November 18th 2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Do you have any relatives over age 65? Have they been warned about the grandma scam?
Here’s how the grandma scam works: A call from a younger person is made to the targeted older person, often at night, after the aging person is asleep. Half awake, grandma answers the phone and the scammer claims to be the grandchild who says he’s in trouble and he needs financial help. Grandma is concerned and wires cash to the scammer. It often times takes days until she realizes she has been scammed.
What’s the takeaway: Your relatives can be easily tricked under the right circumstances. Wanting a call from grandkids is the starting point for scammers and they are triggered by an emotional response to the plea for help.
Millions of dollars are lost this way, in smaller amounts at a time. One way to combat the scam is to be prepared to ask the caller a question only a real grandchild would know: the name of a pet, a parent’s birth date or a nickname.
That’s where Carolyn Rosenblatt, a registered nurse and elder law attorney, and Dr. Mikol Davis, a geriatric psychologist, come in. Rosenblatt and Davis, co-authors of The Family Guide to Aging Parents: Answers to Your Legal, Financial, and Healthcare Questions (www.agingparents.com) and Succeed with Senior Clients: A Financial Advisor’s Guide to Best Practices (www.aginginvestor.com), can provide comments for articles you are working on or write exclusive articles on this topic for your publication.