Specialist Tells How Scams Can Be Identified, Avoided

Senior citizens are some of the most vulnerable people in our society, and sadly, are targeted by scammers frequently. Trena Chiles, Outreach Specialist for the Auglaize County Council On Aging has seen a lot of change in her twenty-seven years with the agency. “Adults from their era, they trusted people, and scamming wasn’t going on then like it is today. It just isn’t safe for them anymore,” said Chiles.

Chiles is in charge of outreach for the Auglaize County Council on Aging, and spends her days trying to educate both the elderly, and their family about the kinds of scams that they might encounter. Chiles herself said that she was targeted by one of the more clever scams, that involved a text message from what appeared to be her bank.

“I had one where i received a text message saying my debit card was being used in Denver, Colorado. Its happened before, but it said it was from my bank, and had my name and number,” said Chiles. She responded to the message saying that she hadn’t authorized any transactions there, and then received a response saying they’d call her.

“When they said they’d call, it was my first red flag. When the guy called, he went through his script, and asked me for my balance in the account. I told him ‘if you’re my bank, you should know my balance’, then ended the call,” said Chiles. Chiles wants to educate seniors on what else they might be targeted with, just like she was.

Chiles said that the most common one she has seen recently involves insurance.

“They’re trying to get people to buy insurance, and that type of thing. Don’t listen to anything that is on the TV, or anything like that,” said Chiles. Chiles also works for the Ohio Senior Health Insurance Program (OSHIP), through the Ohio Department of Insurance.

“We help with insurance so people know how to get into insurance, new drug cards, and those kinds of things, we help with that,” said Chiles. She said that they’re seeing people getting talked into buying a bunch of difference insurance companies, for produces they don’t need. “They’ll see that on TV things are free, but nothing is free, don’t be sucked into that kind of thing.”

Another common scam that Chiles sees is one where a scammer will call and pretend to be a relative of their target, and say they need money.

“People get called by someone pretending to be a loved one. They go to Kroger, or Walmart and buy a gift card, and then read the number off to the scammer,” said Chiles. She said the best defense is to hang up on the person, and then to call the real person that the scammer is pretending to be. But the scams don’t end with just money, or family.

“Other scammers will keep calling to talk, carrying on a conversation, and becoming friends,” said Chiles. One of her clients was targeted by this because she was by herself and lonely at home. “The scammer eventually told her that they were having a hard time paying for things, and asked her to send money, so she did,” said Chiles. After that initial amount, Chiles said that scammers get more aggressive and demand money, and will go so far as to threaten the victim or their families.

“They get more aggressive and say thing like ‘you better send this money because I know where you live’ or ‘I know where your family lives’. They send the money because they get scared,” said Chiles. The client she was talking about in this particular case sent a total of $25,000, and Chiles has heard of another person who sent over $100,000.

“I tell people all the time that if someone is calling, and its not your son or daughter, just let your answering machine take care of it,” said Chiles. She advised that if is a legitimate call, they’ll leave a messages, and that scammers don’t leave messages.

Chiles had some advice for those who may be targeted, and those who are being actively targeted.

“If you don’t know the number calling, don’t answer. If they start to ask for your bank account numbers, etc., just hang up on them. Lots of people don’t want to be rude but its ok to hang up on them,” said Chiles, then continued, “If you have any questions or concerns, you can come and meet me. If you think you’ve been taken advantage of, even by family members, we can look into it and if we can help.”

If you think you may have been the victim of one of these scams, or want to talk about how to avoid these scams, you can call Trena Chiles at 419-3948252 and ask for extension 225.