Written by Tanya Terry
Featured photo: James Gall, owner of Right at Home Northern Michigan, who has encountered numerous scam attempts. Photo courtesy of James Gall
With 14 years of experience working with seniors and families and a mother in her 80s, James Gall, the owner of Right at Home Northern Michigan, has encountered numerous scam attempts. He recently shared his practical knowledge with the Courier.
Right at Home provides non-medical care to seniors in the Great Lakes region, including assistance with home chores, meals, errands, transportation and personal care.
According to Gall, impersonation scams are some of the most common ones that target seniors and other people, as well.
“People are going to call, using technology to make it look like someone from the IRS,” said Gall. “They’re going to sound good. They could be using AI generated voices. They’re going to make claims around you owing back taxes, or say ‘we’ve not gotten your tax returns. You owe so much money to the IRS.’ So, they’re going to try to impersonate the IRS, or the state of Michigan or another taxing entity.
“It could also be like pretending they’re a bill collector from Consumers Power, or Spectrum or anybody like that. They sound really convincing. It’s hard to tell sometimes when people are trying to scam you because they sound convincing, and they sound friendly. The call appears to be an organization that you know of, that you’ve done business with – or they say it’s the government.”
“Another way is phishing, through fake emails and fake text messages, or even direct message, where that message sounds like it’s coming from that governmental body, or that business and they’re saying you owe them money, click here. That could take you somewhere where it’s going to capture information off your computer, or off your phone.”
Gall pointed out there there’s just outright fraud and tax abuse, too.
“Many people have heard about people buying Social Security numbers off the dark web. That’s been in the news lately with some of the Medicare Medicaid scam stuff that have happened. So, people, they find a list of Social Security numbers. Unfortunately, yours is on there. They’ll jump the gun and file it.”
Gall said this is something hard prevent outside of being very, very careful about who’s got access to your Social Security number and how you’re using it.
“Certainly, don’t give your Social Security number out, especially to people who call out of the blue. If you want to know if the person calling is with the company or entity they say they are with, call the number you know, or those on official bills.”
Gall also advised not sharing bank information or passwords, and to refrain from scanning any sort of QR code because that’s just like clicking on a link. He said to keep an eye on credit scores and credit activity for things that don’t look right.
Some red flags to look for to identify a scam, according to Gall, include the scammer rushing the person they are targeting with a sense of urgency, or requesting the use of gift cards or cryptocurrency for making payments.
Gall also gave his advice on how caregivers and loved ones talk about money safety with seniors without embarrassment.
“I wouldn’t make it about mom or dad’s acuity or mental capabilities at all. I think the angle to take is to say, ‘they’re not just coming after you, mom. They’re coming after all of us.’ Right? Tell them a lot of people you know have gotten scammed. Say ‘I get these calls all the time, mom or dad. They’re calling everybody and trying to take advantage of people.’
“Most people are good people. Most people are trusting people, and most people, especially seniors of that generation, pride themselves in being fiscally responsible and taking care of paying their own bills. So, people are trying to take advantage of that.”
Gall noted that while money lost to scams is rarely recovered, victims should report fraud to law enforcement and their financial institutions, and may need to close compromised accounts. He closed by emphasizing that it is never too late to implement protective practices and that resisting the initial pressure to pay is crucial to avoiding many scams, such as impersonation scams.
