Telemarketing: Tip Offs To Rip Offs For Seniors

A while back I talked to RCMP representatives on the subject of telemarketing, and I was quite surprised about what I learned. Though it can be used as a sensible marketing tool for Canadian businesses, the legitimacy of well-known companies has also provided an excellent opportunity for criminals to piggyback on the same system.

Unlike most other crimes, telemarketing fraud requires one essential element: victim participation. It is not limited by race, ethnic background, gender, age, education or income – everyone is a potential target.

In particular, I was shocked to learn that there is a common denominator with bogus prizes and high pressure tactics – most of the victims are seniors.

Representative Det. /Constable John Schultz of Phone Busters, a central agency which collects information on telemarketing complaints throughout Canada, said that 90 percent of phone fraud is currently not even being reported.

The overall results are alarming: elderly people lose millions of dollars yearly by being tricked into schemes ranging from complicated investment offers to bogus charity pitches or long-distance scams.

Telephone con artists can be incredibly skilled at sounding believable, while lying through their teeth. So the adage of being wary of strangers offering gifts should always apply. And if you do become a victim, failing to report the crime because of embarrassment or shame is exactly what criminals are hoping will happen. Silence in such a case only contributes to creating a hospitable environment for them to continue plying their trade.

Schultz said the heart of the scammer operation is usually a boiler room; a rented space with desks, telephones and persuasive operators who call thousands of people.

 “The general advice for seniors is to ignore deals which sound like a once-in-a lifetime opportunity. Telephone con artists are only after your money. Don’t give it to them,” he said.

So how can you spot a rip-off? Basically, schemes and scams take on various forms, but all share common traits. The best defense is knowledge; understanding the danger signs. If the pitch just doesn’t ring true, then it isn’t.

Don’t give out credit card information over the phone, fall for get rich-quick schemes or send money to anyone who insists on immediate payment or up-front fees.

Remember that credit card companies already know your sensitive information, and do not need to ask for it. They will in fact have security safeguards you must circumvent to access your card information.

Also, never give out your driver’s licence, bank account or social insurance numbers on the phone. Scam artists can use your personal information to commit identity theft. And if you are asked to call a toll free number, make sure it is in fact “toll free.”

You are encouraged to report suspicious behavior to PhoneBusters, the Canadian Anti-fraud Call Centre, at 1 888 495-8501.  It is coordinated by the Ontario Provincial Police Anti-Rackets in partnership with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Competition Bureau of Canada.

You may also call the Competition Bureau, which targets telemarketing and mail scams. To file a complaint, call the Bureau at 1-800-348-5358 or visit their Web site at: www.competitionbureau.gc.ca.

“It’s your phone and it’s your home. If the pressure becomes too intense, then simply hang up,” says Schultz. “Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it is.”

 

Wisdom: The Tempering Effect of the Senior Years

I had the pleasure of observing an interesting couple a while back. The man had an obvious ailment, but it was the way that his wife took care to help him which stirred my attention. It was obvious the couple had been together for many years by the way she fussed over him, taking great care to make sure he was in no pain throughout his laboured movement. Their love for each other was evident in their actions.

That’s one of the great things about the senior years – the tempering effect they can bring to the behavioral tendencies of one’s more youthful years, when interactions tend to be more of brashness, or bragging – with less caring about others.

Young people have a hard time visualizing growing old. It doesn’t make it easier that society glorifies youth and looks upon old age as something to be shunned and disrespected. The material things in life which are perceived to make us happy - be it wealth, power, or position - are so fundamentally different from the caring and mellowing of character after all our huffing and puffing through life is over. We then realize from a long term perspective, that acquaintances are many, but true friends, the love of a spouse and family are more valuable than physical substances.

This is the time of life when you realize that being 40 is no longer over the hill, but rather a bygone memory. Still, it is something to embrace, rather than fear. It is, so to speak, the finished product of our lifetime of experiences. Our successes, failures, sorrows, and joys, all depend upon what we have done and how we have dealt with life.

If you are blessed to be a senior, with a productive lifetime behind you, then you will appreciate the values that have contributed to the golden years being the happiest of your life. Yet it is also sobering to think on. Most of us are merely children in the great school of life and are learning something of its great laws. But with graying and eroding hairlines, there really is a proverbial “age of wisdom” — a period of expanded consciousness, uncanny mental abilities and boundless imagination.

In his book, “The Wisdom Paradox: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger as Your Brain Grows Older,” Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg a clinical professor of neurology at NYU School of Medicine, expounds on this thought. He says that exposure to new experience creates expanded neural networks in the brain which are attracted to each other, bundle, and accumulate over time. These neural networks of experience build and expand with age, adding a kind of super-layer of new patterns and templates. Only the aging brain, a result of decades of accumulated life experiences, can produce these more powerful neural networks and processes.

He also defines “wisdom” clinically, as the integration of thought and analysis based on the condensation of years of vast prior analytic experience – compressed and crystallized. Such an accumulation of knowledge places the onus on seniors to share the proof of that way with others – showing how to built a strong and stable society, provide good health, happiness, happy families and strong values. If you won’t, no one else will. What a tragedy that would be for our younger generation.

Giving The Green Light To Healthy Living

Life expectancy for BC residents has increased dramatically, and is now pegged at over 81 years – the highest in North America and among the highest in the world. This is a remarkable achievement, but how we live now and how healthy we are will affect these statistics in the future.

Healthy lifestyle choices are critically important to older adults, because they are more likely to have chronic health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, dementia or arthritis.

Years ago, it was reported in the Chronicle that the Okanagan Similkameen Health Region showed the leading cause of death in Oliver to be cancer, followed by heart disease and then stroke. It was said that 27 per cent of all deaths in this area from 1994 to 1998 were due to cancer, with lung cancer being the largest single killer. It is unlikely that this situation has improved today.

The good news is that seniors need to address a relatively small number of common risk factors such as diet, physical activity, and smoking to bring about major improvements in the quality of their lives. The factors leading to disease and ailments are similar, and can generally be decreased with healthy choices.

Even so, individual choices may be hampered by larger social and economic factors. The report of the “Seniors Council on Aging and Seniors Issues” notes that eating badly and inactivity have as much to do with land use planning, marketing and social policy, as they do with personal choices. It recommends that the BC government significantly enhance healthy living alternatives focused on older adults, including education, marketing and outreach programs, enhanced activity, and imposing higher taxes and changes to unhealthy foods.

Physical environment is also a crucial factor. Again quoting the Premier’s Council Report: “Among people 65 and older, falls account for 85 percent of unintentional injury-related hospitalizations, and fully half of admissions into residential care facilities. They are the sixth leading cause of death among seniors in BC.

As a preventative measure, the report suggests that assessment and change of hazards such as rugs, poor home lighting, inactivity, out-of-date eyeglasses, badly fitting footwear and medications might decrease the risk of falls.

I recently talked to Dr. Patricia Baird, head of the “Premiers Council,” who said that the current independent support system does not recognize that seniors can remain living independently, with basic success. She is understandably passionate about this subject, having spend 18 months of her life on this project, and stating that it involves a lot of research and good analysis.

“We captured the main issues facing our senior society and we are sure of what needs to be done,” she said. “It’s now been about seven or eight months since we reported and it would be nice to see the implementation off what we recommended.”

She added, “It is important for the provincial government to move on this report, as well as municipalities, businesses, volunteer organizations and individuals. Everyone needs to get together to make it happen.”

Dr. Baird figures this requires some forward planning – with action on many fronts – including entire communities, services and attitudes.

“Basically the government has no plans in place for what is coming. But it will overtake us like a train if we are unprepared in basic support structures such as housing, lifestyle, home support, and so on.

“Our current problems with seniors are only a harbinger of what is to come. I hope the government takes our recommendations seriously. This is an important issue for us now, our children and our grandchildren.”