Susan White wishes she had talked to her parents earlier about scams and financial exploitation.
“I was late in catching on to what was going on,” said White, of Norwich. “I wasn’t paying close enough attention.”
White’s parents were taken advantage of by people promising good investment deals, and although they died more than a decade ago, financial scams have been on White’s mind. She’s not alone in being concerned: Seniors are more likely to be targeted — and fall victim to — financial scams, according to experts and law enforcement officials.
But the topic can be difficult to discuss, particularly for adult children who are concerned about their parents. How do you talk to someone about the dangers of scams without talking down to them or telling them what to do?
Scammers have gotten more creative in recent years, law enforcement officials and senior advocates said during a presentation last week at the Upper Valley Senior Center in Lebanon.
Sunny Mulligan Shea, an attorney and victim witness advocate with the Elder Abuse and Exploitation Unit of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office; Marc Boyd, president of AARP New Hampshire; and Hanover Police Capt. Mark Bodanza were there to give a presentation about the “dirty dozen” of financial scams in New Hampshire and how people can protect themselves.
“They’re either going to get you thinking financially or emotionally,” Marc Boyd, state president of AARP New Hampshire.
White said her father was tricked into buying gold coins that turned out to be worthless, and both her parents were taken advantage of by people they trusted, including financial advisers.
“It’s people who really ought to have their best interests at heart,” White said.
After she realized what was happening with her parents, White said, they had already lost thousands of dollars. When she took control of their finances, she received pushback from the very people taking advantage of them.
“They were really angry because they were doing something they shouldn’t,” she recalled.
Authorities say two schemes that have been gaining traction are grandparent scams, where a scammer calls an elderly person pretending to be a grandchild who is in trouble, and romance scams, where someone targets a senior on a dating website and convinces them to send them money. Once the money is sent, it is nearly impossible to get back.
“We talk to people daily who send a lot of money,” Mulligan Shea said. “They’ll try any story or any mind game. You have to step back, take a deep breath and think.”
When White’s father died, she tried to broach the topic of scams and financial exploitation with her mother but was brushed off.
“She had agency,” White said. “She didn’t really care if it was taking advantage of her. This was her decision.”
That reaction is common, Mulligan Shea said, especially when family dynamics are involved. Instead, it’s better to approach loved ones with specific examples of scams or suggest they attend a fraud education program, “so it’s not them lecturing mom and dad,” she said. Approach it as a step in “helping them protect themselves.”
One techniques is to print out an article about a person who was a victim of a scam.
“Sometimes they can’t listen to the children,” Boyd said.
Sally Bellew, of Wilder, attended the talk to learn more about current scams and said it’s helpful to present the information as a community effort and education that can help everyone.
“We all need to be on our toes at all times,” said Bellew, 70. “We all need this information. We all need to be educated so we can spread correct information.”
Bodanza said the Hanover Police Department receives multiple calls a week from people asking whether a particular call is a scam, and he encouraged residents to reach out to the department if they have any concerns.
“Always call, and we can say, ‘Yes, this is a scam,’ or, ‘No, it’s not,’ ” he said.
Bodanza also cautioned people to be wary of service providers who knock on their doors saying their roof needs to be fixed and if they give them money up front, they will come back and take care of it.
“If something doesn’t sound right that they’re saying, give us a call,” he said.
Now a senior herself, the 70-year-old White keeps up-to-date with new scams. She said taking control of her parents’ finances was one of the hardest things she’s ever done. If she could do things differently, White said, she would have started discussing finances a lot earlier.
“You want your parents to be your parents,” White said. “You just think, ‘They’re your parents. They’re going to be fine,’ because that’s the way they’ve always been.”
But one lasting lesson that White learned is that anyone, no matter how smart or how wealthy, can be a victim of fraud or financial exploitation.
“We’re all vulnerable,” she said.
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
