Lost your life savings to a scam? Don’t lose hope. Here are 5 helpful tips for starting over.
~ Saturday, October 21, 2023 Blog Post ~
I have been reading many cases of elderly people getting duped by scammers employing various fraudulent tactics. These kinds of scams victimizing retirees or those in their senior citizen years include technical support scam, pig butchering cryptocurrency fraud, and different investment scam types.
The elderly victims unluckily lose their life savings which they worked hard for for many decades of their peak or high-earning years. I have experienced getting scammed in 2018 by two unscrupulous real estate professionals who gave me that sense of urgency to pay a hefty reservation fee on the same day I met them.
I certainly don’t want to remember that unpleasant experience, but for the sake of making this blog post informative, the deceitful real estate professionals were quite aggressive in getting my credit card swiped. That specific negative experience made me discover more about how to avoid getting conned.
Losing one’s life savings to scams is surely a devastating experience. Unwitting consumers fall into these frauds due to their poor personal finance knowledge.
Elderly financial abuse is also concerning as retirees lose their life savings, and worse, suddenly find themselves saddled in debt due to the sophisticated modus operandi that career scammers employ. This unfortunate reality leads these innocent investors to pour their hard-earned funds to bad investments offered by dishonest financial predators.
Here are some helpful advice to avoid losing one’s life savings:
1. Be cautious of frauds.
An investment opportunity is probably a scam if it seems too good to be true. Hence, one should be wary of unsolicited text messages, e-mails, or phone calls which ask for money or personal details.
2. Research the risks involved in an investment.
Every investment opportunity has its risks. To invest wisely, researching and understanding the hazards involved before pouring one’s investment funds is advisable.
Additionally, consulting with a financial advisor beforehand aids an investor in making informed decisions.
3. Beef up one’s personal finance know-how.
Personal finance knowledge is always power. Keeping oneself updated with the latest financial trends and reports facilitate informed and proper decisions with one’s hard-earned money.
4. Carry on with one’s life.
With the help of one’s family and friends, life must go on. Go ahead and start making a budget again to keep track of one’s expenses and avoid overspending. Additionally, begin saving for emergencies again. This emergency fund assists in preventing one from dipping into his life savings in case of sudden expenses.
Losing one’s money in a fraudulent investment scheme is not the end of the world. After building one’s new cash reserve, diversify the investment portfolio to decrease the risk of losing all of one’s funds in a single investment.
5. Family members should get involved in an elderly’s financial life.
Senior citizens are main targets of fraudsters who take advantage of their victim’s limitations. Retirees can be safe in their personal finance life by having their most trusted family members involved in their financial affairs.
Remember that losing one’s life savings is not the end of it all. It is never too late to begin saving and investing wisely again. For elderly savers and investors, it is best to seek the help of family members and friends. Professional advice is also beneficial for taking steps in rebuilding one’s finances. Don’t lose hope.
References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/business/retiree-romance-scams.html
