GREENSBORO, N.C. — It's a huge increase. Last year the Internet Crime Complaint Center reported an 84 percent increase in the amount of money senior citizens lost to scammers. Experts say the best way to protect seniors you love is by talking with them about the red flags of a scam. That's where free dinner placemats come in. You can put them on the dining room table where seniors will see the reminders every single day.
Designed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, they highlight common themes of scams like "if someone contacts you and asks you to pay by wire transfer or gift card, be wary. It's probably a scam."
That's something that could have helped Helen, someone whose story we featured before on WFMY News 2.
"We had saved all our life. My husband and I didn't take vacations or anything. We just put money away,” Helen said.
She was living alone after her husband's death when she got a phone call informing her she'd won $500,000. There was just one catch: she'd have to pay the taxes on her winnings first.
By the time she notified her family months later that she had never received her sweepstakes money, she was out nearly $300,000. Not only did the scammer liquidate her entire life savings, he even got her to take out a home equity loan on her house that was paid off.
“I was so taken up with that that I didn't even question. I didn't even know about scams,” Helen said.
Another way to use these placemats is at group functions like church events.
At the very least, they are good for starting a conversation with the people you care about.
You can download them for free from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau website. All you do is print them out.