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Need to vent over scams and taking advantage of the vulnerable
Yesterday morning my husband “ who as been diagnosed with vascular dementia “ walked into the kitchen and started telling me about this amazing supplement endorsed by Bill Gates that could stop or reverse dementia, but it was really expensive and he was hesitant to try it. I knew immediately it was a scam, however I didn’t say anything because he just sounded so hopeful, at the same time my blood was boiling over people taking advantage of the vulnerable. After thinking about it for a while I decided to look up information concerning the ad so I could show him the truth, thankfully he accepted it and understood, but it got me thinking about all the other people that don’t have a advocate for them and they fall for these scams. I still feel so disgusted and angry over the hold thing.
I wanted to share to maybe prevent someone else from falling for this and to also ask has anyone else been through this and how did you handle it.
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My wife falls for all of them. She even gets “personal” messages from her favorite sports stars. So far she brings them to me for validation.
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7 Reactions@wctdoc1943 I understand completely, thankfully my husband doesn’t have the ability to buy things over the internet and comes to me first. Thanks for your response
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6 Reactions@akela09, venting allowed. Sometimes it just helps to vent. These older discussions may offer some tips:
- Phone Scam Worries https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/phone-scam-worries/
- How do you protect from phishing emails, hoaxes and other scams?https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/iphones-ipads-and-other-scams/
- Facebook Safety Issue https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/facebook-safety-issue/
Reviewing these past discussions underlines how crafty and clever scam artists are. With AI (artifical intelligence) keeping the vulnerable safe gets harder and harder.
I was just reading this article today that can help us by paying attention to our emotions:
- Anatomy of a fraud: How scammers use our emotions against us https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/fraud-manipulation-how-to-protect-yourself-9.7224976
But what safety measures can we put in place for people who don't have the cognitive ability to recognize the manipulation?
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3 Reactions@colleenyoung thank you, very helpful information
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