Who You Going to Call? Fraud Busters!
By: Christopher J. Gearon | Source: AARP.org | December 2008
In need of a new plate and extensive dental work, Wanda Winnell of South Charleston, W.V., didn't think anything was amiss when the dentist she chose said she'd need to pay $3,600 up front before work could begin. But after three months of broken appointments and delays by the dentist—and only getting a teeth cleaning—the 64-year-old figured something was fishy.
"I wrote a check for the full amount, I paid them up front to get a cheaper rate," said Winnell, who asked, cajoled, then pressed and demanded that she either get her teeth fixed or get her money back. "I need to get my teeth fixed," she said, "they did not want to give me the money back."
Winnell called the state Attorney General's office. In West Virginia and Colorado, when residents age 50 and older call their respective state Attorney General's office complaining about possible cases of financial fraud or other forms of consumer abuse, callers are transferred to ElderWatch, a program between AARP Foundation and the West Virginia and Colorado attorneys general offices.
Calls are answered by volunteers trained to help consumers complete complaint forms, listen to and assist callers, even mediate on behalf of consumers; volunteers like Sylvia Watkins, 70, a retired health care facilities surveyor for West Virginia's health department, who has been a West Virginia ElderWatch volunteer since the program started in early 2006.
"It was a natural," the retiree said about why she volunteered, "I did investigations on elder abuse" for the state. As a volunteer, she fields calls on telemarketing, satellite cell phone, and other scams. These schemes typically have scammers "charging exorbitant rates or saying they are going to give services they don't end up giving to the consumer."
That's what happened to Winnell. "I called the attorney general's office to see if they could help me," said Winnell, who says she ended up getting her money back "pretty quickly," minus $80 for the dental cleaning. "I don't think I would have gotten my money back if it wasn't for (ElderWatch.) Without them, I could not get my teeth fixed."
"Since our inception, we've been able to return over $1 million to seniors in West Virginia," said Scott Adkins, senior manager for AARP Foundation in West Virginia.
Ripping off seniors is big business for scammers. Under ElderWatch, the West Virginia and Colorado attorneys general offices are getting a better handle on fraud resolution and prevention than they had previously. Older residents are completing more complaint forms, for example, than before ElderWatch started.
"We do some handholding, and there's a lot of listening and empathizing," said Becca Hammons, 58, a Colorado ElderWatch call center volunteer. The Colorado center, for example, averages about 20 minutes per call. "We also take their complaints." Hammons also likes to makes call on behalf of consumers in efforts to get their money back for them.
ElderWatch also conducts outreach and consumer education, from sponsoring shredding events to actively speaking and educating older residents to be aware about protecting themselves from financial fraud.
One particularly frustrating, but common, scam older Colorado residents run into is the Canadian or foreign lottery. People are told they have won a lottery—supposedly based on something they signed up for weeks or months earlier—and in order to recoup several thousand dollars in winnings, they first must send in a check to cover administrative fees, ranging from a few hundred to thousands of dollars. Watkins reports such scams, which are tough to resolve, are common in West Virginia too.
"We see a lot of family exploitation," says Amy Nofziger, Colorado ElderWatch program leader. In 2007, Colorado seniors reported losing more money—a total of $1.7 million—as a result of family and non-stranger complaints. Meanwhile, general company complaints and home repair problems or fraud were the top two complaints reported, Nofziger said. Like other places, identity fraud is a growing problem in Colorado.
"In Colorado, contractor fraud is at an all-time high," Stan Smith, 55, a reason why he became an ElderWatch volunteer. "I'm considered the fraud ambassador," said the retired cop and owner of a company that performs home modifications so that seniors can remain independent in their homes. Under a new Colorado ElderWatch initiative, Smith oversees a program that is intended recruit and train volunteers in each Colorado county to be local field ambassadors, those who can educate and train others in each community to avoid falling victim to financial fraud and abuse.
AARP ElderWatch, which was started in 2001 to help stop the financial exploitation of Colorado seniors, is the oldest of such programs. In 2007, it assisted nearly 560 Coloradans in protecting themselves from identity theft through education and shredding events statewide, and provided consumer assistance and mediation through its volunteer-based consumer call center to nearly 1,000 clients. The program has educated nearly 2,000 Coloradans through consumer presentations and provided information to more than 3,000 consumers through community events. About 40 AARP ElderWatch volunteers have donated more than 920 hours of service.
West Virginia ElderWatch also does a lot on consumer education and outreach, including its "reverse boiler room," said Adkins, which has volunteers proactively reaching out to as many as 175,000 homes to talk about consumer fraud prevention.
"Most people feel like volunteering is a benefit to someone else, but to me it's an exchange," noted Watkins. "I get a good feeling by volunteering. It's the camaraderie and connecting with others and feeling like an agent of change, making a difference."
"I wrote a check for the full amount, I paid them up front to get a cheaper rate," said Winnell, who asked, cajoled, then pressed and demanded that she either get her teeth fixed or get her money back. "I need to get my teeth fixed," she said, "they did not want to give me the money back."
Winnell called the state Attorney General's office. In West Virginia and Colorado, when residents age 50 and older call their respective state Attorney General's office complaining about possible cases of financial fraud or other forms of consumer abuse, callers are transferred to ElderWatch, a program between AARP Foundation and the West Virginia and Colorado attorneys general offices.
Calls are answered by volunteers trained to help consumers complete complaint forms, listen to and assist callers, even mediate on behalf of consumers; volunteers like Sylvia Watkins, 70, a retired health care facilities surveyor for West Virginia's health department, who has been a West Virginia ElderWatch volunteer since the program started in early 2006.
"It was a natural," the retiree said about why she volunteered, "I did investigations on elder abuse" for the state. As a volunteer, she fields calls on telemarketing, satellite cell phone, and other scams. These schemes typically have scammers "charging exorbitant rates or saying they are going to give services they don't end up giving to the consumer."
That's what happened to Winnell. "I called the attorney general's office to see if they could help me," said Winnell, who says she ended up getting her money back "pretty quickly," minus $80 for the dental cleaning. "I don't think I would have gotten my money back if it wasn't for (ElderWatch.) Without them, I could not get my teeth fixed."
"Since our inception, we've been able to return over $1 million to seniors in West Virginia," said Scott Adkins, senior manager for AARP Foundation in West Virginia.
Ripping off seniors is big business for scammers. Under ElderWatch, the West Virginia and Colorado attorneys general offices are getting a better handle on fraud resolution and prevention than they had previously. Older residents are completing more complaint forms, for example, than before ElderWatch started.
"We do some handholding, and there's a lot of listening and empathizing," said Becca Hammons, 58, a Colorado ElderWatch call center volunteer. The Colorado center, for example, averages about 20 minutes per call. "We also take their complaints." Hammons also likes to makes call on behalf of consumers in efforts to get their money back for them.
ElderWatch also conducts outreach and consumer education, from sponsoring shredding events to actively speaking and educating older residents to be aware about protecting themselves from financial fraud.
One particularly frustrating, but common, scam older Colorado residents run into is the Canadian or foreign lottery. People are told they have won a lottery—supposedly based on something they signed up for weeks or months earlier—and in order to recoup several thousand dollars in winnings, they first must send in a check to cover administrative fees, ranging from a few hundred to thousands of dollars. Watkins reports such scams, which are tough to resolve, are common in West Virginia too.
"We see a lot of family exploitation," says Amy Nofziger, Colorado ElderWatch program leader. In 2007, Colorado seniors reported losing more money—a total of $1.7 million—as a result of family and non-stranger complaints. Meanwhile, general company complaints and home repair problems or fraud were the top two complaints reported, Nofziger said. Like other places, identity fraud is a growing problem in Colorado.
"In Colorado, contractor fraud is at an all-time high," Stan Smith, 55, a reason why he became an ElderWatch volunteer. "I'm considered the fraud ambassador," said the retired cop and owner of a company that performs home modifications so that seniors can remain independent in their homes. Under a new Colorado ElderWatch initiative, Smith oversees a program that is intended recruit and train volunteers in each Colorado county to be local field ambassadors, those who can educate and train others in each community to avoid falling victim to financial fraud and abuse.
AARP ElderWatch, which was started in 2001 to help stop the financial exploitation of Colorado seniors, is the oldest of such programs. In 2007, it assisted nearly 560 Coloradans in protecting themselves from identity theft through education and shredding events statewide, and provided consumer assistance and mediation through its volunteer-based consumer call center to nearly 1,000 clients. The program has educated nearly 2,000 Coloradans through consumer presentations and provided information to more than 3,000 consumers through community events. About 40 AARP ElderWatch volunteers have donated more than 920 hours of service.
West Virginia ElderWatch also does a lot on consumer education and outreach, including its "reverse boiler room," said Adkins, which has volunteers proactively reaching out to as many as 175,000 homes to talk about consumer fraud prevention.
"Most people feel like volunteering is a benefit to someone else, but to me it's an exchange," noted Watkins. "I get a good feeling by volunteering. It's the camaraderie and connecting with others and feeling like an agent of change, making a difference."
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