Baltimore County, MD Time of Your LIfe, 3 May 2017

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From YouTube: Protecting Yourself Against Scams

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Karen S. Straughn, Director, Mediation Unit
Maryland Attorney General’s Office

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Welcome back to the time of your life., I'm your host, ethel rasmussen. reimagining aging also requires older adults to understand.

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The forces, methods, and technologies that can cause them to be victims of scams.

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karen straughn,, director of the mediation unit at the maryland attorney general's office, is on the show.

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To discuss how to protect yourself from this widespread problem.

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Welcome to the show. thanks for having me.. Let's start the show by talking about the consumer protection division.

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And how it helps consumers in maryland.

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Well, the consumer protection division does a number of things.

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That's helpful to consumers,, but one of the things that's most important and that we like to make sure people are aware of.

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Is that we have two mediation units that are available free of charge.

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To anyone who's a maryland resident or who does business with a business in maryland.

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And what you can do is you can file a complaint with our office.

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And we will then mediate whatever dispute you're. Having with that business.

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To try and resolve the problem so that you don't have to go to court.

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We have a general mediation unit that works on pretty much.

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Any kind of problem that you have with any kind of business.

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And we have a health education advocacy unit.

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That handles problems with your pharmacist,, your doctor's office,.

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Medical apparatus, things of that nature.

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What our hea unit does as well is, if you file a complaint--.

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File a claim with your insurance company and your health insurance company --.

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Other than medicare of medicaid -- denies you coverage for some reason, and you think that you should have gotten coverage,.

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Well in maryland, you're supposed to file that appeal on your own.

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To explain why you should have gotten coverage,, and that would require knowing things like what kind of cpt codes were used,.

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Why the doctor made a diagnosis that should-- put a different cpt code,.

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Something of that nature. most people don't know how to do that,, including me.

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so,. This is something that our office will do for you free of charge.

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And we'll file that appeal for you, and if we're not successful in getting you coverage,, we'll send it to the next level of free agency help.

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That can help you to try and get that coverage that you need.

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So we have both of those agencies, once again, free of charge,.

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That will try and help you and if we are not the right, office,.

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We are charged with trying to help you find the right state or federal agency that can help you if it's not us.

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Wonderful!, why are older adults targeted by scammers?.

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Well, unfortunately, you know, scammers, try to get anybody,.

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But senior citizens and people who are older tend to be more trusting,.

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They tend to be of a limited income --, even if they have plenty of money in the bank,.

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They have limited income coming in to them..

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So there's a more-- a greater likelihood that they're going to want to take advantage of an opportunity.

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To get a little bit more money, all of a sudden.

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And they tend to, as they get older,.

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Sometimes have medical problems that result in them being forgetful.

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About things that people tell them,, so they are more likely to fall for these scams,. Even if they've been told before.

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That this is something that they shouldn't do.

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So, scammers target them to try and get them to give up their money.

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Because that's what they're looking to do is to get them to give up their money or their identity or their personal information,.

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Things of that nature. all right.. Let's talk about the most common scam.

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Directed at elderly consumers and how those consumers can avoid being a victim.

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well, today it is still the most common scam right now.

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And has been for about the last year or so that the irs is calling you.

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And saying that you owe money and we used to tell everyone.

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The irs is never going to call you, so you can just--.

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Once they say they're on the phone,, they say they're calling on behalf of the irs or as part of the irs,.

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You can hang up the phone and know that it's not true.

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unfortunately,. The irs has recently decided to make some phone calls.

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So we can't just tell you to hang up the phone necessarily,.

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But they are using four debt collectors,.

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They've put out the names of the debt collectors;, we assume that the scammers know them as well..

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So it's not helpful for us to tell you the name of the four debt collectors,.

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But what it is helpful for us to tell you is that the comptroller's office in maryland has a listing.

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If you are behind on your taxes,.

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You can look it up and see if you are behind on your taxes.

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In addition,, you can contact the irs directly for federal taxes.

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To determine, if you are behind on your taxes, so that you don't get caught by someone who's, calling you who really is not part of the federal government or the state government.

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And all you need to know is to call our office.

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At our 410-528-8662 number.

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And we can direct you where to call and where to check so that you will know whether or not you are behind on your taxes before you fall for any of their scams..

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Wonderful. computer scams are also becoming more and more popular..

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What are some of the most common computer scams that our viewers may see?.

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Well, what we see a lot and what gets reported to us a lot.

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Is individuals are receiving either a phone call or an email.

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Telling them that there's a virus on their computer and this person is going to take their password and get into their computer.

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And fix the virus and fix the problems that the computer is having.

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For a small fee.

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and unfortunately not only do they not fix the problem.

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But they cause more problems. --, they put a virus in,.

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They get information from your computer, that's personal information.

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That you don't want shared with people who you do not know,.

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They often send out emails to people that you know.

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Or gather information about people that you know to be able to contact other people., it's a terrible problem and that's one of the things that we see the most.

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And what we advise people is that, if someone is contacting you.

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By email or by phone about your computer system,.

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The likelihood is, they are not real --, even if they say that they are from a valid software protection. Company.

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They are probably not real.

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and if you are being contacted by someone who is from the software company that you actually own,.

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Then they're going to fix it for free. they're not going to charge you a fee to fix it if there's a virus, because that's what they're there to do..

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So, if someone's trying to charge you a fee,, you are not in a good position.

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And you should hang up the phone, turn off the computer,.

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Whatever you need to do to make sure you are ending all communication with that person.

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Perfect., what other scams should they be aware? Of?.

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Well, one of the scams that's been around for a long time, but we find that people still aren't aware of. It is the grandparent scam.

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And the grandparent scam is a scam in which a loved one --.

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We call it the grandparent scam, but it's not always necessarily your granddaughter or grandson,. It could be a godchild,, it could be a niece,, it could be a nephew,, it could be a brother-in-law,, it could be all kinds of people,.

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And they will say that they are either out of the country and they've had their money stolen or that they've been arrested.

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And we find that the most common things is they're either arrested for drunk driving.

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Or for fishing without a permit, and the person contacting, you is either going to say that they're, your loved one.

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Or they're going to say that they're, the sheriff or a bail bondsman, something of that nature, calling on behalf of your loved one.

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and they need money and they need it immediately.

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Because that's what scammers do, they want you to work immediately.

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And they want you to work fast and they want you to get things to them right away, and they don't want you to talk to anybody else..

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They want you to immediately get out there and get this money to them.

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For bail or because they need it to get home, something of that nature.

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And we tell everyone, first of all, the first thing you could do.

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Is when they call you- and they say this- is your son or whatever,.

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If you think fast, enough,, say, "is, this tommy?".

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And then use a fake name when you do that.

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And you might be able to catch them., but if you're, not thinking fast enough, ignore their instructions about not calling anyone.

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And call someone and make sure that your loved one is actually out of the state.

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Or out of the country and really needs this money before you do anything.

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These are amazing tips.. Thank you for coming and sharing those for our viewers.

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thank you. interested in staying in the know?. It's my pleasure to tell you about the agency's daily updates,.

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Which is available on bcda's facebook, page., remember to friend, bcda on facebook and stay current about news and programs.

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Through multiple daily posts., we're now going to take a short break. when we return be prepared to be inspired by reimagining aging.

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Through the lives of our guests.

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( ♪♪♪ ).