Better Business Bureaus (BBB) is urging the families of Older Canadians to safeguard their homes against scam artists. 
Scam artists aren't looking for items to fence.  They seek
to steal personal information (social insurance, bank account
and credit card numbers) and/or your money.  And, unlike
traditional burglars, scam artists are happy to find someone at
home, particularly if that person is a senior citizen.
"Con artists consider seniors to be easy prey and choose their
entryway accordingly: the telephone, the front door bell or the
mailbox," says Diane Iadeluca, executive director of the Ottawa
Better Business Bureau.
To many of us, the following scenarios would seem unbelievable.
To the BBB, they are typical examples of frauds that frequently
target the elderly.
-  Sweepstakes/foreign lotteries: An elderly man was
mailed a bogus "Award Notification" from the International
Lotto Commission in Spain, saying he'd won $815,590. He
went  to Spain, where he was told to meet the manager of
the lottery's finance company at a local bank. He would receive
his lottery check if he paid five percent of his winnings plus
an additional $8,150 fee.  He finally realized it was a
scam and flew home.
-  Home repairs: Elderly seniors respond to mailbox flyers
offering loans for home repairs.  They don't realize the
loans have a 19-21 percent interest rate. The contractor later
convinces them to sign a "work has been completed" form and
disappears without performing the repairs. On the West Coast,
an elderly woman reports that she was charged $900 to have her
circuit breakers "cleaned."
-  Door-to-door Scams:  In Newfoundland, salespeople
went house to house demonstrating "new" vacuum cleaners to
senior citizens; the machines turned out to be used.
Seniors can be vulnerable due to their age and their living
conditions. Their generation trusts strangers who are friendly
and appear to have their best interests at heart.
Living conditions may also increase their vulnerability. 
Seniors are frequently at home, making them ready prey for
fraudulent telemarketers and drive-by "contractors." Seniors
who live alone may lack a family member to help them make good
choices.  Or, they may reside in low-income or senior
citizen neighborhoods - common targets for scam artists.
The BBB recommends that family members, neighbours and friends
of elderly citizens take a three-pronged approach:
Check, Protect and Defend.
- Insist that your elderly relative check with the someone
they trust whenever they receive a phone call, a piece of mail,
a flyer or a visit from an unknown person, business or
charity. 
-  Urge them to call someone they trust before they let
anyone into their home, hand over any money or personal or
financial information, sign any contract or donate any money.
-  Teach them to protect their personal
information.  They should not carry their Social Insurance
card in their wallet or purse. Warn them to never give out
their mother's maiden name, their Social Insurance number, bank
account number or credit card number to an unknown individual,
no matter how tempting the offer.
-  Help defend against scam artist intruders. Post a
"No Solicitation" notice by their front door. Help them to sort
through their incoming mail. Explain why they shouldn't respond
to certain advertisements and point out suspicious
mailings.  
-  Watch TV with them to check their interest in
infomercials. Discourage them from sending money in response to
"too good to be true" offers.
This article was supplied by the Better Business Bureau of Ottawa.
