Seniors urged to acknowledge fraud exists
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Something about the call just didn't seem right to Karen Tamanaha.
The caller said he was from Bank of Hawaii. He said the bank was in the process of transferring her account and he needed to verify her account number.
Tamanaha, 74, gave him the information — he was very convincing, she said — but as soon as she hung up, she called the bank to confirm the caller's story.
"They said there was no such thing," Tamanaha said. "So we closed my account immediately."
"I think every senior should be aware of this," Tamanaha said. "It seems to me that seniors are very gullible. We trust everybody, and that makes us very vulnerable."
And that's a reality that criminals have exploited with staggering efficiency. According to the AARP, seniors account for roughly 80 percent of all victims of telemarketing fraud, a $40 billion criminal industry.
A true accounting of the impact of senior-targeted fraud and abuse is difficult to calculate because it is estimated that for every case brought to light, at least five others go unreported, according to Mary Twomey, co-director of the University of California-Irvine's Center of Excellence in Elder Abuse and Neglect.
As keynote speaker at yesterday's conference, Twomey urged her senior audience to acknowledge that elder fraud and abuse do exist and that they are empowered to help stem the problem by alerting authorities.
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