Tis the Season…for Scammers

Although there is no season for scammers-it’s a year round problem. But with the holidays there are specific scams that pop up.  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently blogged about holiday scams that target elders.  Beware of Scams Targeting Older People During the Holidays warns that

Scams that target older people occur every day, but you can count on scammers to ramp up their efforts to prey on people’s generosity during the holiday season. These grinches, armed with their dirty tricks, may even weave the holidays into elaborate stories to pull at your heartstrings as they slip their sticky fingers into your wallet.

During the holidays, the common scam known as the imposter or “grandparent scam” might be decorated with a special plea, a story of a relative in trouble who desperately needs money to fix a car or get out of jail – and home for the holidays.

These perpetrators are very skilled at what they do, and they aren’t shy about intimidation:

The ruse known as the IRS scam takes on a vicious new twist with a grinch on the phone threatening an elder with being arrested and spending the holidays in jail for unpaid taxes or a fake debt. And then there is the predictable increase in false or imposter charities, which sound identical to the real ones. The pitch is wrapped in sympathy inducing requests for year-end, tax-deductible holiday donations. These grinches stand ready to take your credit card or check routing information and charge you for bogus Nutcracker ballet tickets, or a holiday charity fundraising event.

The CFPB offers tips for folks to protect themselves against these three scams and provides links to information available on the CFPB website. The blog post also appeared on the National Center for Elder Abuse website.