New York Estate Planning & Elder Law

Elder Financial Abuse Increases with Social Isolation / Greenwich, CT & New York, NY

“The unprecedented quarantines to protect against the spread of the novel coronavirus have made many seniors more vulnerable to financial exploitation.”

Social isolation, whether because of a pandemic or because an elderly person is alone, is a leading factor contributing to the financial exploitation of seniors. The necessity of quarantining for older adults because of COVID has increased the number of people vulnerable to elder financial abuse, reports the article “Social Isolation and the Risk of Investment Fraud” from NASDAQ.com.

Financial abuse can take place at any time during a person’s life. However, scammers typically strike during times when seniors are more susceptible. It is usually during a health crisis, after the death of a loved one, or when younger family members live far away.

Scammers get information about their prospective victims by reading the obituaries and social media. They also become involved with senior social and support groups to ingratiate themselves into seniors’ lives.

Combine social isolation with lessening cognitive capacity and the situation is ripe for a scam. Senior investors are often flattered when their new-found friends praise their superior understanding of investment opportunities. Decreased judgment paired with a lifetime of savings is a welcome mat for thieves, especially when friends and family members are not able to visit and detect changes indicating that something bad is occurring.

Widowed or divorced seniors are more likely to be victimized. People who suffer from isolation, more and more often turn to the internet as a social outlet. Research shows that people are contacted by scammers through social media or pop-up messages on websites. Those who are dependent and engage more frequently in online life are more likely to engage with a scammer and lose more money than those who are targeted by phone or scamming emails.

How to protect yourself or your aging parents from fraud during quarantine

Scammers isolate their victims. Talk with family, friends, your estate planning attorney, or financial advisor for advice before making any decisions.

Do your homework first. If you don’t know how to do an internet search to see if the website or the person is a scammer, talk with a family member or professional advisor who can. Don’t invest money unless you fully understand the risks and can verify the legitimacy of the offer and the company involved.

Educate yourself about finances and investments. This is a good project for people with too much time on their own. There are many worthwhile websites where you can learn about investments and finances. Look for well-known financial publishing companies. Don’t bother with marginal websites—that’s where fraudsters lurk.

Don’t be embarrassed to file a complaint. If you think you have been defrauded, you can file a complaint with the SEC, FINRA, and your state securities regulator. Your estate planning attorney will also know what resources you can tap to defend yourself.

 

 

Warning Signs of Elder Financial Abuse:

• A new “friend” who suddenly appears and tries to keep family and friends away.
• Someone who presses you to provide financial information and passwords to accounts.
• Fear or anxiety when a certain person calls or sends a text.
• Sudden and unexplained changes in estate planning documents or beneficiary designations.
• Anyone who asks for passwords to financial accounts.

Generally speaking, anyone who promises a high return with no risk is not telling the truth. The same goes for anyone who tells you that you need to act fast.

Seniors who are socially distant can stay in touch with family and friends through phone calls and if they can manage the devices, by video chat. Regular contact goes a long way in preventing strangers with bad intentions from insinuating themselves into your life or your parent’s lives.

Reference: NASDAQ.com (Feb. 11, 2021) “Social Isolation and the Risk of Investment Fraud”

For more information on elder law and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

A Four-Decades Long Social Security Scam Finally Ends / New York, NY & White Plains, NY

“In February, Social Security officials calculated that a woman who was sent monthly checks for decades was 114 years old. The problem? The lifelong New Yorker died more than 40 years ago—and may never have seen a penny of her retirement checks totaling nearly a half-million dollars.”

In one of the largest fraud cases of its kind, a 76-year-old small business owner in Oregon has been collecting his deceased aunt’s Social Security checks and even her stimulus payment from the Treasury Department issued in May, as reported by AARP in the article “Nephew Allegedly Cashed Dead Aunt’s Social Security Checks for More Than 40 Years.” The nephew, George William Doumar, also collected his own Social Security benefits, telling authorities, “it was nice to have the extra money coming in every month.”

Both Doumar and his aunt, who is not named, lived in Brooklyn. She never married and had no children. Before she died, back in 1971, she named her nephew her sole beneficiary of her life insurance policy. Until July 14, he was getting both his and his aunt’s monthly checks. When interviewed at his home by federal agents, he slumped and said, “that’s a long story … what happened was, well, she’s passed and yes, I’ve been collecting her Social Security.”

Here is what has emerged in this bizarre story:

At age 65, the aunt applied for Social Security, but her wages in 1970 made her ineligible to receive benefits. By August 1977, the Social Security Administration initiated retirement benefits, using her initial benefit application. The first retirement check went out to her in September 1977—after she’d been dead for more than six years.

She had lived in a nursing facility in Brooklyn from about 1969 until her death in 1971. Doumar also lived in Brooklyn and says he doesn’t recall how he obtained regular possession of the checks. He also said that at one point, he reported her death to the SSA, but there are no records of her death being reported.

At first, he cashed her checks at a New York business he owned, but he moved to Oregon in 1989. He forged her signature to add her name to a joint checking account he had with his wife in Oregon. The Social Security checks were mailed to the business he owned.

In February, when government staffers deemed that the aunt would have been 114 years old, they became suspicious. No updates had been made to her account in more than 30 years, except for the address change.

Doumar is facing felony charges, and authorities plan to seek restitution for the amount he stole: $460,192.30. Minus the stimulus check, that’s about $912.50 a month, for nearly 42 years.

It might have been nice to have the extra money, but not to be facing the possibility of 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine, in addition to paying back the money owed to the Social Security Administration.

Reference: AARP (Aug. 14, 2020) “Nephew Allegedly Cashed Dead Aunt’s Social Security Checks for More Than 40 Years.”

For more information on elder law, retirement planning and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

Baseball Champion Sues Daughter-In-Law, denies having Dementia / Greenwich, CT & White Plains, NY

“Orlando Cepeda wants to know where his money went. He also wants to learn what happened to all of his baseball memorabilia, including his 1967 National League Most Valuable Player Award, and wants to be made whole.”

Eighty-two-year-old Giants great Orlando Cepeda filed a lawsuit against his daughter-in-law Camille Cepeda alleging elder financial abuse, fraud and infliction of emotional distress, as reported in the article “Giants great Orlando Cepeda denies having dementia, sues daughter-in-law for fraud” from the San Francisco Chronicle. He also accused her of negligence in handling his finances, after giving her power of attorney in 2018.

Cepeda accuses Camille of spending his money on personal expenses, including lease payments on a $62,000 Lexus, a Louis Vuitton handbag, expensive wine and taking out at least $24,000 in cash from his accounts. It also claims that she has placed all of his baseball memorabilia in a storage locker and will not give him the key or the location of the locker. That includes his National League Most Valuable Player trophy, which he wants back.

This is the latest news from a dispute that began after the Hall of Famer married his second wife, Nydia. They had two of Cepeda’s four sons, including Ali Cepeda, who is married to Camille. The parents are now not speaking to their son, and some of the brothers, four in total, have taken sides and are not speaking to each other.

Cepeda granted his daughter-in-law power of attorney in April 2018, two months after he suffered a heart attack and irreversible brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation. She was to have access to his accounts and pay his bills. Before the heart attack, she had handled his financial and business affairs.

On May 29, Camille filed a petition with the court seeking conservatorship of Cepeda, stating that he has dementia and cannot make his own financial decisions. Two of Cepeda’s sons, including Camille’s husband Ali, filed papers supporting her petition.

In Cepeda’s response, he cited two neuropsychological reports, including one done in May, that declared that he was fit to make his own medical decisions and understands all but the most complex financial issues. Cepeda says that his daughter-in-law filed for conservatorship to cover up the fraud that he is alleging in the lawsuit. He says that he does not need a conservator, and if anyone should have that role, it would be his wife Nydia.

The lawsuit filed by Cepeda offers a glimpse into why he believes she wants conservatorship, saying he doesn’t have the capacity to understand the nature and consequences of his remarriage, nor his decision to remove Camille as power of attorney and grant it to Nydia.

The suit alleges that Camille was opposed to the marriage from the start and even suggested they stage a fake ceremony that would not be legally sanctioned.

Cepeda’s lawsuit seeks damages, legal fees and demands that Camille return his memorabilia and all financial records she has allegedly refused to provide to account for how she handed his money. The suit also cites a $62,000 withdrawal to pay Cepeda’s tax bill, which was not actually paid. The filing says she was negotiating with the IRS, but she will not provide the documentation that he needs to settle with the government. Nor did she pay a medical bill for $6,800, although she did cash a check from the insurance company that was sent to pay for it.

Cepeda remains hopeful that the entire matter may be settled before the case returns to court.

“It’s very painful,” Cepeda told a reporter. “I love my family. I love my kids. But this is life. You have to do what you have to do.”

Reference: San Francisco Chronicle (June 26, 2020) “Giants great Orlando Cepeda denies having dementia, sues daughter-in-law for fraud”

For more information on elder law and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

Elder Financial Abuse Risk Increasing for Seniors Isolated by Pandemic / New York, NY & White Plains, NY

“Each year, senior citizens lose billions of dollars to financial fraud, with the loss to individual victims averaging tens of thousands of dollars.”

The extended isolation and loneliness during the coronavirus pandemic is creating the perfect storm for financial exploitation of seniors, who are unable to visit with family members and friends, reports Fredericksburg Today in the article “SCC urges awareness of investment fraud among seniors due to increased pandemic isolation.” The unprecedented need to forgo socializing makes seniors who are already at risk, even more vulnerable.

In the past, scammers would deliberately strike during a health crisis or after the death of a loved one. By gathering data from obituaries and social media, even establishing relationships with support and social groups, scammers can work their way into seniors’ lives.

Social distancing and the isolation necessary to protect against the spread of the coronavirus has left many seniors vulnerable to people posing as their new friends. The perpetrators may not just be strangers: family members are often the ones who exploit the elderly. The pandemic has also led to changes in procedures in care facilities, which can lead to increased confusion and dependence for the elderly, who do not always do well with changes.

Here are a few key markers for senior financial abuse:

• A new friend or caregiver who is overly protective and has gotten the person to surrender control of various aspects of their life, including but not limited to finances.
• Fear or a sudden change in how they feel towards family members and/or friends.
• A reluctance to discuss financial matters, especially if they say the new friend told them not to talk about their money with others.
• Sudden changes in spending habits, or unexplained changes to wills, new trustees, or changes to beneficiary designations.
• Large checks made out to cash, or the disappearance of assets.
• Signatures on checks or estate planning documents that appear different than past signatures.

Not being able to visit in person makes it harder for family members to discern what is happening.  However, there are a few steps that can be taken by concerned family members. Stay in touch with the family member, by phone, video calls, texts or any means possible. Remind loved ones that scammers are always looking for an opportunity and may try to exploit them during the pandemic.

Every community has resources that can help if elder financial abuse is a concern. An elder law and estate planning attorney will be able to direct concerned family members or friends to local resources to protect their loved ones.

Reference: Fredericksburg Today (June 20, 2020) “SCC urges awareness of investment fraud among seniors due to increased pandemic isolation”

For more information on elder law and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

When Does the Fiduciary Duty Granted by a Power of Attorney Begin? / White Plains, NY & New York, NY

“Under Illinois law, an individual holding a power of attorney is a fiduciary as a matter of law. The person designated as a power of attorney agent owes a fiduciary duty to the principal—the person making the designation.”

A recent case examined the issue of when the fiduciary duty begins for an agent who has been given Power of Attorney, as reported by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin in the article “Presumed power of attorney fraud is main factor in joint-account fight.”

Soon after moving to Illinois from Florida to live with his eldest son, a man and that son opened multiple bank accounts, purchased certificates of deposit (CDs) from a bank where the son’s wife worked and transferred more than $60,000 from two of the man’s Florida bank accounts to Illinois banks. Soon after the man moved, his eldest son deposited more than $300,000 from the sale of his father’s Florida condominium into one of the father’s Illinois bank accounts.

The eldest son then withdrew money from the father’s accounts to pay for home improvement costs and other personal expenses. After the father died, the eldest son’s two brothers sued their older brother, accusing him of initiating numerous transfers of money that were not in their father’s or their best interests, and of exerting undue influence on their father, by convincing him to change his will after he moved in with the oldest brother.

The trial court ordered the older brother to repay more than $900,000 back to the estate, including almost $300,000 in prejudgment interest, and voided the revised estate planning documents that the older brother had his father sign. That included a revised will, trust and power of attorney that favored the older brother.

Once you are appointed as a power of attorney, you become a fiduciary—that’s how most state laws work. That means you must act first in the interest of the person who has appointed you. The law states that an agent owes a fiduciary duty to the principal. Period. Any transactions that favor the agent over the principal (or their estate) are deemed fraudulent, unless the agent is able to disprove the fraud with clear and convincing evidence that his or her actions were undertaken in good faith and did not betray the confidence and trust placed in the agent. If the agent can meet this burden, the challenged transaction may be upheld. But if it doesn’t, then the transaction is invalid.

Some of the facts courts look at when making this determination are: did the fiduciary make a full disclosure to the principal of key information, did the fiduciary pay the fair market value for the transfer and did the principal have competent and independent advice.

In this case, the trial judge found that the multiple transfers into the Illinois banks and the gift of $130,000 from the principal to the oldest brother occurred during the existence of the POA relationship. The oldest brother clearly benefitted from these transfers, which activated the presumption of fraud.

The trial court’s decision was appealed by the older brother, who along with his two younger brothers brought motions for summary judgment, that is, for the appeals court to disregard the decision of the trial court. However, the appeals court agreed with the trial judge that the older brother failed to prove that the transfers were in good faith.

The appeals court makes it clear: the power of attorney fiduciary relationship begins when the power of attorney agent signs the document and the agent has a legal responsibility to put the interests of the principal first.

Reference: Chicago Daily Law Bulletin (April 23, 2020) “Presumed power of attorney fraud is main factor in joint-account fight”

For more information on asset preservation and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

Fraudulent Social Security Calls Still Targeting Seniors / Greenwich, CT & White Plains, NY

“You’ve probably received one: A recorded call warns of a problem with your Social Security number. To fix it and avoid legal action, you’re told, you must call back immediately—and pay up.”

You’d think everyone would know to ignore these calls. However, these criminals are so convincing, says The New York Times in the article “How Not to Become a Victim of Social Security Fraud Calls,” that many people fall for the schemes and end up losing money. They buy gift cards and often, give up their personal PIN (Personal Identification Number), losing thousands of dollars.

It’s not clear whether the volume of calls is increasing. However, the government is getting thousands of complaints about them, reports the Social Security Administration’s inspector general, Gail Ennis. There have been 250,000 online complaints made since a new dedicated digital reporting form was released in November 2019.

Other regulators are also reporting a flood of complaints. The Federal Trade Commission has received more than 166,000 complaints about fraudulent Social Security calls last year, and the average individual loss is about $1,500. The Senate’s Special Committee on Aging said that Social Security impersonation schemes were the single most reported fraud on its fraud hotline last year.

In January, the committee heard from a woman who lost $150,000 in a Social Security scheme.

The government is trying to fight the fraud in a few different ways. The Justice Department took legal action in January against two telecommunication companies that it says serve as “gateways” for illegal robocalls, by funneling them to the U.S. from oversees. However, stopping the calls is not easily accomplished. There are many gateway telecommunications companies, so hitting two just means that the criminals will take their business elsewhere.

Congress passed the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (TRACED), which requires telecommunication companies to adopt technology to identify spoofed calls. Spoofed calls are calls that appear to come from legitimate phone numbers. However, the FCC has yet to set rules for how the law will be carried out, so relief for consumers may be as far as a year away.

Here’s what you need to know about Social Security and other fraudulent calls:

• Don’t answer calls from unfamiliar numbers. Let the calls go to voicemail, or the answering machine, if you still use one.
• If you answer the phone and someone demands money immediately, hang up.
• Report the call to the inspector general’s office on the Social Security Administration’s website. There’s a form that asks you to create a unique identification number, so you can ask for that number if anyone calls to verify their identity.
• Be aware that even a phone call that appears to be from Social Security mostly likely will not be from the agency. Schemes that involve a suspension of benefits work because they target senior’s biggest fear—losing their benefits.
• There are other Social Security schemes. Some involve official looking papers, and there has been an increase in the number of scams that start with an official-looking text. The Social Security Administration does not text people, unless they have signed up to have authentication codes sent to your phone when logging into a Social Security account.

There’s not much that can be done by the individual to stop the endless stream of robocalls. You can register your number on the Federal Trade Commission’s Do Not Call list, but that will only reduce calls from legitimate telemarketers. The criminals will still call. The best advice is not to answer the phone, unless it’s from someone you know, and never, ever give in to demands of immediate payment. That’s always a red flag for fraud.

Reference: The New York Times (March 6, 2020) “How Not to Become a Victim of Social Security Fraud Calls”

For more information on elder law, asset preservation and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

Financial Elder Abuse Is Growing / New York, NY & Greenwich, CT

“A suspicious email, a strange phone call from an unknown number, an overzealous financial adviser, a close family member: what’s the connection between all these people and things? It's financial elder abuse.”

Financial elder abuse is defined as the “fraudulent or otherwise illegal, unauthorized or improper act or process of an individual, including a caregiver or fiduciary, that uses the resources of an older individual for monetary or personal benefit, profit or gain, that results in depriving an older individual of rightful access to, or use of, benefits, resources, belongings or assets.” This quote is from The Older Americans Act of 2006.

Consumers Digest estimates that there are at least five million cases of financial elder abuse in America every year. An article titled “Population ages, financial abuse rises” from the Reading Eagle wisely notes that seniors are not just being targeted, they are the bull’s eye.

One of the reasons is because many older Americans live in isolation. A person who spends most of their time alone will welcome any simple human interaction, including talking to a stranger who calls on the phone, unknown neighbors introducing themselves, marketing mail or interactions on the internet. This desire for company makes seniors more likely to ignore warning signs and to hand over money and control of their assets.

Do you wonder what kind of person would hand over their power of attorney to a stranger? The plain truth is that most financial elder abuse is committed by people who are closest to the senior. Family members are far more likely to prey on seniors than a stranger.

One financial advisor notes an instance where a scammer forged a check for $25,000 in a senior’s name, then kept doing it until she had stolen up to $75,000. She did it repeatedly, because she knew that she could get away with it.

The key to prevention is planning. First, seniors should simplify their financial and legal matters. Surrounding yourself with trusted advisors and family members who serve as checks and balances for each other is a good idea. It’s sometimes hard to know who to trust sometimes, especially family members. An estate planning attorney should be part of your team, and everyone should work together.

If you become suspicious that financial fraud is happening to you or a loved one, you may want to reach out to the Adult Protective Services office in your community. They will be able to advocate on behalf of the senior.

Treat everything and everyone with a degree of suspicion. If someone knocks on the front door and says they can offer you a discount on tree removal or roof repair because they are in the neighborhood, don’t believe them. You should also have an estate plan in place that protects your assets so they are less vulnerable to a scammer.

Reference: Reading Eagle (Feb. 9, 2020) “Population ages, financial abuse rises”

For more information on elder law and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

Retirement Accounts Targeted by Cybercriminals / New York, NY & White Plains, NY

“Unlike with stolen credit cards, a saver's losses to fraud in retirement investment accounts aren't limited by federal law, although mutual fund companies typically say they'll reimburse funds lost to fraudulent activity.”

She thought she had nearly $80,000 saved in her employer-sponsored retirement plan, but when Beth Bennett checked on her account, there was only about $8,000 in the account. She didn’t check the account very often, so she didn’t even know the theft had occurred.

Her experience, detailed in the article “Cybercrooks Targeting Retirement Accounts” from Insurance News.net, was the result of someone stealing her identity, changing her mailing address, redeeming money from her mutual funds and having checks mailed to new locations. A bank cashed the first two checks. When the theft was discovered, Bennet was able to stop payment on a third check. But that wasn’t the worst discovery.

Contacting the mutual fund company revealed that there was no sure guarantee that she would be reimbursed for the loss.

As cyberattacks on retirement funds rise, investors need to be on guard.

Hackers are going where the money is, and retirement accounts are rich targets. Fraud in retirement accounts is on the rise, according to a report from the National Association of Plan Advisors. Criminals are looking for any possible route, and they have found that email compromises, spear phishing and social profiling are profitable. Spear phishing is when criminals send emails that look like they are from a known and trusted sender, trying to get confidential information.

Some experts say that criminals are gaining entry by getting people’s passwords and account numbers, which can be purchased on the “dark web.” When getting access to one email account, they can figure out how to get into the bank account. All they have to do is go through the “Forgot Password” process and reset your password through an email and they have access.

Bennet was lucky. Her retirement fund company returned the money that was lost. But not everyone is so lucky. The biggest companies are more likely to do so, but there are no guarantees.

What can account holders do?

• Make sure any device used to connect to accounts is protected by a firewall and has current antivirus and antispyware software.
• Be very cautious about opening attachments or clicking on links in emails that ask for financial information.
• Use a longer password than a short one, and don’t use the same password on multiple accounts.
• Open and read any letters and statements that come from your retirement accounts on a timely basis to be sure that everything looks accurate. If you see any unauthorized activity, call the companies immediately.

Reference: Insurance News.net (Jan. 8, 2020) “Cybercrooks Targeting Retirement Accounts”

For more information on elder law, retirement planning and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

Check Cashing Company Part of Elder Abuse Case / New York, NY & Greenwich, CT

“At one point, Alvarado was withdrawing so much money from Silnitzer’s accounts, she needed a rolling suitcase to take it home, according to the lawsuit.”

Two women and two check-cashing companies have been accused of profiting from a scheme that had a 74-year-old man suffering with dementia as their target. The scam, reported in the article “Woman carried suitcases of cash out of check-cashing business, elder abuse lawsuit says” from the Fresno Bee, was attempting to drain millions of dollars from the man.

The lawsuit alleges that the check cashing companies should have known that the 74-year-old widower was a victim of financial elder abuse by the two women, who are accused of convincing David Silnitzer to write checks totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Making matters worse, one of the women managed to get legal permission to oversee the elderly man’s assets, which were estimated at $6 million.

The Fresno County Public Guardian became the conservator of David Silnitzer’s estate this year after receiving a report from the Fresno District Attorney’s Office about the possibility of elder financial abuse taking place. The county is going after the check-cashing companies for unfair business practices, financial elder abuse and negligence.

The DA’s Office is investigating the two women, Christina M. Alvarado and Brenda L. Denning, but no charges have been filed to date. However, a Fresno County Superior Court judge did issue a restraining order against Alvarado to try to protect Silnitzer from any further harm from her.

About a year after Silnitzer’s wife passed away, Silnitzer began to rely on Alvarado, who has an extensive criminal history. He trusted her as a caretaker, support person and even referred to her as a fiancé at one point. She moved in with him and started a spending spree, using money taken from his accounts, opening new accounts and cashing checks.

He may not have been aware of what was happening. He was given a “Mini-Mental State Exam” to test his mental skill and scored 5 out of 30, indicating severe dementia.

From Aug. 1 to Sep. 12, 2016, more than $83,000 was withdrawn from Silnitzer’s account at Bank of America. Many of the withdrawals were made at non-Bank of America ATMs, including many located in casinos. Bank of America officials raised red flags, and Alvarado moved to a different bank. She opened an account at Chase for more than $900,000. During the eleven days after the account was opened, she made a withdrawal of more than $800,000. Officials at Chase, Bank of America and a third bank closed the accounts, suspicious of the activity.

Alvarado, therefore, turned to the check cashing companies. More than $1.5 million was cashed at one company. The check cashing companies earned large fees and didn’t ask any questions.  Alvarado and Denning then had Silnitzer sign a durable power of attorney for financial management. The checks kept getting cashed.

Law enforcement officials who specialize in financial elder abuse say that seniors are very attractive targets to thieves and scammers. Those who live alone and are isolated from family are particularly vulnerable. Family members can be the first line of defense against thieves.

Reference: Fresno Bee (Oct. 9, 2019) “Woman carried suitcases of cash out of check-cashing business, elder abuse lawsuit says”

For more information on elder law and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.

 

Identity Thieves Continue to Aim at Seniors / New York, NY & White Plains, NY

Despite strong efforts by scammers, it is still possible to stay safe.

We are all vulnerable to identity thieves but much of the action seems to focus on seniors, according to My Prime Time News in “Senior Identity Theft: How to Stay Safe.”  More than a third of complaints to the Federal Trade Commission in 2017 were from seniors.

Why are seniors more vulnerable to theft? There are a number of reasons. One is that you are a far more interesting target for thieves now than you might have been earlier in your life. You’ve got a lifetime of savings set aside for retirement. While you’ve got that nice nest egg, it’s possible that you may not be up to date on all of the latest ways that thieves use technology to scam people.

Not all seniors know that caller ID can be fooled into showing that a call is coming from Social Security, when it’s really coming from overseas. Email design is so sophisticated that it is easy for an email to be created using logos and typefaces that make it appear like it does come from a big bank—but it’s from a spammer.

Prevention is the best medicine when it comes to identity theft. There are several steps you can take to protect yourself:

• Be smart about your personal information. Never give your personal information out to anyone, don’t answer calls from phone numbers you don’t recognize and don’t reply to emails from unknown senders.
• Prevent checks or personal information from falling into the wrong hands by ensuring that Social Security benefits, pension funds and any other retirement income checks are direct deposited into your accounts. All it takes is one paper check from the mailbox for someone to do serious financial damage to your life.
• If you are the caretaker of a family member, proactively protect their finances from fraud. If you have power of attorney, monitor their credit reports to ensure that no new accounts are opened in their name.
• If a loved one has accidentally given out personal information, have an initial fraud alert placed on their accounts for one year. If they’ve already been a victim of identify theft, have an extended fraud alert place on their accounts.

Identity theft is rampant in this brave new world, and can happen even when we are watching for it. 

Reference: My Prime Time News (June 2, 2019) “Senior Identity Theft: How to Stay Safe”

For more information on elder law and estate planning, please visit my estate planning website.