Sadly, many Americans in healthcare facilities are injured every year, requiring the help of a top nursing home lawyer College Park MD has to offer to get the fair compensation they deserve. Families whose loved ones have been injured through no fault of their own often contact the law firm of Cohen and Cohen, P.C.
At Cohen and Cohen, P.C., our attorneys fight for those who can’t always fight on their own behalf. A nursing home lawyer College Park MD provides may be able to help get the justice your loved one deserves. If you have an elderly relative who has been injured by those who are supposed to protect and care for them, call our office for a free consultation. Abuse can take many forms, including financial fraud, which often counts vulnerable elders living in nursing homes among its victims.
If you’re not familiar with these fraudulent schemes, you may not realize how a nursing home can be negligent while tasked with caring for older adults.
What to Know About Senior Fraud Prevention
Seniors in care facilities can be especially vulnerable to fraudulent schemes designed to steal their money. If your loved one has access to a telephone in their nursing home or assisted care facility, thieves can reach them. Some defrauders also use the Internet to reach potential victims via websites, or more commonly, through email. While many people recognize these attempts to defraud them, a senior may have lost some or all of their cognizant abilities. They may also be lonely, and a fraudster can charm them with attention. They may also feel it’s rude to simply hang up on the scammer, whether or not they realize that the person is trying to steal from them.
Types of Fraudulent Schemes
The types of fraudulent ploys are varied and constantly expanding. An experienced nursing home lawyer College Park MD locals turn to for representation may be familiar with any number of typical schemes. Some of the more common methods to defraud seniors include:
- Fake sweepstakes
- Phony investment schemes
- Illegitimate magazine sales
Basic Techniques of Fraudulent Telemarketers
When defrauding seniors over the phone, fraudulent telemarketers often use some combination of tactics to entice their victims. A nursing home lawyer College Park MD residents respect may recognize many of the following methods:
- Animated reactions. The telemarketer may try to elicit excitement and emotion from their victim by pretending to be overly excited at what the senior has “won” as a prize.
- Time limited offer. Though the senior has supposedly won the prize, they won’t receive it until or unless they pay a handling or shipping charge immediately. If your loved one requests help from nursing home staff to help them meet this phony deadline, they should recognize this attempt at fraud. If you discuss your case with a nursing home lawyer College Park MD recommends, detail everything that you know about what happened.
- Proof of legitimacy. This may simply take the form of the fraudster turning the phone over to his boss to “confirm” that the victim has “won” the grand prize.
- Guilt. The fraudster may confess that he or she will not get paid for their job unless the victim pays the handling fee for the prize. If the victim says they can’t afford the handling fee, the fraudster may reduce the handling fee amount until the victim agrees to pay it. A nursing home lawyer College Park MD victims turn to may request documentation of your loved one’s losses so that it can be introduced into court as evidence if necessary.
- Prize fixation. The prize may be hard for the senior to ignore, and thus he or she will fixate on it, and pay whatever is necessary in order to get the prize. This can get very expensive for them very quickly. An experienced nursing home lawyer College Park MD families rely on may be able to determine if staff of the facility were involved in the fraudulent activity.
Tips for Dealing with Fraudulent Telemarketers
Successful methods to eliminate the risk of fraud will depend largely on the victim’s state of mind. If your loved one has already been a victim of fraud, it may not have been their fault. In consulting a nursing home lawyer in College Park MD, you may be able to determine to what extent the nursing home is liable. For instance, if they were made aware that fraudulent telemarketers were targeting a resident but did nothing to address it, they may be held partially responsible.
Here are some suggestions that nursing homes and families can follow to protect seniors from financial abuse. They can be posted next to your loved one’s phone:
- Hang up immediately if you suspect that someone is trying to trick you into giving them money.
- Do not give anyone your personal information such as:
- Social security number
- Bank account information, including your bank’s name
- Address
- Full name
- Date of birth
- Family members’ personal information
- If someone has called you and asked for your personal information tell them, “I don’t give out personal information over the phone.”
- Never pay a “handling charge” to a company or person on the phone.
- Do not give them your credit card number or bank account number to anyone over the phone.
- Do not pay taxes to someone over the phone.
- If someone is trying to give you a gift or sell you something that has a limited-time offer, hang up.
- If they tell you that the prize, offer, or special deal is confidential or secret, this is likely an attempt to defraud you. They do not want you to discuss it with someone who may realize it is a scam.
- If the terms or explanation are confusing to you, it is probably intentional. Tell them you’re not interested.
- Tell the telemarketer not to call you again and to take your name off their calling list.
You can also register the elder’s number with the National Do Not Call Registry. If there are still problems with fraud attempts, you can also change their number to an unlisted number.
A College Park MD Nursing Home Lawyer Who Fights for Justice
If your loved one has been the victim of financial fraud while in the care of a nursing home, you may have legal recourse. An experienced attorney may be able to recover your family’s damages. To learn if you may have a case, schedule a free consultation with a lawyer from Cohen and Cohen, P.C. When you need a nursing home lawyer College Park MD is proud to call their own, don’t delay, call us at (301) 637-8381.
