LETTER: Seniors need our help
Among the distressing daily news reports is the dastardly bilking of our most vulnerable citizens. Far too many of our seniors have fallen into the traps of heinous telephone thieves who fabricate false situations designed to create immediate fear in non-suspecting people. Two of the most common scams are the relative-in-jail and the threat-of-arrest due to a nonappearance for jury duty. Most scams demand payment with gift cards or bitcoin to resolve the issue. Informed people would quickly brush these off as criminal activity, but by nature our older citizens are trusting people, easily frightened into making sudden decisions without consulting trusted individuals.
What can people of good intent do to combat these criminal schemes? It is a given that many seniors regularly attend church services. Perhaps a good method of getting the word out to them is for the celebrant, or a lay person, to briefly advise the congregation to open discussions with people they feel could become targets of scammers. Politely inform our senior citizens that scams targeting them are ongoing, and to make no money transactions until they discuss the questionable contact with a trusted relative, a neighbor, a friend or the police department. The more the word goes out to the community the fewer people will be hoodwinked out of their meager accounts. Scammers will never stop trying, but we must make them less successful with good information in the hands of intended targets. =A thwarted scam is a victory over malicious villains.
Ronald J. Yamka
Canonsburg