Scams are rampant, with new ones popping up all the time as scammers adapt to new technologies, the latest trends and current events. Fraudsters perpetrate scams through phone calls, mail solicitations, text messages, emails, phony websites, social media, online ads and by going door-to-door. Con artists often target older adults because they are frequently home during the day, have money saved, and may be too polite to hang up the phone or turn away a solicitor.

To avoid getting conned, be on the lookout for these Red Flags of a Scam:

  • Being contacted out of the blue by someone who asks you to provide personal or financial information
  • Being asked to pay money in order to receive a prize
  • Use of high-pressure or scare tactics, e.g. telling you a loved one is in danger, that your computer has been hacked or threatening arrest if you don’t act now
  • Insistence that you pay via gift cards, prepaid cards, wire transfer, cryptocurrency (e.g. Bitcoin), or gold/precious metals
  • Get-rich-quick and other promises that sound too good to be true
  • Promises to recover money you’ve lost in other scams, for a fee

You can reduce the number of unwanted telemarketing calls you receive by adding your number to the Do Not Call Registry at donotcall.gov. If your number is on the Do Not Call List, telemarketers are forbidden from contacting you, although political groups, charities, pollsters and debt collectors, as well as businesses with which you have an existing relationship, are still allowed to call you. Although being on the registry won’t prevent scammers from calling, this is still a useful screening tool since any telemarketer who ignores the Do Not Call Registry by contacting you is either disreputable or a scammer.