Its summertime and the scammers are busy. I got two different emails this week from a poor orphan girl in the African nation of Ivory Coast. Seems that her father passed away and her trust fund of $20 Million can be accessed if I only send her a little personal information and agree to be her guardian here in the US. She would generously share a million bucks with me for my trouble! This is the first time I’ve had the sympathy element of the orphan in the African Email scam.
Another new twist on an oldie is free converter box ads. The true part of this scam is the fact that television signals will all go digital next February and if you don’t have a converter, your old TV won’t work. The box costs $60.00. The scam, a full page ad in newspapers all over the country announcing a free box that doesn’t even use the$40.00 government coupon to reduce the cost! The twist is their box won’t work without the $59.00 warrantee and the $40.00 shipping and handling to get it. Instead of $20.00 you pay about $100.00. This and other tricks are likely to have a boom until people get their TV signal sorted out next year.
The reason why older adults are more likely to fall victim is unclear. It is recognized that verbal information processing changes with normal ageing, so an older adult is less able to match funny captions with cartoons. It may seem like older people lose their sense of humor. There may be some related glitch that causes seniors to be more vulnerable to sending money for Irish, Canadian and other fake lotteries. If someone is telling you it’s not a good idea to send your money to some stranger, they really may be trying to protect you, not just your estate. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. You can check out the changes to television signal at the DTV hotline at 888-DTV-2009 or visit: www.dtv2009.gov/FAQ.aspx.