This letter arrived in the middle of the day, saying that my delivery is still pending. To fix the problem, all I had to do was click on the web link and enter my ZIP Code.
“Have a great day from the USPS team!” says the text.
The incorrectly worded message (with bad punctuation and an international phone number) apparently did not come from the Postal Service. And if I may hazard a guess, I don't think the senders really wanted me to have a good day.
They wanted to rescue me, so a word to the wise this holiday season:
Watch your wallet.
California is about to be hit by a wave of aging people, and Steve Lopez is riding it. Her column focuses on the blessings and burdens of growing up — and how some people challenge the stigma associated with aging.
Fraud is a year-round, multi-billion dollar international business. But for thieves, the festive season is a window of opportunity, as AARP warned Nov. 18:
“As scammers seek to take advantage of consumers from all walks of life, new AARP research shows that people need to be vigilant this holiday season as they buy gifts, book their travel plans, and donate to charities.”
Many scams are run by high-profile international organizations, said Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention. AARP Fraud Watch Network. Those criminals work across all channels, preying on victims through email, phone calls, texts, flyers and regular mail.
People who don't know are making money through gift cards, cryptocurrency, credit cards, cash and wire transfers. Losses are often irrecoverable because the money is found in other countries before the victims know they have been robbed.
Stokes said that in one typical incident, thieves chase after people who have stocks they are trying to dispose of.
“There's all this paperwork that makes it look legitimate, like you're paying money to get your period,” Stokes said. But the scammers make thousands of dollars while the target is still stuck with the timeshare.
Last week, in a national conference on scams targeting adultsDeborah Royster of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned that consumers are being wiped out in an instant.
“Retirement savings and other resources that people have built up over a lifetime, and depend on,” Royster said, “can be gone in an instant.”
At that conference, Virginia's representative Julie M. Strandlie He said his 85-year-old mother lost $80,000 between Thanksgiving and Christmas five years ago in a routine scam that began with “flashing images and creepy voices” on her computer, warning of a virus.
“There's a number you can call for help, but it's not the real Microsoft,” Strandlie said.
His mother agreed to this trick, giving the criminals the chance to unlock his frozen computer. She was then tricked into believing that they had deposited money into her account, and she needed to pay it back with cash and gift cards from Best Buy and Target.
As LAPD Chief Carlos Diaz, left, looks on, LAPD Det. Albert Smith leaves his card with Marta Barillas after a presentation about financial scams and physical abuse of the elderly in St. Barnabas Senior Services in Los Angeles in June 2023.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Steve McFarland, president and CEO of Business Business Bureau district from Palo Alto to Long Beach, said his office receives 1,100 consumer complaints of all kinds each day.
He was not kidding and repeated the number.
McFarland and other sources say a larger percentage of millennials report fraud than older adults, but the latter group is losing the most. And for all ages, McFarland said, gift card scams are hot right now.
The bar codes on those cards can be tampered with or scanned by someone before they are sold, McFarland said. The card buyer goes to the payment terminal and puts, say, $100 on the card to be used at Target, Burger King or any number of establishments.
But when the recipient goes to redeem it, the money is gone. It happened last year to LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who bought a $100 VISA gift card for her niece only to find it wasn't worth a nickel. Hahn later warned the scam, and McFarland, further LA's Eyewitness News.
“It's called a gift card scam and these scammers have found a few clever ways to prey on unsuspecting consumers,” Hahn said.
In addition to outright scams, this is the time of year when requests for charitable donations can fill your mailbox.
“A lot of charities are trying to shut down power, and criminals know that and they're fighting for the same dollars,” Stokes said.
If it's not an established organization known for its good work, Stokes advised going to the Better Business Bureau's give.org website, where you can type in the charity's name to find out if it's legitimate. You can also find out what percentage of donations go to the campaign versus overhead costs.
Your best policy, unfortunately, is to blame everything. I recently found a letter with the name of the mortgage lender on the window and opened it to find a warning that this is my “FINAL NOTICE” to avoid a monthly payment increase.
It looked good, and on the back page, well written, I found out that the mail was from a lender not affiliated with my mortgage company.
If you see “final notice,” “urgent” or “interest enclosed,” don't even bother opening the envelope.
A friend shared a pile of letters that kept coming to his mother, who passed away months ago, and when I investigated I found one attempt after another to separate her from her money. “Copy of Last Enclosed Check,” said one, and in the cellophane window was what looked like a check for $437.18 that said “Pay to the order of …”
But it wasn't a check, of course. It was a request from a lobbying firm that said it would fight to save Social Security funding (and, of course, he had a lot of mail from organizations that said they would do the same).
The fake check was described as an example of what he had to lose if he didn't immediately support the cause by taking out his credit card and making an “emergency donation” to keep Social Security intact.
And then there were requests from organizations representing Noah's Ark for endangered species. Look, I'm an animal lover, but how does one begin to solve all the claims?
Keep the pigs. Horses. Bees. Lions. Donkeys.
“On Sunday, a baby donkey was snatched from its mother and treated cruelly,” said another envelope.
Lots of dog complaints, too. Another included a photo of a dog with amazing speech skills, looking at the dog's caption: “I wish no one else would be hurt the way people hurt me.”
I feel for the dog, but if he really can talk, let's get him an agent and send him on a tour so that the puppy can collect a lot of money for him.
Yes, there are plenty of great charities that deserve your donation, but be careful.
For applications. By email. With documents. By telephone.
Everything.
Banks should do more to prevent repeated, questionable, irregular withdrawals and wire transfers. The gift card industry must be able to recapture fraud with smart security measures.
And people of all ages need to be more discerning, refuse to give out personal information like Social Security numbers, and get advice from a trusted friend or loved one before signing any checks or doing business with strangers.
Last year I wrote about two retired LA residents, a former teacher and a former banker, who were there embezzled about $80,000 each Internet scams. Earlier this year I wrote about it a Redwood City woman who was ripped off for $1.8 million, and an Alhambra woman, Alice Lin, who lost $720,000 in an “investment” scheme introduced to her by a man she met on a talk show.
I reached out to Lin, who had great advice on all kinds of communication from unknown or unfamiliar sources.
“Don't answer,” said Lin. “Don't touch it.”
steve.lopez@latimes.com
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