Please Be Aware Of Covid-19 Scams Targeting Seniors

We are all aware of scams which target our most vulnerable population - seniors. There is a well known IRS scam where a person is told he or she owes money and if they pay right now by credit card they will not be arrested. The various ways of trying to bilk seniors out of their hard earned savings is virtually limitless. Sadly, during these difficult times, people are still trying to scam seniors. Please make sure you and your loved ones are aware of some specific scams happening right now. A few of those include calling seniors and offering them tests for the virus for money. Asking people to provide credit card numbers and promising to send them a test. Some of the people are asking for Medicaid and Medicare numbers in exchange for the test as a way to steal someone's information to file false claims.   There is also one in particular which happened to someone I know. She responded to a Facebook post about needing shopping help for a senior. They then told her they would send them a check to pay for the items and that they would let her know where to bring the groceries later. The person realized the check looked strange and after googling the scam I found that it is a money laundering scam where people are used to launder money through delivering groceries and other items as well as just getting people to cash checks to move money through the system.

There have also been instances of persons going door to door dressed in lab coats offering to provide a test on the spot. Currently, a person can't get a test without an order from a doctor. Many of the scams are used to obtain personal information and either steal a person's identity and or their medical ID and credit card information.

Fear is the easiest thing to use against seniors so make sure you and your loved ones are informed about these scams so they are not influenced by fear. Knowledge is power and as long as we know these things are out there we can help protect each other.