If you are a baby boomer reaching retirement age, you may not think of yourself as elderly, but there are any number of con artists out there who do. These professional scammers use an array of tools designed to cloud your reason and get you to hand over your hard earned money. Whether you are elderly or not, you can learn to protect yourself by more easily recognizing the most commonly used tactics.
Scam Tactic 1: Limited time offer.
This tactic is so common it’s used on almost every made-for-TV product out there. The con artist tries to convince you that there is only a limited number of investment opportunities available, or that you only have a limited time to act.
Scam Tactic 2: Fear of inaction.
Another common tactic is to try to get you to feel afraid that your failure to act will cause you harm. These offers often come disguised as threats of future punishment, lawsuits, criminal sanctions or official government actions. Any time someone is trying to use fear to get you to act, you should be immediately cautious.
Scam Tactic 3: So complicated it must be a good deal.
If a deal sounds so complex or complicated that you don’t understand what is going on, you should almost always walk away. Con artists may try to convince you by getting you to believe they know what they are talking about, while at the same time they try to convince you that the subject is so complicated you will never understand it.
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