How to Avoid Scams Targeting those over 50

thebiggerman

Rockwell Securities scammed me and I am no young man. I thought it might be helpful to let you know how they did it, so that you can avoid losing money to scam artists like I did. Number one: Never buy anything over the phone from someone who calls you. You can call your newspaper and renew yourself, if you want, you never know who you are actually talking to when they call you out of the blue. Number two: Even if you won't follow my rule above, just remember this, NEVER buy something over the phone that requires payment by wire transfer. If you are totally scammed using your credit card, the limit of your liability is your credit limit, and often the credit card company will cover most of your loss if you can prove that it was a fraudulent charge. If you are scammed and you payed with a wire transfer the limit of your liability is the entire balance of the bank account from which you transferred, and there is no chance of getting any sort of refund from the bank. After you do a wire transfer, the person who called you has your money. The bank doesn't. You would have to track them down and sue them to get anything, and the odds of that are slim, indeed. It's unlikely you will find the broker from Rockwell Securities who scammed you, as he gave you a fake name. It's unlikely that you will be able to send the police to his place of business, as he lied about the address. These facts, I'm sure, don't just apply to Rockwell Securities, but to all other calling center scam artists similar to them. Please be safe. Avoid getting scammed by anyone. And just saying no to cold calls should be the first step in that process. Trust me, I learned the hard way.

John_Pierpoint

If you fall for one of these boiler room scams, you might well get a call from "an action group" or "a lawyer" offering to let you join the group and most probably get all your money back, just needs a small up front deposit.

Well done you have just been scammed again by the same scum.

Farway

As John_Pierpoint says, unfortunately you are now on a "Suckers list" so expect many more calls because your details are now world wide

Jennifer_Jane

So sorry to hear about this, thebiggerman, and thank you for posting your experience. I quite simply say that I never order anything over the phone or at my front door (in fact, I open my door on the chain, and say that I never, on principle, order anything from the front door. So sorry, I say, but there we are! )

I even had a call from something I'd asked about free stock pickings from my online share borker (iii - ie one of their ads) and a terribly nice young man phoned me. I just quickly explained that I was just on pension and had nothing spare, and eventually, having been extremely flattering to me, I may say (lol), he terminated the call. I felt I'd had a very lucky escape!

So saying, we need to be vigilant, and your post has acted as a reminder, so thank you for that.