You are absolutely right. It’s not just limited to 60+. My comment wasn’t meant to isolate or insult you. Sorry if was taken that way. I’ve seen it with younger people as well.
That said it is more prevalent with older individuals and it’s not so much about technology. It’s about trust and/or mild cognitive decline that may seem minor, but still puts someone at greater risk. My ask for those have friends or parents is just to help them be aware and be patient with them.
People who have been victimized many times don’t want to admit it out of embarrassment and/or fear they’ll have there freedom taken away so they won’t bring it up to a child or a spouse, etc.
Being tech savvy can help for sure. But it doesn’t prevent it either. It just takes one slip or con person to make it happen. I had a client get wrapped into a potential fraud ring. I caught it but the client was mad because we wouldn’t do the wire.
They are 58 yo. Their friend is an attorney who was also conned. The attorneys client was an early retired software entrepreneur who ultimately was taken for what I was told $1MM+. This was an inheritance scam! I read the first letter that was sent and said this isn’t legit, but the letterhead, names, etc were all looking pretty legit. It fooled them, fooled the attorney, fooled my client, and apparently others too. I caught it because one of the docs referenced FINCEN holding the funds until a tax liability was paid. FINCEN doesn’t do that and I knew it. Reported it to my investigative and compliance teams. They made phones calls and checked the faked statements. None of it existed.
After my client realized this they were obviously thankful, but at the moment they were pissed because they thought they were getting a great investment opportunity by lending money to the primary victim in exchange for a quick repayment and stock in a newly formed company.
This is just one of dozens we’ve seen. There are so many more. Most are just a slip in someone’s judgement. Occasionally it’s complex with sim card highjacking after someone got a hold of their usernames and passwords (it was likely caregivers…again someone close who you trust).
Another instance a client was exposed to was a potential $600,000+ amount. They were closing on a property purchase. Fraudsters had access to either their email or their agents email, were monitoring inbound and outbound correspondence from the real estate agent about the closing. Prior to close they sent an email to the client from a similar but just slightly different email address with closing amount and wiring instructions for the title company. Problem was it was not the account info for the title company but a newly made up account. It was caught through one of my colleagues who took one extra step to call the title company’s phone number (on a Google listing) to confirm.
Just be extra cautious everyone. When in doubt verify and/or ask someone you trust before doing anything.
you brilliant bastard