Oklahoma seniors are targets of professional fraud experts. They are trying to steal your money, using mail, telephones and computers.
Channel 8's Kim Jackson stopped by a conference today, on insurance fraud and found tips to keep you safe.
Seniors may feel special, by the handfuls of mail they get everyday, but a lot of this is junk, according to the experts and designed to steal your money. Most of it, they say, should go right in the trash.
Seniors were learning how to protect themselves during a conference on insurance fraud, from fake police officers, to scam artists.
Michael Ray Tyler says he's been a target.
"Typically someone is offering something or else they have a new service or they want to invite me to a free screening or some sort of medical fair," he said. But anytime someone offers you something, usually they want your information for their own reasons.
"So senior, if that radar goes off and it's a red flag and too good to be true, it probably is, but one thing that they are trying to do is capture their information to use later, so be careful about who and how you give out personal information," said state insurance commissioner, John Doak.
They've used information to buy medical equipment in your name. "Oxygen, things that folks may get at their home, which is never delivered. So they are getting the seniors information and then some of these fraudsters are signing up getting the money and never delivering the equipment," said Doak.
Gold bonds have been offered to many seniors in Oklahoma. And some funeral homes have been charged with spending burial money. "What you want to do is you should be getting annual statements related to money held in trust. You should be checking references. You should be checking with that funeral home. The reputable ones around the state are more than happy to show you were your money is," said Doak.
Michael Tyler knows better, as a retired insurance consultant. His advice as a senior is when someone calls or sends you unwanted mail, say what he says, "Thank you very much but I'm not interested or I just disrupt to phone call, to be ungracious about it."
If you have been taken advantage of, police and the experts say you need to call someone and report it.
A helpful link is located in the upper right hand corner of this page.
