'I fell for it once': Seminar teaches seniors to protect themselves against scams
Each year, tens of thousands of Canadian seniors are scammed out of their savings by fraudsters. On Wednesday, a free workshop took place at Yakimovich Wellness Centre in Victoria to educate seniors on how to protect themselves.
Ellen Stensholt, 82, attended that seminar. She has been the target of a seniors scam in the past.
“I fell for it once, but was saved by my bank,” said Stensholt.
A scammer posed as ICBC, telling her she was bout to receive a $100 rebate.
“I was going to send them my banking information so that they could deposit the money into my account,” said Stensholt.
Fortunately, her bank recognized it was a scam and alerted her before it was too late.
Stensholt was one of more than 20 seniors attending the two-hour seminar.
“Every day I think we get reports,” said Const. Berle Zwaan of the Saanich Police Department.
Zwaan has been a police officer in Saanich for 28 years. As of late her career has focused on financial crimes and fraud prevention.
She says all types of scams are on the rise across the country.
“Residents in Saanich have reported about $7.7 million in losses to the police alone,” said Zwaan.
That was just last year. Only $155,000 of that was recovered due to the fact that the money often ends up overseas.
Many of those scams including phishing emails, phone calls and the ever-increasing grandparent scam that targets seniors.
“We know that seniors are home, we know that they have access to technology and they are fairly well-off here in North America,” said the Saanich police officer—which makes Canada a prime target for scammers.
Zwaan says there are four things seniors can do to protect themselves:
- Slow down and don’t rush into any decisions
- Ask yourself if what you are being presented with makes sense
- Talk to a trusted friend, family member, bank or lawyer before acting
- Do your own research.
The seminar is a partnership between the Saanich Police Department, Target Theatre and the Eldercare Foundation, which supports seniors to age with dignity.
“One of the key programs that Eldercare supports is education,” said Tom Arnold, executive director of the Eldercare Foundation. “Obviously one of the key issues right now is fraud, so it’s really important for us to provide that information to seniors to help keep them safe.”
“We just have to protect ourselves,” said Stensholt.
Being almost taken once, Stensholt says every week some sort of scam comes her way and that is why she attended the seminar: to educate herself.
“What I hope to know, what are the new scams,” said Stensholt.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Feds 'not interested' in investing in LNG facilities: energy minister
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says the federal government is 'not interested' in subsidizing future liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, including the electrification of projects currently in the works.
Chants of 'shame on you' greet guests arriving for the annual White House correspondents' dinner
An election-year roast of U.S. President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents' dinner Saturday.
Aerial photos show wide devastation left by tornado in China's Guangzhou
Aerial photos posted by Chinese state media on Sunday showed the wide devastation of a part of the southern city of Guangzhou after a tornado swept through the day before, killing five people, injuring dozens others and damaging over a hundred buildings.
Health minister 'deeply appreciative' of doctors but capital gains changes here to stay
Health Minister Mark Holland says while he is 'deeply appreciative' of the work doctors in Canada do, the federal government has no plans to scrap the proposed capital gains tax changes outlined in the latest budget, despite opposition from the Canadian Medical Association.
A top Qatari official urges Israel and Hamas to do more to reach a ceasefire deal
A senior Qatari official has urged both Israel and Hamas to show "more commitment and more seriousness" in ceasefire negotiations in interviews with Israeli media, as pressure builds on both sides to move toward a deal that would set Israeli hostages free and bring potential respite in the nearly seven-month-long war in Gaza.
What Trudeau's podcast appearances say about the Liberals' next ballot box question
Trudeau recently appeared on four podcasts as he travels the country talking up the Liberals' latest budget, which he's pitching as a plan to inject more economic fairness into society for those under 40 — a cohort that has kept Trudeau in power since 2015 but is increasingly turning to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Russian drones set a hotel ablaze in a Ukrainian Black Sea city
Russian drones early Sunday struck the Black Sea city of Mykolaiv, setting a hotel ablaze and damaging energy infrastructure, the local Ukrainian governor reported, while ammunition shortages continued to hobble Kyiv's troops in the more than two-year-old war.
A munitions explosion at a Cambodian army base kills 20 soldiers, but its cause is unclear
Security was tight around a military base in southwestern Cambodia on Sunday, a day after a huge explosion there killed 20 soldiers, wounded others and damaged nearby houses.
Deadly six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 sparked by road rage incident
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.