By the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol and City News Service
On National Senior Fraud Awareness Day, recognized by the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday, May 15, the Stop Senior Scams Acting Program offers tips for our elders to protect themselves from common scams.
Adrienne Omansky, director and founder of the program, said that when seniors get calls from people asking for money or personal information – especially from people that claim to be loved ones – they should stop and consider what their next steps will be.
“We have a motto with our program now, and it’s ‘Take Five, Tell Two’ – that is take five minutes to think about it before you react to an offer or something that you have to take care of,” Omansky said to the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol. “You can’t keep these things to yourself. You have to discuss it with two people … because the scammers want the seniors to jump on it.”
Omansky said that over the years, scammers have become more advanced, utilizing artificial intelligence to clone the voice of relatives and friends from social media and tricking seniors to send them money. She recommended that seniors come up with a code word with loved ones for those types of situations and hang up immediately when the person on the other line doesn’t know it.
Other tips include never wiring money through gift cards because you won’t get that money back and never providing personal information.
“I think the best thing to alert seniors is they have to be aware of the most prevalent scams and computer scams are very prevalent, IRS scams are prevalent, Social Security scams are prevalent,” Omansky said. “If anyone asks for your personal identification in any way, you never give out your Social Security number to anyone.”
On Wednesday, Councilmembers Katy Yaroslavsky, Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Heather Hutt highlighted the efforts of the Stop Senior Scams Acting Program, which recently held events in the Fairfax District and Lincoln Heights.
“When we talk about senior fraud, the stakes are really huge,” Yaroslavsky said. “This problem is only growing as scams prey on the growing digital divide and become more sophisticated. It’s our collective responsibility to safeguard and empower our seniors.”
Hutt said the FBI reported that elderly victims of scams increased by 84% between 2021 and 2022. Hundreds of thousands of cases of financial exploitation of seniors occur each year, representing a loss of more than $3 billion annually, she added.
“It’s important to start having these conversations to discuss what the latest trends are, and to protect each other,” Hutt said.
Harris-Dawson praised the program for building a community that protects each other. “We build a layer of protection around our seniors, who again, are among our most treasured residents and constituents in the city, but also have a vulnerability that we all need to pay special attention to,” he said.
Omansky thanked the trio for recognizing Senior Fraud Awareness Day. She said most seniors don’t report falling victim to scams for several reasons, mostly shame.
The trio of council members presented Omansky with a resolution acknowledging her group’s contributions to the city.
“We proudly display it wherever we go. It isn’t just something that sits in my house. It is a treasure. It’s like the Declaration of Independence,” Omansky said.
To report a scam, go to https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/.
I am a part of the Senior Scam presentation. After we have presented how to handle several scams, several people will come up to us and tell us they have been scammed. It’s amazing how much they have been scammed out of.
This is a woman who fights tirelessly as a volunteer. She is an amazing human being. We need more caring people like Adrienne to educate, advise and help seniors.