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After two trips to the bank, where an 80-year-old woman had withdrawn about $8,000 she planned to send to a Jamaican scam artist to claim a prize, Mount Pleasant police stepped in and stopped the scam.
In the Midlands, a university retiree lost more than $80,000 to trickery, most of it involving overseas scam transactions for magazine subscriptions paid out through the year 2029.
“I was outraged to hear how persuasive these people can be when seeking to scam our seniors,” said Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, who Thursday announced formation of a statewide Task Force on Senior Fraud.
More than 6,000 fraud complaints were lodged last year with the S.C. Consumer Affairs Department, according to Bauer, though not all of them were senior related.
At the same time, Bauer says many more instances of fraud likely occurred in 2007, but went unreported. The Task Force on Senior Fraud is an attempt by Bauer, who heads the state Office on Aging, to join forces with other state agencies to crack down on scams against the elderly.
“We’re going to stop those who prey on our seniors,” Bauer said.
Forty-one agencies and individuals who deal with seniors will coordinate through Bauer’s office and Consumer Affairs to track down complaints of attempts to exploit seniors.
The task force, which includes law enforcement, has a Web site and hot line available to seniors to report phone calls, mailings, house visits and Internet contacts that are potential scams. Seniors also will be able to learn about the latest scams.
“We can all stumble,” said Larry Reed, a local reverse mortgage specialist, who helps seniors leverage their home equity for a monthly cash payout and the right to continue living in their homes.
John Jenkins, a seniors advocate with the Mount Pleasant Police Department, said older people often are too trusting of others, and sometimes are not savvy about the scams that exists.
“I don’t think people of this age and mentality should have bank accounts on their own,” he said of the Mount Pleasant woman who almost lost $8,000. Jenkins said the woman did not know the name of the Jamaican man for whom she was withdrawing her funds, and she pleaded with Jenkins not to inform her daughter about the incident.
The daughter was informed, however.
In addition to interrupting the exploitation of a vulnerable adult, Bauer said investigations into fraud on S.C. seniors also have led to the discovery of tax violations and businesses operating without a license.
Reach Burris at (803) 771-8398.
