Retirement village residents warned about scams that target Australia’s retirees by Minister for Fair Trading, Anthony Roberts
Last week, retirement villlage residents warned about scams at the Bracken House Retirement Village in Dubbo, New South Wales were treated to a visit from Anthony Roberts, the Minister for Fair Trading (http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au) and Troy Grant, the Member for Dubbo (http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au).
The purpose of their visit was to increase the retirement village resident’s awareness of an increasing number of scams targeting Australia’s older citizens.
Mr Grant told about the ever-increasing number of scammers they were hearing about that targeted older Australians, with reckless disregard for the pain and financial damage caused. They warned that scams are becoming more and more sophisticated and consequently harder to identify.
The seminar they conducted was designed to teach the retirement village residents:
- how to spot a scam,
- the best way to respond, and
- easy ways that the residents could avoid being the target of a scam in the first place
Recent scams have included people identifying themselves as being from Fair Trading or other respected agencies or service providers, including government offices.
Retirement village residents warned about scams on-line
Here at the Retirement Community Noticeboard we often hear about internet scams that target retirement village residents or Australia’s senior community. In fact, my Dad recently experienced a scare which could have left him significantly out of pocket.
In his online searching he came across a company selling two products, Hydroxatone and Bellaplex. Both of these products offered a very generous free trial and all he had to pay was a tiny shipping and handling fee.
He decided that my Mum might enjoy a few luxury face creams and so signed up for the free trial, providing his credit card details to pay for the small shipping and handling charge.
On receipt of the free trial, he realised that he was now going to be charged, every two weeks, for more of these products, at the full retail price and full shipping charge. However, he was free to cancel at any time.
Easy, he thought, I’ll just ring and cancel the order. However, the phone number rang unanswered. No need to panic, he thought, I’ll send them an email. The email went unanswered. At this point, alarm bells began to ring and he talked to me about it.
We promptly googled the company and found hundreds of complaints documenting unauthorised deductions from credit cards and unanswered complaints.
We immediately contacted the bank, explained the situation, and cancelled my Dad’s credit card before any further deductions were made. Dad reacted quickly and got off very lucky, but the internet tells the stories of hundreds who didn’t.
We would recommend that any seniors shopping online use a PayPal account, which offers them a greater level of protection. Secondly, google a product, company or offer before you make a purchase. And most important of all, if you’re unlucky and do find yourself the victim of a scam, don’t be ashamed. It happens to thousands and thousands of people every year. React quickly, get in touch with your bank immediately and then make sure you tell EVERYONE about it.
If you’ve ever been the victim of a scam, tell us and all the other seniors reading this blog, what happened so they can avoid the same fate! Community and sharing stories is a great way to shut these people down.
And for all you lovely blokes wanting to buy a few luxury face creams for your significant others, your daughters, your mums or your sisters, try the website below (see link). We shop with them and find they have great prices on known and new cosmetic and perfume brands, free gift-wrapping, a refund guarantee if you’re not satisfied and, best of all, free worldwide shipping!
The information retirement village residents wish they had before they bought their retirement homes.
This article (see link below) tells the story of how a bank teller at the NAB Woolgoolga Branch saved an elderly gentleman from some unscrupulous scammers claiming to be representatives of Windows and claiming his computer had a virus.
http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/About_us/News_and_events/Media_releases/2013_media_releases/20130909_seniors_targeted_in_computer_scam.page