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Your Loved One
and Identity Theft
"Nearly 736,000 reports of fraudulent
contacts (occurred) since 2013,"
–Florida Politics
These "fraudulent contacts" are more commonly
known as identity thieves who are conducting
identity theft. Why are seniors so susceptible?
According to Experian's recent State of Credit
survey, it is because they have better credit than
any of the other generations living in the United
States now. At the same time, seniors also have
more liquid funds (e.g. a bank account, a
savings account, marketable securities), which
makes them a more likely target. Furthermore, seniors use the healthcare
system more, which also places them at a greater risk of medical identity theft.
Some other factors making seniors more susceptible to identity theft include
the fact they:
– Grew up in a time when people were more trusting.
– Don't want to look or feel helpless.
– Have less activity in the areas of their brains which help process
risk and subtle danger.
How does this fraud and identity theft occur today? There are several ways,
actually. The most prominent include:
Stealing Mail
Identity thieves can easily steal your loved one's mail. Specifically, they are
after their bank and credit card statements, credit card offers, checks and even
tax information.
Sending Emails
Phishing scams run rampant today and they are getting more clever, too. In fact,
it is much harder to know whether the email is real because scammers make them
look as though they originated from a "real" site.
