Fraudsters often take advantage of the gullibility and lack of awareness of older people. Criminals often pose as employees of the Pension Fund or employees of social services, promising to talk about increasing pensions, offering to provide certain services, entering apartments under the pretext of paperwork and robbing people.

We have prepared a review of the tricks of scammers that the Pension Fund of Russia talked about.

Be carefull!

Legal services

On one of the websites, Perm pensioners are offered free consultation on registration of real estate, land plots, land surveying, etc. After they have identified themselves, they receive a phone call inviting them to a free consultation in the office.

During the meeting, we talk only about pensions. They are asked to bring a work record book in order to double-check the correctness of calculation and recording of work experience, and in general, the assignment of a pension. Taking advantage of the fact that citizens cannot know all the nuances of pension legislation, they are told that the Pension Fund has deceived them and does not take into account all the length of service.

As a result, an agreement is concluded with them for the provision of legal services on a paid basis (the amounts can be different: 8, 13.18 thousand rubles) and applications are prepared on their behalf to various authorities: the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, the prosecutor's office, social security authorities, the court. At the same time, “well-wishers” are guaranteed to promise people an increase in pensions from 100 to 200 thousand rubles.

“It’s important to note right away,” Stanislav Avronchuk, manager of the OPFR for the Perm Territory, comments on the situation, “this promise of the scammers is not destined to be fulfilled.” The size of the pension depends on the length of work experience, earnings, with the Pension Fund for each individual citizen, and the pension is not set arbitrarily. And you can get a certificate about the amount of your pension or get acquainted with the documents of your pension file without the services of outsiders and for free.

Thus, scammers initially provide deliberately false information to older people, in vain encouraging them to receive a large pension. And, in fact, they offer pensioners to pay for this deception, and for good money.

Statements

Similar “pseudo-legal” services are provided to pensioners in the Ulyanovsk region.

The Pension Fund began to receive letters from citizens that were very similar to each other. All of them are written as if according to a template and contain indications of an allegedly incorrect calculation of the pension, its underestimated amount and a requirement for recalculation. The text of such an appeal is a set of logically unrelated excerpts from legislation containing long and complex wording, which creates the appearance of the professional level of the letter writer, the volume of work performed and, most importantly, its quality.

The goal of organizations that provide such services for money is to profit from customer trust.

OPS document

There are people visiting the houses of Kaliningrad pensioners who introduce themselves as Pension Fund employees. Fraudsters among gullible citizens, whether they receive certificates by mail about the status of an individual personal account and whether the citizen has received a “new” document called the “General OPS Document”.

They present pensioners with an identification card with a colored Pension Fund logo, and in return they ask to see their SNILS number.

Having received the ILS number, the named PFR employees allegedly check the data with their database and only after that inform the citizen that he has the right to receive a “General OPS document.” However, where, how, and most importantly, why they are not told.

Meanwhile, certificates on the status of the ILS have not been sent out by the territorial bodies of the Pension Fund since the beginning of 2013, and no “General Document of the ILS” exists. Any work with the public is carried out by Pension Fund employees only in customer services, and not by telephone or at home.

Voucher to the sanatorium

One of the popular types of fraud is when older people receive calls allegedly from the Pension Fund of Russia and are told that pensioners are entitled to a voucher for sanatorium treatment, and, at the same time, it is “last minute” and they need to go immediately. When a person refuses to go, he is offered to transfer compensation to a bank card and is asked to give its number. Fraudsters are very convincing and act carefully and skillfully.

There were cases of mass calls to pensioners offering vouchers for sanatorium and resort treatment, in particular, in Moscow.

Imaginary supplement to pension

In the Pskov region, scammers have another reason to obtain information from pensioners about their bank card information.

Over the phone, criminals find out details supposedly for additional pension payments.

For example, a 78-year-old man received a call on his mobile phone from a woman who introduced herself as an employee of the Pension Fund and said that his pension had been recalculated and he was entitled to an additional payment of 14 thousand rubles, only for this he needed to dictate his bank card number and passwords. The pensioner did just that, and a few minutes later he received an SMS about a successful purchase in the amount of 6,890 rubles, although he did not buy anything.

From this article you will learn:

Why are older people so often deceived?

How do they deceive older people over the phone?

Which organizations do scammers most often pose as employees to deceive older people?

How to recognize a scammer

What should older people do to avoid being deceived?

Everyone knows the saying: “As old as you are small.” And indeed it is. Elderly people, like children, are very trusting, sometimes even naive. This is taken advantage of by scammers who, without a twinge of conscience, rob defenseless old people. Despite the abundance of information about cases of fraud, every year tens of thousands of elderly people become victims of scammers, who voluntarily give all their savings to the scoundrels. In this article we will talk about how older people are deceived, we will analyze different types of fraud and ways to protect against them.

How older people are deceived over the phone

Fraudsters have developed many methods to deceive older people. Let's just reveal several schemes on which they act.

An “employee” of the Pension Fund calls an elderly person’s home phone, addresses him by name and patronymic and reports good news. Allegedly, he is entitled to a monthly increase in his pension. The Pension Fund will transfer it to the Sberbank card. The citizen is recommended to urgently apply for a new card and indicate a mobile phone number in the application (for ease of recalculation). The next day, the “lucky” pensioner tells the scammers the number of the issued bank card.

This is how they deceive older people: a person calls a pensioner and, introducing himself as a relative, says that he is in trouble and tearfully asks him to help him - to send him money by courier. After some time, a “messenger” arrives and takes the money. The amount of “help” varied; some elderly people gave several hundred thousand rubles.

When asked why they did not recognize their own son (grandson, granddaughter, etc.) by the voice, all the elderly victims answered: the connection was very bad (interference was deliberately created), and the extreme excitement from the news they received took its toll. Fraudsters shamelessly deceive older people, playing on their family feelings.

This is probably one of the oldest schemes. The police say that it is now quite rare for older people to be deceived in this way. They stopped believing such telephone scammers. But still, you shouldn’t let your guard down. As they say, everything new is well forgotten old.

It is very common for older people to be deceived with their lottery “winnings”. The “lucky” person is informed that he has won a car. With joy, he may not even realize that he hasn’t bought any lottery tickets for a long time. He does not see the light even after the “lottery organizing committee” offers him to pay tax to someone’s personal account.

When older people who have already been deceived before are deceived, this is the most inhumane type of fraud. The victim of the scam is called by a “precinct policeman” and “warned” about the appearance of a criminal group deceiving the elderly. The victim reports that he has already fallen for their hook. Then the “precinct officer” asks to assist the investigation and help catch the criminals “with live bait.” To do this, you need to give the swindlers bait - money (which, naturally, will return to the owner) - and not tell anyone about this operation, so as not to scare off the scoundrels.

Then the elderly man gets a call from his “old acquaintances” of scammers and again demands money. He gives them "bait". After this “operation,” the swindlers, along with the money and the “precinct police officer,” disappear without a trace.

How “medical workers” deceive older people

Often, scammers take advantage of the desire of older people to receive treatment and improve their health. This is how “medical workers” deceive older people: a person calls, introduces himself as an employee of the clinic and reports that test results have been received that show that the elderly person is seriously ill. A variety of diagnoses are given, and many scammers “diagnose” even deadly diseases without remorse. The calling “doctor” offers the pensioner to undergo examination and treatment or buy “miracle” medicines (the prices, of course, are fabulous).

Having agreed on a meeting, the “doctor” comes to the elderly person’s home and conducts a “medical examination”. Then he advertises a miracle cure “for all diseases” and persuades people to buy it. At best, it will be just a dietary supplement, but it also happened that older people bought dangerous drugs from such “doctors” that should not be taken.

Prices for “miracle” drugs depend on the “conscientiousness” of swindlers who deceive older people, often reaching several hundred thousand rubles. Old people, wanting to improve their failing health, give all their savings to the scoundrels.

“Healthcare workers” can sell not only pills and medicines, but also “miraculous” medical devices.

Some older people are confident that expensive treatment will restore lost health. But some people don’t have money for expensive medicines and clinics, while others simply cannot accept the fact that their strength is fading. And then a “savior angel” appears in the form of a pleasant-looking middle-aged woman and offers to buy a unique device, developed using secret technologies at a former military plant, capable of eliminating all diseases and restoring youth.

She shows colorful brochures with pictures. The device flashes invitingly with multi-colored lights and makes soft sounds. Under this hum and wink, the uninvited guest reports that the company she represents, under a joint program with the government of the country, specifically for pensioners in your area, is only now selling this miracle of medical technology at low prices. Whereas its real cost, for example, is over thirty thousand rubles.

The approval and support of the ongoing action by the Government of the country and its imminent completion have a magical effect on older people. Almost 85% of pensioners agree to become owners of a “miracle device”. And, having parted with the accumulated money, they become the “happy” owners of a useless (at best) trinket made in China.

How “social service workers” deceive older people

The following scheme for deceiving older people is very often used by swindlers. Fraudsters pose as social security workers and report that the pensioner has received an annual payment or compensation. But you can only get it after paying a certain fee. Having received the money, the scammers instantly disappear “in the fog.”

Or they will ask the pensioner for their bank card number and access code in order to transfer the entitlement subsidy to it. Naturally, after this the money from the card “disappears” in an unknown direction.

Fraudsters often deceive older people in the following simple but fail-safe way. They come to their home, introduce themselves as social service employees and report that they have brought extraordinary financial assistance. But when paying “completely by accident” it turns out that only large bills remain. Pensioners gladly agree to exchange them. As a result, they receive counterfeits instead of real money.

Fraudsters often deceive older people by posing as social security workers, because this is an almost fail-safe way to get into the apartment of pensioners. And distracting and getting old people to talk is generally a trivial matter for them. After visits from such “social security workers”, elderly people discover that money and valuables are missing.

Posing as social insurance workers, scammers take away elderly people’s passports under the pretext of urgently replacing them with a new one. They collect huge loans from various banks in the name of the passport holder and arrange real estate transactions, as a result of which the old person may lose his home.

How older people are deceived by offering water filters

A scheme to deceive older people, very similar to the one used by “medical workers,” was used by members of a criminal gang that sold “miracle filters” for water purification to older people. Only they didn’t call pensioners on the phone, but came to their homes and put on a real performance. Using simple technical and chemical techniques, they showed old people how water flowing from a tap turns black. In this way they were convinced that drinking such water was dangerous. Therefore, it is simply vital to purchase and install a filter for water purification, costing only some 60 thousand rubles.

Elderly people gave money, and if there was not enough cash, they entered into loan agreements.

The police were unable to stop the activities of this criminal group for a long time, since their actions were assessed as “aggressive marketing” and not as fraud. Using this scheme, scammers often deceive older people by selling other goods (medical devices, plastic windows, etc.).

How else are gullible elderly people deceived?

There are several other types of scammers who shamelessly deceive older people.

False psychics

These scammers deceive older people, posing as psychics, promising to get rid of illnesses and improve their lot. Nowadays such “services” are often advertised on television. After watching such programs, pensioners themselves call the “healers.” Often, scammers perform their magic rituals over the phone. The cost of one session can reach up to 50 thousand rubles. And you can deceive and rob naive old people for a very long time if you convince them that a lot of time is needed to achieve a positive result.

Apartment thieves

This category of scammers acts brazenly and unceremoniously. They enter the apartment, posing as social service workers or sellers of various “wonderful” products (filters, medicines, etc.). One of the swindlers “serves” and distracts an elderly man, the second searches the apartment. He takes all valuables and money, after which both leave. After such visits, pensioners do not immediately discover the loss.

"Distant relative"

These swindlers deceive their victims right on the street, in front of all honest people. They approach the elderly man, feign joy at meeting him and inform him with a happy smile on their face that they are his second cousins. At the moment, they need a small amount of money, which their beloved uncle probably has. Then they express confidence that he will definitely help them in a family way. Having received the money, they hastily move away from the stunned “relative”.

How to protect older people from scammers

Now about the main thing. How to protect your elderly loved ones from scammers who deceive older people? Explain to them that they do not need to unconditionally trust a person, even if he appears to be an employee of reputable organizations (prosecutor's office, clinic, ministry of health, etc.).

Representatives of government agencies never call to report any news (unless, of course, you leave a request and your phone number for feedback).

If the caller calls you by name and patronymic and knows your address, marital status and other information, this does not mean that he is an official. Such data can be obtained in different ways.

If you believe the caller, then to be on the safe side, ask for his first and last name and his position. Call the organization back and make sure that he is not deceiving you.

Do not under any circumstances buy medicines or medical devices from people claiming to be medical professionals, even if these products come with instructions and quality certificates and are sold at a tempting discount. Remember that all these documents can be easily forged, and the price for such drugs in pharmacies is several times lower and discounts for pensioners are guaranteed there.

If you are told by phone that you are sick and need urgent hospitalization, do not make hasty decisions under any circumstances. Call people you completely trust and tell them about the phone call, ask for advice. It does not take a lot of time.

If a loved one (son, grandson, granddaughter, etc.) calls you on the phone, says that he is in trouble, and asks you to send money via courier, do not rush to do this. Call the caller back, and if he doesn’t pick up, call other relatives.

Do not open the door to strangers and do not let them into the apartment. If they did open it, ask the person who came for his last name, first name, place of work and position held. Then call the organization of which he is a representative and make inquiries about him.

In order for a pensioner to receive social benefits, the Pension Fund will never require him to transfer money to any account. Don't forget this.

Don't give your bank account information (such as your credit card access code) to anyone, not even employees sitting in a bank branch.

Tell all your elderly relatives about the various methods of fraud and how older people are deceived. Emphasize the need to call you immediately in all suspicious cases. Always stay in touch with them and provide them with help and support.

The easiest thing for scammers to do is deception of pensioners. Pensioners are very trusting. After all, they were born and raised at a time when honesty and decency were honored. And it is difficult for them to believe that they are being cleverly deceived. Despite stories about scammers on TV and in the media, pensioners continue to be deceived. There are a lot of fraudulent schemes. It is impossible to even take them all into account. You need to be careful and not trust strangers. I will tell you about some ways to deceive gullible pensioners.

Apartment scam for pensioners

Many of us often receive calls from strangers at our apartments and offer something. These could be offers to buy something or receive some service. Be extremely careful and do not fill out any forms with your personal data! Do not add to the list of deceived citizens!

A common way to deceive pensioners is to sell useless pills. Fraudsters offer them as a magical miracle cure for all diseases. And such a miracle costs hundreds of thousands of rubles. At best, it might actually be something like activated carbon or chalk. At worst, you will not only not improve your health, but also harm yourself with an unknown drug.

Another way to deceive pensioners is to install plastic windows. Allegedly, the company is currently running a promotion and you receive an additional free window as a bonus. At the same time, the installation price will be several times higher than if you ordered installation in the usual way. The “bonus gift” will cost you dearly.

Fraudsters may pose as utility workers or social workers . Ask for identification or call these services to find out if this person works there.

Fraudsters are good psychologists. They know how to present their proposal convincingly. And the pensioners agree to formalize the deal. They will also provide all their personal data to scammers. But after the swindlers leave, it’s like a veil falls from their eyes. There comes a moment of epiphany. Deceived people turn to law enforcement agencies. But finding criminals is not so easy. Very often, fraudulent companies are shell companies.

Of course, it’s not only pensioners who are being deceived. Any gullible person can become a victim of scammers. Women are lured by all kinds of beauty services. After all, women typically desire to be young, beautiful, and well-groomed. So they are offered some super-duper anti-aging products, quick weight loss, etc. And pensioners are lured into free health consultations. Such a consultation will reveal a bunch of “diseases”. And then you will be offered to buy expensive drugs that are only available from this company.

The key to these scams is the word FREE. When they offer you a free consultation or try some new cosmetics, few people will refuse such an offer. During an interview during an examination or when filling out a questionnaire, scammers will try to find out your financial situation. The higher the income, the better for scammers. But even if your income turns out to be modest, this will not stop scammers. The amount billed for services will be astronomical.

If you don’t have the required amount to pay for services, it doesn’t matter. You will be immediately offered to enter into a loan agreement. The agreement is drawn up so cunningly that you will not immediately understand this complex scheme. In addition, the main points are written in very small letters. Fraudsters will rush to sign this agreement as quickly as possible.

Deception of pensioners on the Internet

On the Internet, as in real life, anyone can be deceived. If a person is naive and gullible, then he becomes an easy prey for scammers.

Be careful when shopping online. I myself sometimes buy something in online stores. I only use those that have been on the market for a long time and from which I have already made purchases. When you make a purchase from a stranger, you risk losing money . Fraudsters can take an advance payment and disappear. Their phone will become unreachable.

Beware of offers of easy money . If you are required to transfer a certain amount of money to get a job, then these are scammers. You won't get a job, but you'll lose money.

Another type of fraud is receiving income in the form of interest . You are offered to deposit some amount for a short period of time. They promise that very quickly your contribution will increase to incredible sizes. But in reality none of this happens. Your money will immediately disappear and you will never see it again.

Deceiving pensioners over the phone

If you receive an SMS message from an unknown number that your card is blocked, then this is a scam. Never call back to such numbers . But if you call, you will be asked to provide the information the scammers need. They are supposedly needed to unlock. In fact, scammers need the code in order to withdraw all your funds. The scammers' phone number may even be similar to a bank number. Banks never ask for personal card information. If you want to find out if it is true that your card is blocked, call the number indicated on your card.

If you receive a message that you have won a large sum of money or another prize, then this is also a scam. As in the first case, you will be asked to provide all your card details. You will not receive any money or other prize. And all your money from the card will go into the pockets of the deceivers.

Fraudsters may send an SMS message asking you to return the money transferred to you by mistake. Of course, nothing was sent to you. This is also a deception.

Do not become a victim of deception, do not hand over your documents to strangers. Keep your passports, driver's license, SNILS, TIN away from prying eyes. Do not dictate your bank card details over the phone. Don't show property documents to strangers. All this data can be used by scammers.

Tell older people you know about common scams.

Older people, especially single people, are trusting and sometimes naive. This is what scammers are counting on when they want to get easy money by deception. Every year, tens of thousands of elderly people become victims of criminals. Despite the fact that the most common “divorce” schemes are described in detail on the Internet, grandparents continue to take the word of strangers and voluntarily give away their savings. This article is not addressed to them, but to their children and grandchildren. Tell your older relatives, neighbors and acquaintances about the most common fraudulent schemes and try to explain to them that you cannot trust strangers. Take care of the elderly.

False doctors

What do scammers put pressure on first when they want to deceive a gullible pensioner? Of course, for his health. One of the most common scenarios is that an elderly man or woman receives a call from a supposed doctor who claims to have received test results or other research that show that the pensioner is seriously ill. The options may be different - many attackers do not feel pangs of conscience when they name cancer as an ailment. After this, the pensioner is offered to undergo expensive examination and treatment or purchase “miracle” medicines at prices that are several times inflated. Moreover, the person who calls often introduces himself as an employee of the clinic.

A fake doctor comes to a pensioner’s home, allegedly conducts an examination and advertises the medicine in every possible way, convincing his victim to buy it. You'll be lucky if it's just dietary supplements or... There are times when taking a drug purchased from false doctors is simply not an option.

Prices for “miracle drugs” also vary depending on how unscrupulous the scammers are, but can often reach several hundred thousand rubles. Thus, gullible pensioners who want to improve their health give almost all their savings to strangers.

Instead of pills or potions, scammers may sell miraculous medical devices.

False psychics

A similar scheme is used by scammers who present themselves not as doctors, but as psychics. They also promise to either cure all diseases or globally correct one’s fate. Advertisements for these services are even shown on television, after which pensioners call them themselves. In order to receive money, you don’t even have to come to the address - parapsychologists often perform magical rituals remotely, the cost of one telephone session can be 50 thousand rubles. They can process gullible clients for a long time, convincing them that it takes a lot of time to solve problems.

A relative is in trouble

Probably one of the oldest fraudulent schemes: a person calls a pensioner and introduces himself as his son, grandson or other relative. He says that he is in trouble and asks to help out - to give the courier a certain amount of money. After some time, a person arrives at the address and takes the money. According to the victims, the amounts also varied greatly and could reach several hundred thousand rubles.

Naturally, it is not his real relative who calls the pensioner. To the reasonable question of why the victim could not recognize his own grandson by his voice, we answer: sometimes the connection may not be very good - this is done on purpose. Besides, can you imagine how worried an elderly person would be if he received such news?

The doorbell rings and a loan for hundreds of thousands of rubles

A scheme similar to medical scams was used by members of the group who sold “miraculous filters” for water purification to pensioners. But in this case, the scammers did not call, but immediately visited, sometimes calling themselves employees of Mosvodokanal. After the elderly man let the strangers into the apartment, a spectacular performance was played out: with the help of simple technical techniques, the old people were shown how the water flowing from the tap turns black and red. The victims were frightened that if they did not urgently install a filter costing about 60 thousand rubles, they could die.

Impressionable old people sometimes not only gave money, but also entered into loans that had to be repaid after they realized that they had been deceived. Also for dismantling filters.

The police were unable to catch the attackers for a long time - their actions were assessed not as fraud, but as “aggressive marketing.” Under this scheme, not only filters can be sold, but also other goods - plastic windows or, again, medical devices.

Fake social workers

This scenario is also often used by scammers. Fraudsters disguised as social workers call pensioners and say that they are entitled to an annual payment, compensation for purchases or a cash gift, for example, for Victory Day. You can receive a subsidy only by investing a certain amount. After this amount ended up in the hands of the swindlers, they disappeared.

Another option is to ask pensioners to provide their bank card number and PIN code, supposedly in order to transfer the amount to their account. Naturally, all the money on the card disappeared after that.

Apartment thieves

Sometimes scammers act much more aggressively. Posing as either social workers or sellers of the same “miraculous filters” for water purification, they enter the apartment, and while one of the scammers distracts the potential victim, the other finds money in one of the rooms - in the nightstand or under the mattress. After that, both leave. Theft may not be noticed immediately.

Repeated “divorce”

The worst type of fraud is when pensioners who have already been deceived once are deceived on behalf of the police. Let's say an old woman becomes a victim of a crime in one of the scenarios described above. After this, an alleged local police officer calls her and warns her about this method of deception. After the victim says that she has already fallen for the attackers’ bait, he gains confidence and asks to help solve the crime, namely, to act as bait to catch the attackers in hot pursuit. After the second call, the policeman asks you to give the money to the attackers and not to tell anyone about the operation. Naturally, he promises to return the money after the bandits are detained.

When the first scammers start calling the old lady again, this time with threats and demands to give a large sum, she, as agreed with the policeman, gives the money, and the district police officer stops answering calls. The victim is ultimately left with nothing - often these amounts donated “for a good cause” are truly catastrophic - some pensioners have had to.

How to avoid falling for scammers

And now the most important thing. Explain to your grandparents that you should not trust a person, even if he introduced himself as an employee of a clinic, the Ministry of Health, the police, the prosecutor's office, social services, and so on.

• Representatives of government organizations and departments almost never call to report any important news. The exception is if you yourself left your phone number to a specific doctor.
• Even if the person on the other line knows your first name, patronymic, last name, address or other information, including marital status or health status, this does not mean that he is an official. This data can be easily obtained through illegal means.

• If you are inclined to believe someone who calls you, introducing himself as an official, still check the information, it won’t get any worse. Ask the caller his name, position and place of work, then call the organization back and make inquiries about this person. It may well turn out that there will not be such an employee in one department or another.
• Never buy pills and medications from your own hands, even if you are provided with certificates - they can be easily faked. If doctors allegedly offer you to buy medications from them at a discount, do not believe them; most likely, these medications are much cheaper at the pharmacy. And it is at the pharmacy that you can be given a discount as a pensioner.

• If you are told that you are terminally ill and require hospitalization, do not rush. Call relatives, neighbors or anyone you can trust. Before making a decision, you need to tell someone about it. Fraudsters will pressure you to act urgently, but it won’t take much time to make one call.
• If a relative, for example, a grandson, allegedly calls you and asks you to help him out of trouble, again, do not rush. Call your grandson and make sure he is safe. If the relative in trouble doesn't answer the phone, call someone else. Do not agree to give money to strangers.
• Don't let strangers into your apartment. If possible, don't even open the door for them. If they have opened, again ask for the name, position, place of work and first call the organization to make inquiries.
• Receiving social benefits never requires any investment from retirees. Do not transfer money to anyone's account under this pretext.

• Never give your bank account details to anyone. The PIN code and CVV (three-digit code on the back of the card) from your credit card cannot be shared even with real bank employees who sit in the “window” of the credit institution.
• The most important thing is not only to tell older people about scams and precautions, but also to provide support. Let your grandparents, lonely elderly neighbors and acquaintances not hesitate to call you in such situations. Always stay connected.

Alena Skvortsova

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