Seniors learn how to avoid financial scams with help from local organization

The organization Resources/ Outreach to Safeguard the Elderly, or R.O.S.E., is on a mission to ensure senior citizens don’t fall victim to financial scams. Older adults are often targeted because scammers believe they have an abundance of money.

Brian Watson, R.O.S.E. Community Outreach Specialist, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss ways the elderly can be educated, ensuring they avoid these scams.

Watson says that cryptocurrency ATMs are one of the most popular scams that are targeting seniors citizens today. He explained just how they are used in the “jury duty scam”.

“You get a phone call, someone claiming to be from the sheriff’s office saying you didn’t show up for jury duty and you can pay a fine and they tell you to do it via cryptocurrency ATM,” Watson said.

If you’re unsure about a call your receiving, Watson’s best advice is to “hang up”. He added that older adults were usually raised to answer the phone in a kind matter, but now he is reminding people that it is okay to hang up the phone and what the next best course of action would be.

“Call from a verified number. Not a number provided by the scammer, not a number provided in an email that was sent to you. Do your own research. You know look in a phone book if you still have one, you know use an online search,” Watson said.

For those who have concerns about the older adults in their lives when it comes to these scams, Watson said that the best way to go about it is to start conversations about it. He shared some of the practices that he uses with his loved ones.

“I can say, ‘Dad are you aware of that Amazon scam?’ or ‘Mom are you aware of the Publishers’ Clearing House Scam coming back again?’. And I’m not insulting their intelligence or their age, and we can just talk about it in a very low-key environment,” Watson said.

For more information on ways to identify and avoid different scams, visit the R.O.S.E website.