Originally published August 22 2005
Elderly top the list for fraud complaints
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Studies show that internet scams defrauded the American elderly out of close to $43 million dollars last year, with online auctions cited as the most frequent scam.
Scams involving Internet auctions, as well as identity theft, lotteries, prizes and sweepstakes, top the list of fraud complaints by older Americans, who lost $152 million to con artists last year, U.S. officials told a Senate panel on Wednesday.
Internet-based scams are growing and now account for about 41 percent of fraud complaints the Federal Trade Commission receives from people over 50, Lois Greisman of the FTC's consumer protection division told the Senate Committee on Aging.
"This figure is all the more dramatic when one considers that Internet-related fraud represented only 33 percent of all fraud complaints from this age group in 2002," she said.
Older consumers reported being defrauded of more than $43 million last year through Internet scams, with online auctions topping the complaint list, she said.
Lottery and sweepstakes frauds, in which victims are asked to pay "taxes" or other fees to claim prizes, cost older Americans $35 million last year, Greisman said.
Others involve scam artists saying they need bank account information for Social Security or Medicare benefits.
Anthony Pratkanis, a psychology professor at the University of California who has been on a team of researchers examining elderly fraud, said con artists steal using the weapon of "social influence" to create a sense of trust rather than a gun or knife.
Research shows that not just the "frail and lonely" fall victim to scams, he said.
Active people who are leaders in their communities can also fall prey.
"We find that con criminals profile their victims' psychological and other characteristics to find their Achilles' heel ...
to construct the exact pitch that is likely to be most effective," he said.
In one example, con artists told a potential victim that to ask questions or hang up the phone while they were trying to verify account information was against the law.
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