By George Bao Aug. 5, 2016
SAN MARINO – California State Assemblyman Ed Chau (D-Monterey Park) and the office of State Senator Carol Liu (D-Glendale) Friday hosted a free “Senior Scam Stopper” seminar in the City of San Marino to warn seniors of the serious crimes against them.
“Senior citizens, every so often, become the target of consumer fraud scams perpetrated by con artists and unscrupulous businesses,” said Assemblyman Ed Chau, Chair of the California Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection.
“The best way to avoid falling victim to some of these deceptive and dishonest schemes is by raising awareness and taking specific safety measures, which the seminar was designed to do.”
The seminar was attended by seniors, families, and caregivers from throughout the San Gabriel Valley. It featured presenters from the Contractors State License Board, California Bureau of Real Estate, United States Postal Services Office and San Marino Police Department who provided information on how to protect against various types of construction fraud, home repair fraud, financial fraud, telephone fraud, and identity theft.
Adults ages 60 and older lost an estimated $2.9 billion to fraud in 2010 – a 12-percent increase from the $2.6 billion loss estimated in 2008, according to a 2011 study by the MetLife Mature Market Institute.
An estimated 7.3 million older adults – 20 percent of older Americans – have been victimized by financial abuse, according to a 2010 survey by the Investor Protection Trust, a nonprofit investor education organization.
According to FBI, senior citizens are more interested in and susceptible to products promising increased cognitive function, virility, physical conditioning, anti-cancer properties, and so on. In a country where new cures and vaccinations for old diseases have given every American hope for a long and fruitful life, it is not so unbelievable that the con artists’ products can do what they claim.