Providers of home care services for seniors are pulling out all the stops to help protect your mom or dad from senior citizen scammers. Shielding seniors from scams that can take away their life savings or cause identity theft begins with making them aware of the dangers and tricks aimed at their age group.

Providers of home care services for seniors warn that your mom or dad may be receiving phone calls from individuals claiming to be the IRS. This particular scam involves convincing your loved one that they owe back taxes and if they don’t pay up (on the phone) they will be arrested. Unsuspecting elderly Americans are sharing their social security numbers and banking information and these con artists are robbing them blind.

Another phone scam is the late night call for seniors known as the grandchild scam. According to providers of home care services for seniors, these calls start out with a voice saying, “Grandma/Grandpa do you know who this is?” When your parent responds with the name, the scammer takes on this personality. Now that they have established an identity with your loved one they share a sob story of needed money. These thieves know how to get your parent to respond and wire or transfer money. These same perpetrators also know how to get the identity information on the grandchildren electronically.

This is a very sophisticated operation. However, providers of home care services for seniors recommend that if your parent is educated about these scams and is provided with a backup plan to respond to them they can protect themselves, their finances and yours as well. If your parent has a live-in home care provider, it may be an option to have their care aide accept the phone call to either verify the information or to distract the scammer.

Your parent deserves to be safe, and safety begins with education.