The Senior Lottery Scam and Spoofing

By Rick Law, senior advocate and estate planning Attorney.  Rick is the founder and managing partner at the Estate Planning Center at Law Elder Law.  Rick Law and his daughter Attorney Diana Law are part of the multi-generational  serving seniors and their families in the Western Chicagoland suburbs.

The typical lottery scam works as follows:

A Senior receives a call from outside the country and are told they won a foreign lottery. However, they have to prepay the taxes before the winnings can be released to them. The caller will tell them to go to Wal-Mart and pick up a green dot MoneyPak, place $500 on the card, and go back home to await the next phone call in an hour.

The scammer is attempting two things here. First, by sending the senior to a big-box store, it is less likely that the senior will know the cashier and talk about the lottery winnings. Second, by saying he will call back in an hour, the caller is not giving the senior time to think clearly or talk to family about the phone call.

When the scammer calls back, he will have the senior read the 14-number code on the back of the MoneyPak. Once the scammer has the code, he has access to the money on the card and can steal it from the senior.

A variation of the lottery scam involves sending checks to seniors. The senior then tries to cash the check and the check bounces. The bounced check is returned to the scammer with the senior’s bank account information on the check and the senior is hit with a fee for the bounced check.

Another phone-related scam is called spoofing. Spoofing is when a person can change the caller ID. Sophisticated criminals can make the caller ID appear to be the phone number of a bank. They call seniors and tell them that there is a problem with their account and ask them to verify their account number and other information.  And soon enough, they have the senior’s bank account information.

Too many families needlessly lose everything they have.  Don’t let that be you.  If you need help building a fortress around your estate to protect it from creditors, predators, and the cost of chronic disease, give our office a call at 800-310-3100.  Your first consultation is absolutely free.  We’ll let you know what steps you need to take, right now, to protect yourself and your family.  Call now, because when you’re out of money, you’re out of options!

Sincerely,

Rick L. Law, Attorney, Estate Planner for Retirees.

Rick has been named the #1 Illinois elder law estate planning attorney for the past 8 years in a row by Leading Lawyer Magazine. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, AARP Magazine, TheStreet.com, and numerous newspapers and articles. Rick is the lead attorney for Law Elder Law, LLP, focusing in Estate Planning, Guardianship, and Nursing Home Solutions. His goal is to give retirees an informed edge when it comes to dealing with an uncertain future.  Get flexible retirement strategies that work during good times and bad, plus information on how you can save your home and assets from being used to pay for long term care.  Call 800-310-3100 for your free consultation now!

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