Everyday Canvas

Scammers

Prompt: Scammers
What do you think about the scammers of today with all the media available to them? Do you think they only target the elderly or is everyone liable to fall for their scams? And should scamming be made a serious offense since most of it is a misdemeanor at this time?

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As long as crooked people exist, scammers will survive. That is a fact; however, in digital age, scamming has become world-wide and ocean-deep. Scammers try to prey on unsuspecting individuals, causing them emotional and financial harm.

Scamming the elderly has become a serious issue, lately. In fact, several people I know who are over 70 have lost a lot to scammers. Last week, when someone pretending to be from the Social Security Agency called me and threatened to do away with my monthly income. I didn't fall for it, and I didn't give them any info about myself than what they already had gathered from God-knows-where. Then, I wrote to the local SS office about this incident. To their credit, I received an answer within an hour. Moreover, they must have informed Medicare also, as I received another letter from Medicare with tips of protecting myself.

Targeting the elderly works well for the scammers because we are of a generation where trust in authorities were highly valued and many of us didn't grow up in the digital era and may lack knowledge or familiarity with what the latest tech is capable of. Some elderly are socially isolated due to different factors and scammers know well how to exploit this limitation. Still, some elderly might have accumulated savings and perpetrators often use tactics with urgent situations.

I can't tell you how many phone calls I used to get, up until last year, with a kid crying at the other end, "Grandma, I'm in jail. Send me bail money." Some have fallen for that. I don't have any grandchildren and my children have many other ways to get in touch with me. So I have laughed these calls off. But this may not have stopped there.

There are many ways of scamming and many more ways will surface, I'm sure, especially with the internet, ai, and who-knows-what invention to pop up next. Possibly some deterrence can work, but much stricter legal measures to protect the vulnerable populations are needed. That is, if our political parties stop fighting for nonsensical things and try to help the people of this country. Most of the scamming, if I know correctly, is considered to be only a misdemeanor. I think it should be made into a much more serious crime.

Then, public awareness and education for the elderly and telling them to report scams could also encourage a culture of protection. As it is, one can't even call on the phone most institutions and some don't even provide e-mail addies. I believe, in fact, a special institution of law just for reporting scams would work very well. At least, it would be worth a try.


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