If you’re a senior, you may find yourself bombarded with telephone calls from telemarketers offering you everything from “fantastic investment opportunities” to home repairs (for an unbelievably low price). The callers always seem nice, and their offers can seem irresistible. Well, that’s a clue, because if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is: Most of these incredible offers aren’t on the level.

This booklet is designed to help you sort through these telemarketing offers so you can recognize which offers are on the up-and-up and which are probably scams. It will also tell you about a variety of things you can do if you get one of these calls, including the simplest thing of all—just hanging up. Many seniors like you are proving that, armed with the right education, they can spot these criminals and protect themselves from their schemes. They are proving that they can be as clever as the con artists, as astute as necessary to detect deception, and as confident as need be to keep from being fleeced.

Please read this booklet and take to heart the tips and techniques it offers. Remember, when it comes to hanging up on telemarketing fraudsters, it isn’t rude, it’s shrewd.

Al Lenhardt
President and Chief Executive Officer
National Crime Prevention Council

Facts About Fraud
Seniors age 60 and older are victims of 49 percent of telemarketing scams involving medical care products and services, 46 percent involving investments, 41 percent involving prizes and sweepstakes, and 40 percent involving magazine sales. And the amounts of money lost can be enormous: The average loss in prize/sweepstakes schemes was more than $7,000 per victim for the period January to June 2005.

One other detail is important to keep in mind: By using the telephone, the criminal can pressure or fluster the victim directly—or, worse, pretend to befriend him or her. The chosen method of payment is intended to be quick and easy (for the criminal)— a wire transfer, a messenger pickup, or private mail service.

Download Seniors and Telemarketing Fraud 101

PDF format, 600KB, 16Pages.

National Crime Prevention Council
1000 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Thirteenth Floor
Washington, DC 20036-5325
202-466-6272
ISBN 1-59686-023-5

Visit The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) Website

The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) is a private, nonprofit tax-exempt [501(c)(3)] organization whose primary mission is to enable people to create safer and more caring communities by addressing the causes of crime and violence and reducing the opportunities for crime to occur.

NCPC publishes books, kits of camera-ready program materials, posters, and informational and policy reports on a variety of crime prevention and communitybuilding subjects. NCPC offers training, technical assistance, and a national focus for crime prevention: it acts as secretariat for the Crime Prevention Coalition of America, more than 360 national, federal, state, and local organizations committed to preventing crime.

It hosts a number of websites that offer prevention tips to individuals, describe prevention practices for community building, and help anchor prevention policy into laws and budgets. It operates demonstration programs in schools, neighborhoods, and entire jurisdictions and takes a major leadership role in youth crime prevention and youth service.

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