Senior Citizen Scams

Scammers don’t always come across as bad people, sometimes they seem perfectly nice.

Becky Bruce, Supportive Services Supervisor at the Muskingum County Center for Seniors, says that seniors need to be aware of the people they let in their homes and who they deal with.

"We’ve had a couple of calls about a social worker showing up late in in the evening, on a weekend. Saying they are from the Senior Center. And we normally don’t go out during those hours."

Bruce told us that seniors need to be vigilant about keeping appointment schedules and making sure to ask for ID and what organization people work with. Bruce also told us that anytime an appointment is set up through the center someone from the senior center will call to confirm the appointment.

"They need to know who they are expecting, especially if they have therapists coming in. Or other people from other agencies. Write down all of your appointments, know who to expect, when to expect them. What agency they are from. Ask them for an ID when they get there."

With other scams such as the asphalt scam and the blacktop scam gaining attention, seniors need to be aware of resources available to them. Earlier this month Mike DeWine promoted the Senior Advocate Fraud Education Tool Kit as a way to avoid becoming a victim of scams such as these, the tool kit is avaliable at every library in the state of Ohio.