Here's a true story about a 91 year old we'll call "Jenny" who loved the sweepstakes and entered dozens of them. She was very optimistic that many entries would better her chances. Jenny had been showing signs of diminished capacity for about two years, with short term memory loss and confusion, but she functioned rather well and still lived independently in a senior's community in her own apartment.
For many older folks like Jenny, there may be a fear of running out of money. It's not far-fetched either, as people live so long they can deplete their assets, say nothing of needing expensive long term care. Getting money by winning it is eternally appealing and more so to anyone who has this common worry of not having enough. Lots of elders, including my nearly 95 year old mother in law enter sweepstakes contests, hoping to get lucky. They do not consider a lurking danger in this: the sweepstakes entry forms ask for your identifying information, sometimes including your date of birth. Historically these lists of names have been sold to marketers who want to target the older age group to sell products to them. Have you ever noticed how many mail offers an aging parent gets if they do play the sweepstakes? Piles of them! What may not be well known is that the entry form information with personal identifying data can also be sold to anyone who is willing to pay for it. No one guarantees secrecy of the person's private information when you randomly enter a lotto or sweepstakes. They are not all honest.
Jenny got a phone call one day with the sweepstakes man excitedly telling her she'd won! She was going to get a million dollars. Now the scam, so typical. All she had to do was pay the "transfer fee" of $5000 and Mr. Moneybags would personally deliver her million dollar check to her. Her daughter found out and was furious at the scammer. She told her mother that this was a phony trick and not to fall for it. But Jenny, now convinced that the man on the phone was "so nice" that he couldn't be lying to her, told her daughter that she didn't understand. The man was for real.
Jenny's son contacted us at AgingParents.com and asked what he could do. We gave him a plan. Jenny was wealthy. She still had total access to all her funds, both at the bank and at the brokerage account with plenty in it to steal. We contacted her estate planning attorney, (fortunately she had one), and he quickly sent over the needed documents to her son. The son had Power of Attorney and could block transactions temporarily until things were straightened out. Jenny had a trust. With her memory problems, confusion and age, she should have been persuaded to resign as the person in charge of that trust (trustee) but no one had asked her to do so. She was cooperative with her son and he could have done this a year or more before this crisis. However, he did block any transfers temporarily until he could get the resignation paperwork to his mother and ask her to sign it.
He was advised to be present when the scammer called Jenny to make an appointment with her to "deliver her winnings". What the thief really wanted was the $5000 cash and he was going to exchange it for a real looking but rubber check he would give Jenny. When he called, Jenny's son asked him "who are you, anyway?". The scammer was caught off guard and said he was a distant relative. The son confronted his lie and told him to get lost. Jenny did understand that she had no distant relative and seemed to finally accept that this wasn't for real. Scam thwarted! Jenny was lucky. Lots of elders are not so fortunate. They part with their cash, find out that their "winnings" are a phony check and the scammer disappears into thin air.
Could this sweepstakes player be your aging loved one? Here are three things you can do to keep them safer:
- For an aging loved one who is the sole trustee on any family trust, note any signs of memory loss and confusion, however subtle. Dementia sneaks up slowly and robs a person of judgment. If the trust provides for it, ask your impaired loved one to resign from being a trustee so a more competent person can take over. Trusts normally spell out who the successor is and that person needs to be ready for the responsibility. Don't wait for a crisis like Jenny's. It was a close call.
- If your loved one thinks she's perfectly ok when everyone else knows she's not, read the parent's trust language about "successor trustee" or seek legal advice about how to get the aging person out of the driver's seat, so to speak. Often trusts are written to require that the trustee with diminished capacity for finances be evaluated by two doctors before they can be removed. That takes time. The doctors then have to say in writing that the person in question is no longer capable of handling complex matters like the trust. Every trust is different so you do need to know what it says about an incapacitated trustee and follow the trust's requirements for removal of the person from the responsibility.
- Bear in mind that sweepstakes entry private information can be sold and can get into the wrong hands. Check out your aging parent's mail and look for the entry forms and letters. Jenny's apartment had a large stack of them. They are a clue for family members that your loved one is putting himself at risk by giving personal information to companies that do not promise to keep it private. Watching out for your aging parent is a great way for you to keep the scammers scurrying away. They hate scrutiny. You can get in their way if you're smart.
Having that conversation about finances with your aging parent can be daunting. You can learn more about how to approach it successfully in The Family Guide to Aging Parents, available at AgingParents.com.
