver. Don't harden your heart that you are so paranoid that you isolate yourself in your home with the blinds closed and afraid to to even stick your nose out. But be aware. Be a good steward of your money.

SPEAKER_04 49:27

Yeah, and I also think that, yeah, and I also think that if you're building relationships when you're going to restaurants and you have that same waitress, that's a a give and take relationship. And that that person that you're building relationship would really never ask you for money. Um, even if you get to know that person and the things that are going on in their lives, they also want to know about you. So I think you need to be cognitive of that, where they listen to what's going on in your life and they have a vested interest and empathy for what's going on in your life as well as you do theirs, and they're they never ask for anything that's financial.

SPEAKER_02 50:00

Yeah, they should not ask for money.

SPEAKER_04 50:01

Yeah. So I think that's a good point to be made. If you want to make friendships with people, you know, that you're meeting out and about, that's fine. But if they start asking for money, that's a red flag.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 50:13

Yeah. All right. Well, I think this is gonna wrap up this session. I would love to actually cover this another time. We can maybe even talk about some more things because this is very interesting, and I think it's super important to our seniors and and their care caregivers, honestly, as well, to notice some of these things. So thank you, ladies. Um, and we will be back with another episode. Thank you. Thank you.