More scams using technology, anonymity to target trusting seniors
Tax time brings familiar scheme of con artists claiming to be revenue agents
Marilyn Schafer got a call one day from someone claiming he was from Microsoft and needed to fix things on her computer.
“And the first time I heard it, I fell for it, except when they asked for money. Then I shut everything down,” she says, sharing her story about how somebody tried to scam her so she hung up.
“They phoned back and they said the line just dropped. And I said, ‘you’re right, it did. I cut it!’ ”
Toronto police say there’s been an increase in all types of scams targeting the public.
There’s the one where a woman is told her grandson is arrested and she needs to hand over bail money. Or the one where the targeted victim supposedly won a lottery but needs to hand over money for fees to claim their jackpot.
Schafer, chair of the Older Women’s Network (Ontario), says she’s experienced an increased number of Canadian Revenue Agency scammers calling just before and after tax time.
Especially vulnerable are some seniors who could be easy targets because they are isolated and yearn for company, so a kind voice at the other end of the line makes a difference, Schafer says.
Police reported the case earlier this week of an 85-year-old woman who was scammed out of $600,000, including her house, by somebody who claimed to be a lawyer and told her she won a large sum of money.
The victim, who police say had a diminished mental capacity, was told that she had to pay taxes and other “recovery costs” before getting her winnings. He built a rapport with her by calling the victim every day.
“These are criminals with no conscience,” Toronto police Det. Alan Spratt says. “They could care less if they leave a senior destitute and homeless. They don’t care. They are in it because they are greedy, and they want to make as much money as they can.”
These scams are becoming popular because they’re difficult to investigate since there isn’t personal contact between the suspect and the victim.
Technology makes it easy to create fictitious identities, fake emails addresses and register phone numbers, making it easy to hide one’s identity, he says.
“We believe, my team here in Toronto, there’s hundreds of people in the GTA involved in these types of scams,” he says. “Many of the suspects behind these scams are organized crime. So it’s not just you know, a shyster or a conman. A lot of these scams are actually organized crime.”
Trusting seniors, usually with some type of assets such as a home, are often targets.
“It’s also the era we grew up in,” says Schafer, who would only reveal that she’s in her 70s. “You could trust someone who talked nicely.”
If you suspect something suspicious, contact the Canadian AntiFraud Centre or the police, Spratt said.
If calls or emails are repeated, he recommends changing your address and phone number.
“Because once you’re on a scam list then it gets circulated and scammers will continue to hound you,” he says.
Here are tips for seniors from Toronto police and the Older Women’s Network (Ontario) on how to detect and avoid scams:
If you are contacted by someone you don’t know — but who is calling about anything involving money — get the person’s information including name, company, address and phone number. Then tell the person that you will check out the information and call back.
Checking can simply be done by asking a neighbour, family member or a friend or going on the Internet to see whether the person sounds legitimate.
Don’t send money via email transfer, MoneyGram or Western Union. The money is sent to an email address and, unlike a cheque, is harder to track.
Have a specific time when to get phone calls from grandchildren, best friends, sons and daughters or the person who checks up on you.
Have caller ID and a message retrieval system.
The CRA advises that the public can contact 1-800-959-8281 to check if a call is legitimate.