Protecting Against Telemarketing Schemes and Other Fraud
Senior citizens are commonly targeted by con artists and other fraud schemers. To help combat this problem, the FBI offers many tips for seniors to protect against telemarketing fraud, Medicare scams and other common schemes. Below is FBI material on senior fraud—to find out more, visit www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud/seniors. Read more
An Age-Old Problem, Alcoholism, Also Hits the Aged
By Fred Cicetti
Q. My wife and I recently moved into a retirement community. I’ve noticed a lot of people I’d call alcoholics in this community. Do seniors drink more in these places?
Mostly Fun & Games for Seniors
By Linnea Covington
Sometimes you want to go where everyone knows your name—even if that place has nothing to do with drinking. Since its inception 10 years ago, the Jewish Community Center on the Upper West Side has offered beverages to the dozens of seniors who come on Mondays and Tuesdays to play a variety of games, but the Pepsi, seltzer and ginger ale aren’t why people come.
“I like the games and the people,” said 86-year-old Harry as he placed an “R” on the plastic board in front of him. “And other places don’t have Scrabble.”
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Get Wise to Scams Targeting Seniors
A few years ago, one of the residents of a West Side senior center began to sell their neighbors an alternative to Con Edison.
“They began to sell to them a different kind of lighting company,” said Micki Navarro, director of the Manhattan Valley Senior Center. “Well, it was all a scam. And they had to put a deposit down to get this.”
It wasn’t until one of the seniors mentioned it to one of the center’s social workers that they were finally able to start tracking the crime and looking for the scammers. By then it was too late.
“We traced it to somebody we couldn’t really trace,” Navarro said.
This isn’t an anomaly. Many elderly New Yorkers know the traditional safeguards to prevent pickpockets and burglaries. But, because they prey on trust, scammers can be much harder to avoid.
According to Ken Onaitis, head of the elder abuse department at the Carter Burden Center for the Aging, many scammers target the elderly, who can often be lonely or vulnerable.
Ageism is another reason scammers seek out senior citizens. Some see seniors’ physical or mental limitations as an invitation to go after them. Navarro said scammers target some elderly victims because of mental issues like depression, Alzheimer’s and dementia.
“Those people who commit the fraud, they know all of this,” she said. “They prepare. They do research and watch. They watch their prey and they attack when they know it’s the right time.”
Because scams can happen in person or by mail, phone or computer, there’s no sure-fire rule to avoid scams. But common sense is the best way to keep out of the crosshairs of con artists.
“If an offer sounds too good to be true,” Onaidis said. “It probably is.”
Here are some common scams to be wary of:
• While the mail is still used, email and computer-based scams are more common today. Never give out your social security number, bank information or other sensitive information over the Internet unless you absolutely trust the source on the other end. Even then, it’s good to make sure you verify as much as you can and never give money to people you don’t know.
• Phone scams are also common, according to Onaitis. Some scammers call dozens of people a day trying to gather sensitive data or sell fake products.
“The main thing is that if you get someone on the phone requesting information, trying to get information out of you, just hang up,” said Onaitis.
• According to Navarro, another common scam is those who wait until seniors receive social security money. When seniors go to withdraw money from ATMs, some people follow them home and try to sell them things.
• Make sure you feel comfortable with the person on the other side of the door before you open it. If someone says they are in a position of authority, always ask them for identification.
Navarro said that many seniors grew up when door-to-door salespeople were much more common. Some scammers take advantage of that trust to enter people’s homes. “They don’t know who they’re letting in,” she said.
The first thing anyone should do if they feel scammed is call the police in the precinct in which the crime happened. Many people are ashamed to admit they’ve been had.
Beyond the police, there are resources like the city’s Department for the Aging and community organizations like the Carter Burden Center, which help people respond to scams and go to court if necessary.
Still, prevention is much more simple than the cure. People should take simple steps to keep all personal information private and never give money to people based on a promise, because once scammed, it can be very hard to get the money back.
“Usually when the money’s gone, the money’s gone,” Onaitis said.
New Ideas as Upper West Side Grows Older
The Upper West Side, home to a large and growing population of older New Yorkers, is morphing by design into one of the more age-friendly neighborhoods in the city. According to information that the Department for the Aging released in February of last year, 41,648 people over the age of 60 live within the boundaries of community district 7, with 13,608 of them age 75 and older. That population accounts for almost 20 percent of the entire community district and is the reason the Upper West Side has been designated one of three Aging Improvement Districts in the city (the others are East Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn) as part of a pilot program of Age-Friendly NYC, sponsored by the mayor’s office, the City Council and the New York Academy of Medicine.
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Education on a Phone Wire
Twenty-two years ago, Myrna Shapiro opened up her local Long Island newspaper and discovered an ad for classes she could take at home over the phone. Since Shapiro was confined to a wheelchair, she immediately decided to try it.
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Tapped In: You Go, Girl
Notes from the neighborhood
Compiled by Megan Finnegan
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Hearts Aflutter
By Fred Cicetti
Q. Whenever I drink a little too much wine, I find that I wake up at night and my heart seems to race for a while. Can wine do that?
A. The short answer is yes. But first, it sounds as if you haven’t told a doctor about this. You should—immediately. What you’re describing could be atrial fibrillation. The risk of atrial fibrillation increases with age, particularly after 60.
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Where to Beat the Heat
Places to cool off when the temperature rises
New York City in the summer can actually be a wonderful place to be. People head out of town on vacation, the lines are shorter, the days are longer—the frantic pace seems to slow down a notch. There are outdoor programs, activities and spaces to enjoy. But with the season comes, at times, unforgiving heat that can be dangerous to the health of senior citizens.
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Help Even if You Haven’t ‘Fallen & Can’t Get Up’
New monitors offer medication reminders and help seniors monitor diseases
By Alan Krawitz
For Manhattan resident Tammy Lawrence, her health monitor is much more than a good idea; it provides her genuine peace of mind.
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