Senior Scam Prevention Tips: Police Officer Explains Red Flags Every Family Should Know

Scams targeting seniors are becoming more sophisticated, and families need to know the warning signs. In this episode of Aging, Healthcare, and Everything in Between, Stephanie Pogue talks with Sergeant Robert Powell of the Chesterfield Police Department about common scams affecting older adults, including IRS scams, fake police calls, grandchild scams, romance scams, Medicare scams, gift card scams, fake emails, and online shopping fraud.

You’ll learn why scammers often use urgency and emotion, why seniors are frequently targeted, and what simple steps can help protect your parents, grandparents, clients, or loved ones.

Most important tip: hang up, slow down, verify, and never give personal information or payment over the phone unless you initiated the call.

#SeniorScams #ScamPrevention #MedicareScams #ElderFraud #SeniorSafety #ChesterfieldMO #AgingHealthcareAndEverythingInBetween #RetirementPlanning #ProtectSeniors #StLouisInsuranceGroup

0:00 Intro: Protecting Seniors from Scams
0:50 Why Scams Are Getting More Sophisticated
1:37 How Scammers Use Urgency and Emotion
2:01 Why Seniors Are Often Targeted
3:07 Common Phone Scams: IRS, Police & Grandchild Scams
4:44 What to Do When a Scam Call Comes In
5:49 Online Romance Scam Red Flags
8:54 Medicare Scams and Protecting Your Medicare Number
10:25 Lottery and Sweepstakes Scams
11:23 Basic Rules to Protect Yourself
12:42 Why Gift Cards Are Always a Red Flag
13:58 Email Scam Warning Signs
15:21 What Scammers Want from Your Computer
15:50 Online Shopping Safety Tips
17:51 Why You Should Review Bank and Medicare Statements
19:01 In-Person Safety Tips While Shopping
20:58 Final Advice: Slow Down and Verify
22:04 Closing Thoughts

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome back to Aging, Healthcare, and Everything in Between, where we talk about all the things that help families live well through their retirement years. And I'm your host, Stephanie Pogue. Now today we're talking about something that affects just about all of us, and that's scams. And I am joined by Sergeant Robert Powell with our Chesterfield Police Office, Police Department, and he's going to walk through some of the common scams that he's seeing right now and also help us understand maybe what the scammers are looking for, and most importantly, how you can protect yourself and your senior parents. So thank you, Sergeant Powell, for being with us today.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Hey, good morning. Glad to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

You know, sometimes I think it's pretty easy to tell if a phone call is not right or the email that you get is a little bit fishy. But it sometimes you can't tell. Like I feel like they're getting really more sophisticated. From your perspective, is that what you're seeing, or are they just more common?

SPEAKER_01 1:09

No, you're absolutely correct. And one of the biggest ways that they're so successful is they found a really good niche in how to go about these scams, in that most of them center around urgency or to play on your emotions. So a lot of times when you can invoke that emotion, you know, that that safeguard that we have in place, you know, it's it's it's lowered. And at that point, you're just inviting them in, and they've got you at that point.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

So if it feels urgent, it's not good. Or if they're tapping into your emotions. I do you know, as being a Medicare agent, I work with people over 65 every day, and I get a lot of calls asking, you know, do you think this is legitimate? Does this sound real to you? Uh why do you think they play on seniors more than everybody else? Or is that not true and they play on everybody?

SPEAKER_01 2:01

No, you're correct. Uh the senior, um, is it senior citizens are their biggest targets. And when I say seniors specifically over the age of 60, I believe the FBI stats in 2024 said that group accounted for more than four billion dollars in scams alone. And there is a reason why they target our older adults. One is because they have a steady income, you know, retirement, social security. Another is, uh, let's be honest, our seniors are a bit more trusting. You know, you receive those phone calls, they're more apt to fall prey. And second and thirdly, I'm sorry, uh because of the, you know, the lonely aspect, some are widowers, some are lonely. Um, so there those three are probably the biggest reasons that so many of our um elder population really falls for these scams.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

That makes sense. You know, and they come from a generation that you trusted your neighbor, these people weren't doing this.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

So tell me, let's start with the phone scams. What are the most common things that you're seeing right now?

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Well, the phone scams, um, a lot of them still um center around the uh the IRS scams. You know, you owe, you know, an exorbitant amount of money. Um the warrants scam, this is the police department, you owe X amount of dollars. Otherwise, they're gonna be a, there will be a warrant out for your arrest. And also the the grandchild scam. You know, your grandson, your granddaughter's locked up. You know, we need X amount of dollars to um to release them. So again, you know, these scams they play on your emotion. Yeah, and it's always that sense of urgency. This is something you need to deal with right now, or there's a severe consequence. You're gonna be arrested for warrants, or your grandchild is not gonna be released. Um it's that sense of urgency um that we continue to see.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Yeah, talk about playing on emotion if you get a call from your grandson in jail. And some of sometimes those numbers even look familiar, right? There it's doesn't come up as a scam number. It's somebody you know, right? How does that work?

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Yeah, that is true. Um, it'll pop up, and we all know that there's a lot of different ways. Um, there's a lot of different apps where you can disguise a number. But yeah, it'll come back as a legitimate number. We've had scams in which someone would contact, you know, the target saying that they're, you know, Sergeant Powell with the Chesterfield Police Department, they have used names of officers that are currently employed with this. Um, so yeah, there's a lot of different ways to get information out there to someone that sounds legitimate and it looks like it's from a legitimate source.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Yeah. Is there any way to stop those calls?

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Uh the way to stop them? No. Uh the best thing we always give the same advice hang up. There's no penalty whatsoever. If something doesn't feel right, if you're not sure, hang up. There's absolutely no penalty for hanging up on someone and try and verify the information that they're they're providing you.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Even if they think the IRS is calling them, hang up.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Yes, which will never absolutely, which will never happen, not for some sort of payment.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Yeah, you know, I think people don't always realize that that, you know, the IRS is not gonna call you, the nobody's gonna call you saying there's a warrant, Medicare's not gonna call. Like, you know, those things are done by mail.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Correct. No government, no federal agency is gonna give you a call saying you need to pay this and not only pay it, but we need to get that payment right now. That's the part that uh those red flags should immediately signal when it says, you know, we need this money right now.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Gotcha. Okay. What about online romance scams? I kind of thought that they were over and done and people weren't really doing that anymore. Um and I heard a story recently about one of my clients that actually it has happened to. So is that you still see this happening out there?

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Yes, not so much in Chesterfield, but it is still prevalent. Um, because it it can be um a very easy, easy scam to pull off. Again, if you have someone who's a senior um, who's lonely, you know, who may be a widower. Um, yeah, it's very easy. And and one of the ways this is successful is almost immediately when you connect with someone online, within that first week or so, this person will profess how much they love you and and want to be with you. Uh huge red flag. And you've never even met this person, you know, very limited photos. Um, there are so many red flags with online scams, these romance scams. But again, you know, if you're looking, you're someone who's looking for that companionship, that that protection wall just, you know, it just comes down and you're so happy to receive that attention that it it becomes somewhat easy to fall prey.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Yeah. What are the other what do they need to be watching out for? You said um someone who tells you that they love you right away online, they've never met you, um, not a lot of pictures. Are there other things, big red flags that people need to watch for?

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Absolutely. Most of the time, this will be someone who claims to be in the military, which is a great reason as to why I can't meet you. Um that's a huge, huge red flag. Another one is in addition to professing your love for this person, almost immediately they're gonna start asking for money. And the way they do it, it's always an emergency. Um, my child, you know, was injured. I just simply don't have the money for the medical, um, the medical bills. Um, I would love to come and see you. I don't have the money if you can send me the money. So it's always some sort of emergency with an explanation as to why they're reaching out to you for this, for these ones. But the biggest, biggest red flags are they're obviously not here in the area. More than likely, they're not going to be in the country. And um saying how much they love you and never even met you. Um, and most times there will even be no phone, no actual phone conversation where you can actually hear this person's voice. Everything is done via email. So just huge red flags. But again, you know, if if you are someone that's craving for that attention and you're finally receiving that attention for someone, you know, I I I can see how you can't fall prey to that.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Yeah. And just that emotional side. Oh, your your child is sick. Of course I want to help you, you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Absolutely. And again, you know, it goes back to what you said about seniors being more trusting because they were raised in an era, you know, where you didn't you didn't have these sort of issues.

unknown 8:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Yep. Now, one of the one of the switching gears just a little bit, one of the calls I get all the time from my current clients or people who are working with me is the what I call the Medicare scam. Um, someone is calling, they're offering you free medical equipment or free genetic testing, whatever it might be. And what they're saying is, we just need your Medicare number, and we'll build Medicare in your insurance company, and you don't have to worry about any of that. We'll just send you what you need. And it's free, completely free to you. And people will give their Medicare number over the phone. And I get it because you know, people are new to Medicare, they're new to Social Security, they don't really know who's going to be calling and who's not. But I always say, do not give out your Medicare number to anybody. If somebody, you know, you're unless you're calling them, like your doctor's office or something. Um, but is that that one's not too prevalent here in Chesterfield, you said, right? The Medicare scam.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Correct. I'm not familiar with um with that going on here yet, but you gave out some excellent, some excellent uh safeguards. It's different if you're calling, you know, that provider as opposed to someone calling you. And when they throw out that magic word of free, well, yeah, that's that should be all sorts of signals that's uh, you know, that's popping up through your mind. There's there's nothing that's free. And giving out any information that can be tied specifically to you, you know, member ID numbers, things like that. Yeah, absolutely never provide that information.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Are there any other scams that are out there that we need to be aware of or something that really surprised you when you heard it?

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Yeah, uh, surprising. Um, I think there's another one that's still um is kind of lost a little bit of steam. It's the lottery or the sweepstakescams. You know, you you get the call or the saying, you know, congratulations, you won this. But in order for us to release these funds to you, you need to provide us with, you know, this fee. And the only way you know we can accept those fees is through gift cards. Uh so that's another one. It's lost a little bit of steam, but uh the the whole lottery sweepstakes scam is still out there.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Yeah. And again, from that generation, they had publishers' clearing, clearinghouse, and all those things, and they could have gotten those calls, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

But right. Yeah, the the the flag is, you know, if I've won all this money, then why do I need to pay you a fee? Just take it out of my winnings and send me the rest.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Exactly. So these things kind of sound scary, right? Like how could we how do we protect ourselves? Like, what are the basic rules we need to follow?

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Anytime someone is soliciting any sort of identifying information, hang up, call your local police department. Even if the number they're calling from is spoofed to make it look like it's coming from, say, the Chesterfield Police Department and it has our number, hang up and call the police department and don't call the number that they provide. Google Chesterfield Police Department, Google your local police department and call that number. Don't call anyone from the number that they're providing or click on if it's via email, you know, don't open up any links that they're sending to you. That is the simplest and easiest way to avoid being victimized. Simply hang up. Actually, Google then if you're not sure, call someone. Call a trusted family member, tell them what happened and what should you do. Um, if you're not, you know, tech savvy or anything. But that's the biggest um bit of advice we love to give out. Just simply hang up. You don't have to provide any context. Simply hang up on them, reach out to your local authorities, and we can verify if if this is a scam or not.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Okay. And that's perfect. Yeah, just hang up. Don't feel like you have to give out any information. Nobody's gonna be mad if you call them back, if it was a legitimate thing. Absolutely. What about gift cards? Is it always a red flag? If somebody's asking for payment.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Always. I I can't think of a legitimate reason why someone would be calling you and instructing you to go and purchase gift cards and walk you through the process of whatever information uh that you need to provide them over the phone. There's I can't think of any legitimate reason or legitimate organization who would walk you through. And many times we've been told they will actually stay on the phone with you while you make it to this um to whatever store to get these gift cards and provide you with a specific gift card that um they require. There's no legitimacy to that whatsoever.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Yeah. Even even when you're trying to buy things on Facebook Marketplace or, you know, whatever you find, you know, you want to buy stuff, um, I, you know, uh people in their 30s and 40s have fallen for that too. You know, I mean, it's uh it's hard to tell a scam. Um, but gift cards don't pay with gift cards. We got that.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

No, absolutely not. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Is there anything if people are getting emails, sometimes they seem legitimate too? Is there anything you need to watch out for with emails?

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Look at those email addresses carefully because what they would do, they would take one character and either change or omit that character, which we all know completely changes the email. And we've actually seen businesses fall prey to this. You know, your email may be Stephaniepo1, you know, dot com and it will be Stephanie Pog P O G U one, you know, leaving off the E at the end of your name, and that completely changes the email. So you have to look at those very, very carefully. Um, we've seen a couple with Amazon. People thought that they were receiving emails from Amazon, but what they did is they would say, let's just say management at Amazon.com. It would be management at um M-A-Z-O-N. So there would not be that A at Amazon. So you really have to look at those emails closely, especially if it's going to be something that provides a link for you to click on. Or again, it's someone who's asking for some sort of information or payment. You really have to pay attention to that entire email address.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Don't click on the links either, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Don't click on any links. Once you click on that link, and then you've just opened up your computer for everything.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

And what are they looking for? So it's not always just money they're looking for, they're looking for access to Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

All of your personal information because once they have access to your computer, you know, all of your information is at their disposal potentially. So it's just gaining more information about you, financial information, um, everything. You you basically have opened up your computer. You've opened up yourself to that person.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

What about online shopping? Is it the same? Just watch very closely.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

You really do, especially if it's somewhere um what you've never made a purchase before, you know, the um some of the Facebook marketplaces things places you're familiar with, you know, are fine. But if it's somewhere you've never dealt with before, some other business, some some other website you've never dealt with before, you really have to be careful with those and run those checks. You know, do a Google check on that particular site, and it'll tell you if this is legitimate or not. But anything that's foreign to you where you've never made a purchase from, I would, I would be very cautious without doing any sort of checks because a lot of these obviously will be offering items that are you know a much discounted price where it almost seems too good to be true. That you really have to be careful. Um, you know, it it's we don't want to put fear in people, but at the same time, you just have to be cautious because there's a lot of good that can be done. But boy, there's a lot of people that are looking for you know opportunities out there, you know, at our dis at our um expense. So you just have to do a little bit of a little bit of checking and research. Again, a quick Google search of of different websites and businesses can provide a lot of information.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Yeah. I can see that. And I I think I what I was thinking about are my some of my senior clients who don't aren't really tech savvy and they may not think to Google something. They would just purchase it. So I think this is good information. Just flip over, check it out first, and then go back to your purchase if if it seems okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Yeah, absolutely. I do it all the time when I look for something online. If it's um, you know, a different company I'm not familiar with, I'll just do a quick Google search of it. Because especially again, if the price looks really good, that's when you really have to do your due diligence.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

All right. And what about uh just a couple more things here? I always tell people, you know, to kind of review their statements, review their Medicare statement, review their financial statements, their bank statements. Uh is that still important from your perspective? Is that something they should still be doing?

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Absolutely. Um, if not every day, every other day. First thing I do when I get up in the morning, I check all of my accounts, I check all of my bills, make sure that they're going, that they've um, that they've posted, you know, where they should be posted. Everything. I constantly keep checking it. And it only takes a few minutes. But you know, develop that routine of checking your finances. Um the last thing you want to start doing is receiving emails from your bank or financial institutions about you know fraudulent activity or suspected fraudulent activity. You have to remain diligent. Just just check your accounts, get in the habit of checking it. Like I said, if I don't do it every day, it's every other day I'm checking, I'm checking my accounts to make sure everything is is looking the way it's supposed to look.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Yeah. Well, I think all that's really good, good information. Do you have anything else that we haven't talked about that that we should cover?

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Um I would also like to say um when our seniors are out shopping, um, one of one of the things that I've also um started doing is let's say I'm going to you know famous and bar or sticks bear and full, or I'm sure your clients are familiar with those businesses. I always make sure before I go into the store, if if I'm going to use that department store's card, that department store's card is first up in my uh my credit card wallet. I never want to be at the checkout, fishing through my wallet or whatever you may have looking for payment, because there are, again, people that are that are targeting our our senior citizens, our seniors um, you know, our residents here. So just try to limit yourself from from becoming a potential target. Know where you're going and when you get there, that method of payment, kind of have that as to once you're, you know, once you're at the counter, you can you can produce that method of payment quickly. And then so people aren't standing by, you know, watching what you have inside of your wallet. So things like that, you you have to be more more aware of your surroundings these days, whether it's online or when you're out about in public.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Yeah, that's really good, good advice. I remember going to the store with my aunt one day, and she just, when she got to the checkout, she just opened up her purse and she had cash and she had credit cards and just everything was all out kind of on her lap. That's not safe. So having that method of payment right there ready for you to go is important. And also, you know, I see people still, I'm in the grocery store and they leave their purses in the cart and they walk away. Oh, makes me nervous for them.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Yeah, and that's one, you know, that's not only our senior population, but our young population as well. Yeah, that's still a common occurrence. Leaving that purse, leaving that wallet inside your cart, never a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Yeah, I agree. And like you said before, you know, there's always scams out there, there's bad people out there, but there's also a lot of good people out there. And it doesn't mean that we have to be victims for any to any of this. We just have to be aware, right? Know the red flags, don't react right away. Hanging up is okay. Um search, search whoever you're um doing business with, right? And all of that stuff can make a make a difference.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Absolutely. Most of those phone calls you'll receive or emails, that that urgency that they um present themselves to you, it's really not that urgent. Do your due diligence, call your local police department. We are a great source of information. Um, if it's going to delay something, if it is a legitimate, you know, urgent situation, um, you putting it off for five minutes isn't really going to change anything.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

That's very, very good information. Well, thank you, Sergeant Powell, for being here with us, telling us all this. I really appreciate it. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Not a problem. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

So if you're listening to this and it made you think of a parent or a friend or someone else who might be vulnerable, share this information with them. These are the kind of conversations that really protect people. And as always, if you have questions or topics you'd like me to cover, I'd love to hear from you. So thanks for being here, and I'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to another edition of the Aging, Healthcare, and Everything in Between podcast. Please share this podcast so that others can benefit from the content. Please also leave reviews as feedback is important to me. And if you have any suggestions for a future episode, email them to s.pogue at St. Louis Insurance Group.com. Thanks again for listening, and I look forward to bringing you more valuable content soon.