It’s a fact: Senior citizens are a preferred target for online and on-phone predators. *The AARP knows this, you know this and God knows this: So-called scam artists think that we’re especially prone to fall prey to their lying, cheating and stealing. This makes me angry—and I want to tell you why!
(Self-disclosure: In the months I’ve been posting these blogs, a lot more spamming/scamming schemes are showing up in my spam filters and security systems!)
It’s sinful for anyone to take advantage of anyone else, especially anyone who’s weaker or more vulnerable. This means that scammers are cowards when they attempt to bilk seniors out of money or otherwise damage their well-being. Bilking elders toward the end of their lives seems especially cruel—maybe even inhumane. Another thought: There’s no “art” in any of the scammers’ misanthropy, so let’s not honor their thievery with such a benign title, okay?
What really steams me, though, is this underlying assumption: These scammers, phishers, con arts and miscreants think that we older adults are gullible, easily tricked into mindless kindness or greed. They have a low opinion about our experience with get-rich-quick schemes, our familiarity with social media, our ability to spot rackets and our general awareness about their bag of tricks. They think we’re dumb! And they don’t care when they take away our self-confidence and spiritual gifts—e.g., trust, generosity, wisdom, love.
But because I am a kindly old-timer—and understand that predators need to eat, too—this open invitation to any swindlers who are reading this blog: Instead of wasting your time on supposedly dimwitted older adults, why don’t you scam artfully where a lot of really senseless thinking happens every day—How about plundering some oligarchs?
That’s where the big money is….
(*See https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/fraud-watch-network/ for current news.)
