Financial Scams

Our dependence on news and information these days feels unprecedented. To keep ourselves safe, aware, and up-to-date on the latest news regarding the pandemic almost requires a herculean effort, as updates and revisions seem to come at lightning speed. Virtually from the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, agebuzz has tried…

In this season of giving, it’s probably no surprise that older adults are even more vulnerable than usual to giving away (or being scammed out of) their hard-earned money- and not just because they’re generous gift-givers. As Dr. Kathleen Wilber, Director of the Secure Old Age Lab at the University…

If you’re reading agebuzz you probably fancy yourself an educated consumer, one unlikely to fall prey to scams or fraud. But that self-confidence is easy to pierce, given the ever-shifting scams that fraudsters perpetrate against even the most savvy. For example, since many of us wised-up to the fraud involving…

Raise your hand if regularly receive robocalls from strangers hoping to separate you from your money or personal info. It’s not your imagination that these calls are more frequent. They’re on the rise across the country, and may specifically target older people who are considered easy prey for savvy or…

For many of us, it’s the lifeline of our retirement financial security. Estimates are that for nearly half of us over age 65, 50% of our income comes from Social Security. And for nearly ¼ of us, Social Security amounts to almost 90% of our retirement income. That’s a big…

You know the score: your cell phone rings and it looks like a familiar number- or at least a local number. So you answer, assuming it must be someone you know. But more likely it’s a scammer trying to swindle you out of money. This trap is called “neighborhood spoofing”…