Keeping Your Identity Safe From Unemployment Scammers

As a Senior Center Director, and now in my late 50's, I find myself constantly on the lookout for trends that benefit the senior community.  Sadly, I have been following a destructive trend in the past week that has me on high alert.  When I recieved one phone call from a senior, I thought it was a fluke.  When the fourth call came in, it became a disheartening pattern.

As if the world couldn't get more more confusing, it has recently come to my attention that a financial plague" has struck individuals all over the country.  I am talking about the rash of unemployment claims being made in the names of folks who have not requested benefits.  It's frightening to receive a notice in the mail asking if you have found employment or need to renew your benefits when you never initiated the process nor have you been receiving benefits.  Or worse yet, when you are retired and have not worked for a number of years.  They have your social security number, place of previous or current employment and rate of pay.  What is going on?

 It is of little consolation, I know, but if this has happened to you in recent months, you are not alone. It happened to my family.  According to the Federal Trade Commission, "In a large-scale scam erupting in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, imposters are filing claims for unemployment benefits, using the names and personal information of people who have not filed claims. People learn about the fraud when they get a notice from their state unemployment benefits office or their employer about their supposed application for benefits.  If this happens to you, it means someone is misusing your personal information, including your Social Security number and date of birth. Act fast." (consumer.ftc.gov)

Here are the steps suggested to help protect your finances and your credit: 

1. Report the fraud to your employer. Keep a record of who you spoke with and when. I cannot stress this enough.  Keep a log of everything you do in response to this situation and keep a copy of everything you recieve.  I suggest keeping a log of all phone calls and following up your phone calls with an email whenever possible.  
2. Report the fraud to your state unemployment benefits agency.  To reach the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, an email is the best way to communicate.  They are understandably overwhelmed and need time to get to you.  The email address is DLT.investigations@dlt.ri.gov.  If you would like to try your luck at calling, the phone number is 401-243-9100.
3. Report the incident to the Rhode Island State Police at https://risp.ri.gov/fcu/FUICI.php  When you filled out the very short and simple online form and click "submit" you will be given a message saying a police report has been filed in your name with an incident report attached to it.  Be sure to print this page or print the screen and save it to your files.
4. Go to IdentityTheft.gov to report the fraud to the FTC and get help with the next important recovery steps. These include placing a free, one-year fraud alert on your credit, getting your free credit reports, and closing any fraudulent accounts opened in your name. IdentityTheft.gov also will help you add a free extended fraud alert or credit freeze to your credit report. These make it more difficult for an identity thief to open new accounts in your name.
5. Review your credit reports often. For the next year, you can check your reports every week for free through AnnualCreditReport.com. This can help you spot any new fraud quickly.
6. Check on your banking information often.  The faster you catch something, the quicker you will see relief.  
7. Beware of Money Mule Scams.The unemployment payments usually are deposited to accounts the imposters control. But sometimes payments get sent to the real person’s account, instead. If this happens to you, the imposters may call, text, or email to try to get you to send some or all of the money to them. They may pretend to be your state unemployment agency and say the money was sent by mistake.  Participating in one could cause you more difficulties.
8. Act immediately.  If you get benefits you never applied for, report it to your state unemployment agency and ask for instructions. Don’t respond to any calls, emails, or text messages telling you to wire money, send cash, or put money on gift cards. Your state agency will never tell you to repay money that way. Anyone who tells you to do those things is a scammer. Every time.

There is much about this process that could make your head spin.  Begin by taking a deep breath and remember that you are your own best advocate.  Don't be afraid to ask for help.  I can assure you are not alone.  At the very least, I am sitting where you are sitting.  The above steps will help you take your control back.  These scammers are targeting everyone and anyone, dead or alive.  

As I am going through this process myself, I cannot stress enough how valuable the tools offered by IdentityTheft.gov are.  They will build a recovery plan for you that spells out step-by-step what you should do to protect yourself.   

Life in the Time of COVID-19

If it wasn’t hard enough to navigate through life as an older adult in “ordinary time”, the Coronavirus has given us even more to worry about on a global scale.  Am I alone or does anyone else out there feel like the art of mixed messaging has reached an all time high?

It makes me wonder?  Where do our decision-makers think older adults go when determining their reopening plans?  

On the one hand, if you are over the age of 65, you should stay home.  Anyone over this benchmark age is considered “at risk”.  More specifically , you should know that according to the CDC, older adults with underlying health issues to include but not limited to chronic lung disease, heart disease, immuno-compromised, obesity, diabetes, chronic kidney disease or liver disease might be at higher risk for severe illness if the virus is contracted.

In a nutshell, if you are over the age of 65 you should:If it wasn’t hard enough to navigate through life as an older adult in “ordinary time”, the Coronavirus has given us even more to worry about on a global scale.  Am I alone or does anyone else out there feel like the art of mixed messaging has reached an all time high?

It makes me wonder?  Where do our decision-makers think older adults go when determining their reopening plans?  

On the one hand, if you are over the age of 65, you should stay home.  Anyone over this benchmark age is considered “at risk”.  More specifically , you should know that according to the CDC, older adults with underlying health issues to include but not limited to chronic lung disease, heart disease, immuno-compromised, obesity, diabetes, chronic kidney disease or liver disease might be at higher risk for severe illness if the virus is contracted.

In a nutshell, if you are over the age of 65 you should:

1. Stay at home if you can

2. Wash your hands often

3. Avoid close contact

4. Clean and disinfect surfaces

5. Cover your mouth and nose

6. Cover coughs and sneezes

Then there is the other hand.  

The other hand is what we see on a day to day basis.  Older adults can be seen all over the community.  With reopening plans being approved left and right for restaurants, libraries, parks, beaches, churches, hair stylists and even gym’s, what’s a senior to do?  

No really, what is a senior to do?  

This question worries me as a Senior Center Director as I am at a loss to answer it.  Our brick and mortar program is currently closed until possibly Phase III in Rhode Island.  We have adjusted by transitioning to a Virtual Senior Center and Senior Center By Mail model because we shouldn’t be seeing seniors out in the community.  Right? 

This confusion is met with disdain when the subject comes up in the pharmacy parking lot.  Here is a prime example.  I am working a polling station today.  I fully expected to see younger folks exercising their right to vote in person as the push for mail in ballots was intended to keep voters from getting into each other’s space.  What happened in reality? Well, as expected the live voter turn out was significantly less than what we would have ordinarily seen as most voters chose the option to mail in their ballots.  But as you may have guessed of those live voters, most were seniors.  What?

Can we blame them?  I certainly can’t.  Humans are by their very nature social beings.  We need contact with each other to maintain good health.  The mission of every senior center in the country is to combat senior isolation.  Talk about trying times.  How do we turn tail on all that we know?  There is no question here.  You just do it.  You discover creative alternatives to keep folks connected.   But how do we as professionals advise the seniors we serve as to how to live during the time of COVID-19?

Here’s what I think.  To live in the time of COVID-19 empower yourself to do what is right for you.  There is no one size fits all answer.

1.  Be Informed.  I mean be really informed.  We do better when we know better.  Stay tuned to the Governor’s daily messages as news surrounding COVID-19 can change that quickly.  Stay tuned to legitimate local news sources.  Be wary of social media postings.  

2. Stop and think before you venture out by considering the level safety you may encounter.  Will you be surrounded by people who may or may not be masked?  Will you feel comfortable under whatever conditions you may face?  If it doesn’t feel right, it isn’t right.  Listen to your inner voice.

3. Take good care of yourself.  I know I sound like a broken record but be sure to stay hydrated, eat healthy foods, walk where and when you can and get plenty of rest.  

4. Keep your “in person” circle small.  In an effort to maintain some semblance of normalcy, reach out to family or friends but keep your circle small so that you interact with the same small group of folks at any given time.

5. Have a care plan.  This piece of advice holds true at any time regardless of the current situation.  Be sure to have a plan in place for your care in the event you should fall ill.  Better to have a plan and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

6. Embrace technology.  If you are using technology, keep at it and practice, practice, practice.  More and more information and useful tools for staying connected come from the use of technology.  If this was something you always wanted to do in the past - there is no better time than now to jump in.  Our goal is to help every Boomer be a Zoomer before this all over.

7. While I am on the subject, expect this protective way of life to last a while.  A long while.  Masks, hand sanitizer, and social distancing will be a part of our collective way of being for the foreseeable future.  It’s the right thing to do for all of us.

8. Phone a friend. Be the friend who accepts the calls and more importantly be the friend who makes the calls.  Write a postcard, send a letter or perform a drive by greeting run to say hello from the car to someone’s front porch.

9. Create a routine.  Although it may not be the routine you are accustomed to, routines are important to remind us of what day of the week it is and to give us all something to look forward to.  If you used to take a live yoga class at 9am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, continue to do so but do it virtually.  

10. And lastly, stay connected to your senior center.  The brick and mortar building may be closed but Senior Centers like the Edward King House is still working like gangbusters to keep our senior community engaged, fed and prepared for whatever comes next.  We are always ready to serve - no matter what the conditions.

We can do this with our two hands.  ;-)

Since When is Being A Senior A Bad Thing?

Okay, so I'm a senior.  When did that become a bad thing?  Who decided that being a little older and a little wiser was detrimental to our health?  As seniors living in America, we should cry "Foul!".  At this point in our lives, our children are grown from babies to the point of driving and older, we are either starting new job adventures or are wrapping up first careers and, if we did it right, we learned how to say "no".  We should feel as good today as we did when we were  seniors in high school and thought we knew everything.  What went wrong?

I'll tell you what went wrong?  Someone sold us a bill of goods that defined senior-dom as the beginning of the end, the downward spiral, and time to get our affairs in order.  Pffffft to that!

If anything, the opposite should be true.  These are the 5 basics elements of senior-dom that should jump-start your enthusiasm for this next chapter in your life:

1. You hold the vote ~ More than 1/3 of the population is made of seniors and, unless you've been living under a rock, you know that seniors are more likely than any other population to get out to the polls and vote.  Now, you do the math.  In political races won by candidates by only 43% of the vote one can rest assured that the result came from the senior ballot.  Your vote counts - use it wisely.
2. You hold the buying power~ Let's use that same population statistic.  Seniors know when to spend, when to save, when to invest and when to hold the reigns.  Why?  Mostly because they have had the first 2/3 of their lives to learn what happens when they do it wrong.  At this point in our life adventure, we know where we stand and where we need to go financially.  Don't think for one second that investment houses, manufacturers and banks aren't paying attention.
3. You can re-imagine yourself~Many of us have had an opportunity to create that "bucket list" of things we want to do before we . . . well, you know.  Consider that list your guide of things you wanted to when you were busy building a life and didn't have time to do.  Your responsibilities will likely never leave you but your approach to handling them and how you prioritize them can change when you realize that you are now in the driver's seat.  
4. You know more than you think you do~Ever have to ask a 5th grader how to program your tablet?  Don't worry, you are not alone.  The only thing that stands in the way of your mastering that gadget is you!  We learn just the same way as older adults as we did when we were kids - by trial and error.  Just because we got older doesn't mean we got dumber.  It just means that there is still so much more to learn.
5. You can do it~  Want to meet a busy person? Find a senior.  We have choices ahead of us that we never had before.  Sadly, most of us don't know that the menu is out there waiting for us to engage. Take a class.  Travel. Meet up with friends. Volunteer.  Learn a new skill.  Don't know what it is? Google it!  But for pity's sake, get off the couch and do it.  

Don't let this fast paced, youth-oriented world we live in sell you that bill of goods that your life as you knew it over.  Turn the page and decide for yourself.

I hope The Realization Project will help you find that there is so much to be excited about in your 50+ years. Much to be aware of and much to beware.  I am looking forward to this journey we will take together.

Here's to being a senior and losing the marbles in my mouth!

~Carm