Scam Corner: Let Me Tell You A Little Story About A Man Named Jed

Meet Jethrow

Jed Found A Winner Of A Lady Online

Jed was sure she was the real deal: she even had learned about this cryptocurrency stuff and had made a lot of money at it. He had even given her some money to invest for him, and it was doing really well. She regularly shared reports with him showig how well it was doing.

Monday was the day. He was going to do what she asked and give her a much larger amount to invest in the cryptocurrency market. Although he was apprehensive about doing so, he pulled half of his savings out for her to invest. The bank was a bit challenging. They kept asking him questions and delaying it, but finally he insisted that it was his money and he was just using it to pay off a bill that had received that was overdue (Laura had told him just what to say.)

The Waiting Game

Now it was Friday and he was still waiting for Laura’s email. She usually would give him updates by Friday, so he waited patiently for a new message. Jed was happy because he had Laura in his life and he was going to really make some money and be able to help his grandchildren with those 529 accounts he said he would start someday. But yet, there was a little apprehension. It was a lot of money.

Alas, that email never arrived – Laura ghosted him and regardless of the emails he sent, she had just disappeared. He was crushed. Not only did Jed lose the relationship that gave him a reason for joy again, but he couldn’t figure out where his money was and how it was doing in the market. In time he realized his money was gone, he was going to have to pull the belt tighter and worried how long what was left would last. His heart was crushed from the reality that Laura wasn’t who she said she was.

The Reality Of The Story

Jed’s particular story is fictional, but it isn’t fiction. The relationship started out on social media. The pictures she sent of herself seemed real enough, but they were just photos copied from a modeling company’s website. But what about the Zoom call? There she was in person, talking to him and moving an everything. It was the same person as the pictures, but it was a deep fake real-time video created from the photo, making the picture look alive. The investing reports were all fake – the investments never existed and the scammers were somewhere overseas.

How Can We Protect Jed From Scams?

How can we learn to protect against scams like this? Whether you are the older adult, or a person with an older adult relative or friend, a few tips can help reduce this type of fraud:

• Maintain relationships with older adults. More and more people live isolated lives with few social interactions that aren’t via technology. Keep in touch with older adults whether they live next door or further away. Make sure they are getting their needs met with people they know. An NBC News story quoted a daughter of a victim that highlights this issue: “This [scammer] was fulfilling something for my dad in that romantic way that he wasn’t getting perhaps fulfilled in other ways and unfortunately, built enough trust for him to take this risk.”
• As an older adult, don’t keep any strange or interesting calls, emails or video calls to yourself. Share that news with a trusted friend. Anyone who tells you to keep something confidential should be a red flag. Share the joy. Share the excitement. Share the news.
• Remember that two brains are better than one. Have someone else check out the situation. You may not recognize a scam, but your friend might. And one day you might be able to return the favor and spot something that they don’t see as a scam.

While Jed’s situation was fictional, it was based on a number of real situations where older adults have lost hundreds of thousands to scammers. Let’s break that chain and make sure that our older adult population maintains social relationships that are trustworthy. It is only by working together that we can protect our vulnerable population.