HAZEL PARK, Mich. – A new class is working to help prevent seniors from falling for scams in southeast Michigan before it even happens.
Everyone has seen them: scam texts, calls, and phishy emails.
With AI in the mix, it’s getting harder to spot and is especially dangerous for seniors.
I have been tracking how crooks are zeroing in on older adults.
If you step inside Baldwin House Senior Living on a Tuesday (May 19) afternoon these days, you’ll find 12 seniors sitting down for school.
It’s something many haven’t done for decades.
They’ve all got a story.
“They got everything out of all three of my accounts at one bank,” Deb Overla, a Hazel Park senior, said.
Two years ago, 80-year-old Overla got a message that would lead to years of financial hardship and now a long road to recovery.
It came after she got a message saying her PayPal had been charged.
“I clicked it to tell them that I did not have a PayPal,” Overla said.
Similarly, her friend, 82-year-old Grace Ciambelli, brought a nearly $1,500 bill to Local 4 for review.
It was printed with the full UnitedHealthcare logo.
“I had done in Guam, the day after Christmas, so I would have had to prepare for the colonoscopy Christmas day,” Ciambelli said, jokingly.
Ciambelli did not have surgery in Guam and isn’t sure what a ‘repair of wound of trunk’ is.
“Last year, I had Blue Cross Blue Shield,” Ciambelli said.
That’s why they both have filed into this weekly class inside Baldwin House Senior Living.
It’s called the Financial Exploitation Prevention group program.
It’s run by Peter Lichtenberg, who’s a distinguished professor of psychology and gerontology at Wayne State University.
Lichtenberg helps run the SAFE program for “Successful Aging through Financial Empowerment.”
“They are looking to get emotional, whether ‘you’ve won’ or ‘you’re a big winner’ or ‘you have to help us, this is a crisis, and you really have to help your grandson or your bank,’” Lichtenberg said.
This class, focused on prevention, has 12 senior students and happens weekly.
One component is that seniors are being asked to keep a scam diary.
“You’re looking at a suspicious call log,” Overla said.
“And you’re keeping track?” Local 4 asked.
“Trying very hard to keep track of unknown calls,” Overla said.
“And you said there’s two more you need to add from this week, right?” Local 4 asked.
“Yes,” Overla said.
“That’s one of the things we’ve really stressed, and it seems like a lot of people in the class who had been answering the phone but not engaging too much, are getting wiser and now not answering at all,” Lichtenberg said.
“Going through this class and having these conversations, has it made you feel less alone?” Local 4 asked.
“Yes,” Overla said.