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Subscribe to RSSShelley Taylor’s father was in his mid-70s when two homeless men duped him out of $17,000.
The first one, a man Taylor’s father described as “nice,” walked him to the bank where he withdrew $6,000. "Anybody looking at him should have picked up on the cues that said 'Do not give this man $6,000’,” Taylor says. “I still don't know how my father could not pick up that this was not a nice young man."
Such stories are everywhere – the couple who gave all their savings to a Canadian scammer, retirees who lost their life savings to fraudulent investment schemes, homeowners who ponied up thousands up front for roof repairs they didn’t need – and never got.
Pictorial Parade / Getty Images file
A police mug shot of Italian-born American swindler Charles Ponzi (1882 - 1949) after his arrest for forgery under the name of Charles Bianchi, Montreal, Canada, 1909. Ponzi's name now lives on in the particular fraud known as a ponzi scheme.
But Taylor, a professor of psychology at the University of California Los Angeles, is beginning to understand why. And it’s not exactly what everyone has assumed. It all has to do with the fear centers in the brain.
Gerontologists and crime experts agree the elderly are more vulnerable to fraud and many have assumed it’s because of diminished brain capacity, as well as because retired people often have more assets and more time on their hands. But new research suggests that older people's vulnerability might have more to do with the way older brains process visual cues.
According to insurer MetLife’s Mature Market Institute, American seniors lose $2.9 billion a year to fraud. Most victims are between 80 and 89, the Insutute found in a study conducted with the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech.
“So many people say the postwar generation is a very trusting generation. The implication is that this is a problem that will go away,” Taylor said in a telephone interview.
Her research, published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests something else might be at work — a change in the way people process fear and suspicion.
“You know the ‘uh oh’ sense you get sometimes, the little sense that something is not quite right?” Taylor asks. “It’s not something you can necessarily verbalize. That's what the older adults aren’t getting.”
Taylor’s team did two studies. In one, they asked 119 people aged 55 to 84 to look at photographs of people’s faces and rate them for trustworthiness, using standard cues that have been well-studied. They asked 24 young adults in their 20s to do the same.
“(Cues) that reliably occur when people are being deceitful are a backward lean, a false smile – so that is a smile that you see in the mouth but it doesn’t extend up to the eyes,” Taylor says. “Gaze aversion. In our stimuli, people also see males as less trustworthy than females. And for some reason facial hair is a cue to untrustworthiness — people perceive it that way, even though men with facial hair aren’t any less trustworthy.”
The two age groups tended to react the same to the “trustworthy” and neutral faces. But those in the older group were far less likely to agree with the young people on who looked “untrustworthy.”
"They missed facial cues that are pretty easily distinguished,” Taylor said. “Is something going on the brain that would explain this pattern?”
To see, Taylor’s team set up a second study using functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI – a way to look at brain activity in real time. They studied 23 older adults aged 55 to 80 and 21 younger adults, with an average age of 33.
"We wanted to find out whether there are differences in how the brain reacts to these faces, and the answer is yes, there are," Taylor said.
In the younger adults, an area of the brain called the anterior insula was active when they were examining all the faces, but especially when looking at those with expressions or characteristics that people associate with being untrustworthy. This brain region did not activate nearly so much in the older people.
“Their brains are not saying 'be wary,' as the brains of the younger adults are,” Taylor said.
“Thus, a diminished ‘gut’ response to cues of untrustworthiness may partially underlie older adults’ vulnerability to fraud,” the team concluded in the report.
Taylor said it’s not clear whether this is caused by reduced brain function, or perhaps it’s a natural consequence of getting older.
“We know that older adults are good emotion regulators. They make their lives emotionally more positive,” she said.
“They don’t stress out over small things. They turn away from negative scenes. They are less likely to go to scary negative movies. They kind of keep their emotional life in balance.”
This sounds familiar to Laura Carstensen, a professor of psychology at Stanford University who specializes in how older people respond to the world. “Older people tend to prefer good over bad,” she agreed.
The differences might not necessarily mean dysfunction, says Carstensen, who was not involved in Taylor’s research. “It’s not about chronological age so much as closeness to death,” she said. All people tend to monitor how much time they have left on this planet, consciously or unconsciously. Younger people with terminal illness often respond the same way older people do, by looking at the bright side of things.
“When they do that, it tends to be good for mental health,” Carstensen said.
Taylor sees it, too. “Sometimes you have an experience and you think, ‘wow that really would have bothered me 10 years ago’,” she said. “It’s probably because the amygdala or the insula or both are not firing. They not giving that same feedback of alarm that you might have epxerienced when you were younger.”
This difference may be important in efforts to help protect older people from fraud. Carstensen worries about policies that might restrict older people from making financial decisions. A better route might be to help people deflect the huge number of temptations that come their way through the mail, on the phone, or when the scam artists knock on the front door.
For her next study, Taylor’s team will study the brain responses of people during a real, in-person financial scam.
In the meantime, she has some advice.
“The answer is to hang up,” Taylor advises. “Throw it away. Don’t open it. Don’t go to the free lunch seminar. Stop it at the source."
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A scammer called me and told me if I didn't pay that he was a lawyer and would file a big lawsuit against me. Certain that I did not owe any appreciable money to a living sole, I said to him, "If you are a lawyer, then I am a member of the Supreme Court." Never heard from him again. I am 76.
Good to hear.
I saw a show on scams and it highlighed a former GENERAL who was ripped off. Needless to say, it was hard to believe a General could ever be conned by anyone. Then they showed other people who were NOT "dummies" but had been screwed over too.
My folks are in their 80s. They get all the Catholic crap in the mail trying to squeese money out of them. How so? They send crosses, medal, etc. to make them feel guilty if they don't send money and/or throw this garbage in the trash.
I checked in on their house once while they were in Florida. The phone rang and it was a conman from "America Loves Fatima" trying to get my folks to will their money and house to them. It as sickening. Last year these same goons sent him mail supporting the GOP. GOP and con-job go hand-in-hand; they're all crooks.
Hey, Republican...the election was in November. It's over, Einstein, so stop the political comments. Politics have absolutely nothing to do with this article.
Like this years election? Yep, those elderly sure got scammed!!
SOCIAL SECURITY NOW CALLED 'FEDERAL BENEFIT PAYMENT'/ENTITLEMENT!
This isn't a benefit its earned income!
Not only did we all contribute to Social Security but our employers did too.
It totaled 15% of our income before taxes.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/benefit.asp
Hey, Maggie Fox! I realize that the writers at NBCNews.com are the worst on the planet. However, how about at least learning how to use spell-check. Jeez! Can't wait for those third graders to get their holiday break from elementary school. They can write circles around you clowns while you are all on vacation.
Scales67
Learn to read. You're an embarrassment. That wasn't pro republican in the least. Politics in fact have something to do with most things. Sometimes indirectly but none-the-less.
Years ago I initiatided a subscription to a local newspaper (Gannett owned), upon initial delivery, the carrier commented on my being a valued customer, and that it isn't often they see someone pay their account 3 years in advance. Knowing that this didn't make sense I went to the local office to follow-up. It turrned out that they had mistaken me with my granparents, who were in fact paid up 3 years in advance (and very poor).
It was very upsetting to me, and I asked why they would continue to bill customers in a situation like this, but was not able to get a meaningful response. I was unable to get them to provide even a partial refund to my grandparents.
I explained all this to my grandparents, and would double check from time to time, but always wondered how many other, similar situations were going on at the same time.
More recently, my parents were snagged in the scam where the caller represents themselves as a Microsoft representative and needs access to their computer to correct a virus that is afecting the entire global system. I was very distraught that they bought into this and were paying a monthly fee for ongoing service. It took me months of persuasion to get them to start saying no to these vultures who argued and threatened them - at one point telling them that he would disable their internet capability if they didn't agree to sign on so he could "check their system".
I think these scammers might have gotten their ideas from credit card companies and the like.
workingpoor - it appears that you are commenting on yourself. First, I never stated that anything was pro-Republican or pro-Democrat. You are hallucinating. Second, explain to everyone how Republicans' post is not political when he mentioned the GOP. Third, explain how politics have anything whatsoever to do with changes in our brains as we age, which is the topic of the article.
Reading comprehension...priceless.
You know, Republicans Suck, I suspect that if you didn't have self-doubt about your atheism, you wouldn't attack others' beliefs so vehemently......and ignorantly. Until one dies, nobody, and I mean nobody, can be sure about God and religion.
"Why older people fall for scams: It's all in the brain"
Scientists, y'all got this one wrong.
Older folks fall for scums because they have fallen and they cant get up.....
You see, it's kinda hard to catch up to a sumbitch scamming you up if you cant "git" up in the first place....
There has to be a way Petraeus can play this one.
FedupwithFed
SOCIAL SECURITY NOW CALLED 'FEDERAL BENEFIT PAYMENT'/ENTITLEMENT!
This isn't a benefit its earned income!
===========================================================
No, No, No, SS benefits are NOT earned income, earned income is the pay you get from your job, SS is ordinary income, you always try to sound so smart, when your posts show just the opposite.
ABCzyx
Try reading yourself- "It as sickening. Last year these same goons sent him mail supporting the GOP. GOP and con-job go hand-in-hand; they're all crooks."
"Hey, Republican...the election was in November. It's over, Einstein, so stop the political comments. Politics have absolutely nothing to do with this article."
The statement that the "election is over, Einstein" (Crude) That shows him either thumping his chest or licking his wounds.
"Third, explain how politics have anything whatsoever to do with changes in our brains as we age, which is the topic of the article." Simple, to quote Winston Churchill
“If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.”
It explains a lot to me why older people fall for the republican line of tripe about how we should protect the rich in this country. Talk about having no "gut" feelings any more. Go ahead, vote against your own self interest.
Reading comprehension...priceless.
Wil Royson
Ok then if it is not earned income what do they take it out of peoples checks for then??
I might be old, but I'm not stupid...
Just because I've lived a long time and I may be somewhat frail, does not mean that anyone can or will take advantage of me, or succeed in doing so...
It occurs to me that when a young person is scammed there is less money to lose so nobody notices. Also, then we put it down to inexperience. Might be a tendency for younger people to congratulate themselves too much here. Seems to me I recall a few stories too many about friends kids being lead around by their respective genitalia by some con artist who takes them for all they have and a lot of future income to boot or infect them with some disease due to an inability to keep their pants zipped or knocking them up with a kid that ties them to some nut job for the rest of their lives... wait we call that a relationship so it can't count can it?
You know I left the Dumocratic party and part of the reason is that I am sooooooo sick of everything being blamed because of the Republican party. Both parties suck and this article is about scamming the elderly and both parties do that well. I PAID SOCIAL SECURITY SINCE I WAS 14 SORRY THIS IS NOT A GOVERNMENT ENTITLEMENT I ACTUALLY EARNED IT AND BEFORE I DIE WILL NOT GET BACK ALL I PAID IN BUT HOW MUCH WILL GO TO THE ILLEGALS? Get off of the political thing and learn to treat people of both parties as people not just a member of a particular party. Much of the problem is lack of respect not politics,people at one time cared about the older generation and gasp actually treated them with respect.
caggie...age is relative. No way my Dad would have fallen for a scam at 76 either. However, he did recently fall for one, at age 90.
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/financial_scams/financial_scams_5608.html
Did I see someone on here honestly say that Social Security was not earned income? It is money taken from my check. Money that I earned doing a job. It definitely is EARNED income. That's the big issue the government is going to have if they ever let Social Security fold because they will have in essence stole from us our hard earned money. Taxes are one thing but this money was taken from us for retirement. And our honorable leaders have just spent it away. There will be massive lawsuits against the government the day they say it's dead.
This guy's photos should hang in every bank, brokerage firm and mortgage broker's office in the U.S.
And ... in the office of the U.S. Mint in particular.
I watched a story on the U.S. Mint on History or Discovery Channel last year and the Director came out and said point blank, our money is backed up by NOTHING. Now we know that some of the gold in Ft. Knox is fake as well.
Yes, we are all (now) worried about this so called "Fiscal Cliff". It is as phony as our entire economic system. Our economy runs on the "float". If everyone went to the U.S. Treasury and demanded something "real" for their money, they'd get zilch. Our money is no more real than the money in a Monopoly game.
Did you even read the article? It has absolutely nothing to do with the Fiscal Cliff.
It seems some people are stuck in political divisiveness mode 24/7.
Maybe he needs to read this entire article:
How Partisans Fool Themselves Into Believing Their Own Spin
By Alesh Houdek - Nov 20 2012
We weigh facts and lines of reasoning far more strongly when they favor our own side, and we minimize the importance and validity of the opposition's arguments. That may be appropriate behavior in a formal debate, or when we're trying to sway the opinion of a third party. But to the extent that we internalize these tendencies, they injure our ability to think and see clearly. And if we bring them into the sort of open and honest one-on-one political debates that we'd like to think Americans have with each other, we strain our own credibility and undermine the possibility of reaching an understanding.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/11/how-partisans-fool-themselves-into-believing-their-own-spin/265336/
Great. Another thing to worry about.
This article's point is important to appreciate. So many are quick to blame the elderly for being stupid, greedy and for mismanaging their finances when they get ripped off. Not realizing it just may be a combination of different factors, which have nothing to do with the previous accusations included. But pointed out in the article, possibly also unable to pick up cues others are obviously untrustworthy.
The FBI's website points out other reasons, many elderly are fearful of being seen as unable to manage their finances by other family members, after being ripped off. So they won't report such crimes. Schemers know the elderly often have better credit, own more assets including their homes, could have trouble remembering, and so make poorer witnesses.Part of the problem is also still how that generation was raised, being told it was rude to say no to others.Making it nearly impossible to say no. Something the baby boomers aren't displaying, and appear to be a feistier bunch.
IDK about that to some the baby boomers look like they have been scammed too. Not trying to be rude or drag politics into it but to those who disagree with baby boomers stance on so many things they can seem to have been duped too. Just a bigger generational con job. Only instead of not being able to balance the family budget we cannot balance the national one. Scammed as a person or as a society it is the same thing.
Seriously, I do not mean this as a political jab. Look at our society we use up all the resources to live above our means, expect big gov to fix everything, think printing money *aka writing bad checks* is a reasonable way to handle economic woes. That is all stuff that the older generation as a group tends to think of as daft. Not just blaming boomers or even all of them. The next few generations have fallen for the same crap. How many people these days can take care of even their most basic needs without Uncle Sammy? Scammed collectively or individually - the only real difference is those collectively scammed can like herded sheep blame the others/
This helps explain why seniors tend to vote Republican (indeed, the older the senior, the more likely to do so) and were one of the few demographic groups that tended to support Mitt Robme.
Thinker (you clearly are not educated) - this article has nothing to do with politics. Are you and Republican really so out of touch with reality that you can't comprehend the the election was over during the first week of November? Amazing...truly amazing!
Explain that to McConnell, Boehner and the rest of their ilk, who don't seem to realize that elections have consequences, that we just had one, and that they had their derriers handed to them. As for your personal comment, given you know absolutely nothing about me, well it demonstrates how lack of knowledge doesn't prevent you from saying something anyway. Typical, but hardly amazing....
BTW - you're flat wrong, unless three post-graduate degrees from top-10 ranked academic institutions, and a 31-year law practice which has included appearances before the SCOTUS, is not considered "well-educated." And you?
Right! If that's true, then I have some swampland in Florida to sell to you. Anyone who has the education you claim and a 31-year law practice, is mature enough to have better things to do with his time than to waste it posting political comments on a discussion that has nothing to do with politics. More than likely, you are a 16-year-old high school dropout who is still living in your parents' basement.
6 post - graduate degrees and assignment TO the SCOTUS.......LIES just keep getting bigger , don't they. BTW...caught a 768 pound shark this afternoon in lake Michigan.
Among other degrees - JD, Boalt Hall, Class of 1983. I repeat, and you?
try - You must have caught that shark on Nov. 5, the same day you predicted Robme would win handily and you were looking forward to coming to this site to gloat after the election. Let me guess, you were practicing "catch and release" fishing. ROFLOL!
Well with those degrees it is easy to see why you would vote for Obama who was a lawyer also and probably as honest as most lawyers ROFLMAO
Educated Thinker,
I suspect you confuse education with intelligence. I admit there is probably a high degree of correlation; but not 100%. I've known people with advanced degrees who were not too terribly bright. They were very hard workers, though. I've also know people with degrees from very prestigious schools who fell into much the same category.
The truly intelligent usually don't have to wave their credentials. Their ability to percieve accurately and process data logically, without resorting to calumny, is generally self-evident.
As if the Democrats never scammed anyone:
5 pages of Obama’s broken promises:
Promise Broken rulings on the The Obameter
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-broken/?page=1
hmdicowii - In general, I agree with you. Indeed, I never said there was a 100% correlation. Nor did I wave my credentials other than to respond to a challenge.
As for the drivel from rocky and hs321 - simply not worth a response.
They ain't getting any of my money.
Wow! No spell checker? No proofing?
MSNBC at its finest...
Nah.....they're just senile.
And you are just rude.
Educated thinker - I'm watching Martin Bashirs on MSNBC "now". He showed the goons at FOX and their BS they spew day in and day out. "Now" it's their "War on Christmas". Anything to stir the pot.
What they are doing is getting senior citizens "all boiled up". I've seen it with my Dad and other men (mostly men but some women as well). They feed these people (seniors) lies and half truths 24 hours a day. Many of these seniors are watching this crap for hours on end - day-in and day-out. Their propaganda is just like the crap the Klan puts out for kids. THey watch and watch and watch and their hate (for Obama) - or with the White Supremecists, hate for anyone but stupid renecks just festers.
So true, and so sad!
@Reps Suck _____Read a book.......MSNBC is about as honest as PONZI. And are you now claiming that Republicans are conducting a "War on Christmas"??? You need an ENEMA...BAD!!!!!
???EDUCATED THINKER???? You agree with the Suck man??? Laurel and frigging Hardy in the flesh!!! ROFLMFAO.
try - See 4.6. Gloat on...!
If you think that Republicans DON'T think there's a war on Christmas:
http://mediamatters.org/video/2012/11/28/foxs-carlson-were-not-nuts-are-we-there-is-a-wa/191542
http://www.newshounds.us/2012112012_gretchen_carlson_tea_party_pol_say_war_on_christmas_is_real
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jon-stewart-tears-into-fox-news-and-bill-o%E2%80%99reilly-for-outrage-over-the-war-on-christmas%E2%84%A2/
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-december-3-2012/the-war-on-christmas--friendly-fire-edition
All people are not trustworthy, there is only one person I can count on and this is ME. I'm not paranoid, they really are after me to do me harm!
One thing that is fair about getting old is that EVERYONE will get their chance at it!
Unfortunately you are wrong some do not live to be 1 year old
Really, like that needs to be said, I'm sure anyone with half a brain knew I was speaking of those who live long enough.
My grandmother is such a southern lady. Her upbringing is deeply instilled in her. She trusts so many. Thinking all are good, even if just at the core. Does that have anything to do with it....I'm not sure. But yes, she did come from a trusting generation and it is hard for that generation to imagine the greed of my and the younger generations.
I wish the younger generations would quit trying to pretend they understand why certain "old" people do or do not do something. From the comments I see here (and from statements in the article) it is obvious most of them came from "young" people. Some of us "old" people, believe it or not, have "been there and done that" and seen and done things most young people will never even have the chance to experience. It is not so much the changes in the chemistry of the brain as it is the life one had as the were growing up. Since the Baby Boomers and their kids (and their kids) have had a relatively easy life, they are also more likely to get scammed. You get what you ask for (or think you want). If you have always had to earn everything you ever had, you do not expect unbelievable "windfalls" and are suspicious of anyone who tries to make you think they have a proposal you can't (or shouldn't) refuse. Trust me. The kind of life one has growing up will, for the most part, tend to determine whether they will be scammed easily later in life. For some, suspicion of others is genetic. For others, it is something you learn. For some, it is something they never learn. Most people fall somewhere in the middle. And when you get older, your focus shifts. "Been there, done that." Ms. Taylor might want to consider that the things she sees may be the results, not the causes. Of course, that is just an old "been there and done that" man talking.
Isn't everything pretty much a scam these days? Buying a home, buying a car, any dealings with a bank or insurance company, cable tv and Internet access, politics....... It's all pretty much a scam.
Dave - unfortunately, the younger generation does not think that physical and mental changes will happen to them as they age, just like they think that they are immortal and will take ridiculously risky chances. I have news for them. These things will happen and there is absolutely nothing that they can do to prevent most of it. If they accept that these changes will take place, they view them as so far in the future that they are immune. You and I can probably both agree that they will be in the same situation as the older people to which this article refers before they can blink an eye.
maddog - scams are nothing new. We just hear more about them nowadays, so we think that they are more common. Scams have been around since the days of the cave man.
As a middle aged person I appreciate this research. I don't want to believe that I could be scammed when I'm older, but if I were, I might become a financial burden to my children or the state which I don't want. That part about finding certain things not bothering one that would have years earlier possibly because certain areas of the brain aren't firing was quite interesting, and something I experience with increasing frequency. If there are discernible reasons for such behavior, it would be nice to find out an learn ways to prevent them.
My father was a good salesman & judge of people, always wary of scams & untruthfulness. Until his 80's. Then he began writing checks to almost every solicitor who contacted him. He went through his life savings very quickly, and died with nothing. I was amazed & disbelieving..... Until I read this study. It explains a lot!
Likewise with MY Dad......By the time any signs of dementia began showing, and my sister began taking over control of his finances ( AFTER he'd had a small stroke which led to the loss of his drivers license )....it was discovered that he'd been sending money to a 'Canadian Lottery', Publisher's Clearinghouse & NUMEROUS religious outfits. He was big in real estate, but long after he'd left the profession, he was still trying to 'dabble' in crazy real estate deals that ended up costing him.......probably in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in his life savings. My sister became primary caretaker ( as she lived within a couple of miles of him...), and I used to pick up his mail at the post office a couple of times a week. He was getting bills from religious charlatans, prophets......fortune tellers, etc. Lucid most of the time......it was hard to pick up on the early signs/symptoms. We STILL don't know what happened to ALL his money. Eventually he had to be moved in with sibling.....and he finally died last Dec........More a relief than anything by THAT point.
Dennis the problem with a child taking over things without oversight is that they sometimes are the scammers. I know a government employee who royally screwed over her father and then when she couldn't put him in a home or get any more out of him stopped having anything to do with him. Moral of the story make sure you have something in writing and oversight so you own family can't screw you anymore than the strangers do. Sad how so called family acts when they think money is involved.
Perhaps he did not want to leave any money behind. :-)
This reminds me of an episode of South Park that claimed that elderly people are the biggest purchasers of items from home shopping networks who pull in the most money on the day seniors get their social security checks. Sad stuff.
Anyone who preys on the elderly should be hit with some serious prison time.
let's start with obama.
President Obama isn't that old, and the efforts of the rwnj's of the GOPTP to prey on him (and everyone else in this country that isn't super rich) fell flat, so no worries there! But putting the rwnj's in jail (for treason) sure sounds tempting!
Chumps, all. These "scientists" are finding out important things about the human brain. But a little humility is in order. The brain locations in charge of more simple functions, such as intentional motor activity, are fairly well understood. But complexity climbs fast when trying to link up subtle facial, voice or movement cues that may alert to deception. This, even if one assumes that valid associations among these types of human behaviors are themselves well understood, to the important degree of valid prediction. If anything, perhaps the most general trend in understanding of brain function is AGAINST the crude tying of behaviors to localized neuroanatomy, let alone biochemistry. A given emotion, say fear, will involve activation of a few main centers, but the subtlety begins as soon as one starts to consider the various causes, levels, and overt manifestations of fear, let alone variables such as previous experience, genetic loading, and many others. Exceptions exist for sure, and have lead to somewhat crude therapeutics. For example, we can, temporarily and somewhat sloppily decrease the manifestations of what is called Parkinson's disorder. syndrome, disease, etc. The same is true for some seizure diatheses. Grosssly characterized, these are movement problems. But as soon as we attempt to treat the more subtle problems, such as those involving feelings, thoughts, and yes, fears, things get much trickier. Just ask any honest shrink about our medicines for all sorts of psychiatric disorders. Hardly a lot of specificity with regard to what we use for what we treat. Just sayin'. But soon, I'll be selling honest Snooky's scented snake oil/armadillo musk potion, guaranteed to cure all that ails ya. From mittelschmerz to impetigo. Onaconapoona to alkabob. A bargain, at $300 a bottle, with a full money back guarantee if not feeling 120% better after 12 short years of use. You can trust me, I'm not like the others. Step right up folks, and step through see the interesting egress after paying. Cash only, please. Go away boy, ya bother me. Water, never touch the stuff. Fish F--k in it. Aa.
I think your succeptibility to scams as you age is largely dependent on how you grew up. If you grew up poor, you are more cautious about anything that will cost you money. There must be a balance between a certain amount of cynicism and being too trusting. As they say, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." If you grew up many years ago in a small town where business was often conducted with a handshake, you need to be more careful about things like this. We must also acknowledge that many people, young or old, are greedy, and that influences their decisions. Also, we have to admit that sometimes, people who were stupid and naive when they were young are also stupid and naive when they get older.
It's called senility. Either deal with it or stop making decisions, for your own good.
This article is about our understanding of chemical changes in the brain. It's a field called "Science".
Don't worry about it. Go watch TV.
My grandmother is 72 years old and she is still really healthy with a sharp mind. In fact, she can calculate simple changes and doing basic math better than my 15 years old cousin.
Like my cousin never try, she would never give out money to without a solid reason and she is not so easily fool after raising 3 generations children in her care including me.
Clearly, not everyone so old is also senile.
I'll sum it up in seven words; There's no fool like an old fool!
I wonder if these same brain changes are why people tend to vote more republican as they age. I mean, you pretty much have to be scammed to vote republican so it seems to fit.
If that is so, don't worry Jon, you'll be a republican one day. LOL
Religious folks are slowed to change with changing society and they are the one that pretty much resist most change. A quick history look would tell you that happens again and again with every movement in the US from slavery to equal rights and such.
The main reason I don't like GOP because they are full of religious people and I know how well a religious government turned out to be. Just a quick look at Middle East to have a taste.
Obviously by your comment republicans are not the only ones senile. For pete's sake look at Ted Kennedy and trying to make a car float, that did not work well did it and he was a dumocrate. I just wish politics were not a part of this conversation.
I have seen this time and time again; Someone wants to 'help' an elderly person. I visited a elderly lady in her home, an air-condition service was there installing a brand new system. I asked the lady what had happened as her house wasn't very old. She said that the company had offered her a free A/C inspection and her system was about to go out. They were so nice,they gave her a 15% discount and only charged her $7,000.00 for a new more efficient system. They had brought a box that was supposed to be her system . The box was nothing more than a carton from a system the may have sold somewhere else. She didn't have great eyesight but fortunately I did. When the workers returned from their lunch I confronted them.They explained that they were just doing a tune-up and didn't realize she had written the check for $7,000.00 and quickly quoted it was $70.00. Simple misunderstanding? I think not. I reported them.
DO NOT answer an ad on Craig's list for a "painter, Tucson"! Total scam! We checked and after a couple of emails - I wrote and told him he isn't scammimg me! Never heard from him again.
I suspect that a lot of older people get scammed out of loneliness. When I was in high school I got put back a year because of bad grades, I had a semester where I wasn't in school so I went out and got a job as a door to door salesman. Naturally I won't say what company. I had a little training before I hit the street and one thing was emphasized, "Be friendly, agree with whatever, praise the person, show an interest in them personally, because, old people are usually lonely, they want company, someone to sit and talk to them Some may not agree but I knew when I was invited in and saw a big smile, lol, I would have a good day there and I usually did. My supervisor told me when I started; "You're young, personable and the old folks will love you, so, go with it. Just treat them like grandpa and grandma." After a few weeks I decided that taking emotional advantage wasn't for me, so, I quit. Old folks get scammed because they are easy marks. Being old now, 71, I won't let a salesman in the door, lol. Was I running a scam? No, but it is to me when emotional advantage is taken.
I wanna see the pictures from the study!! I bet they are hilarious.
I think it's constructive that in a discussion about fraud that folks are bringing up politics. The people who vote Republican are accusing Democrat politicians of being frauds, and the folks who vote Democrat are saying that the Republican politicians are frauds... and I think they're both right.
Before we get too superior about old folks being taken for a ride by crooks.. we should look at ourselves and the way we are fooled by politicians... not the "other side's" politicians...they don't fool us at all... it's OUR side that fools us.
There are folks who genuinely believe Republicans are about small government... others think that Democrats are about the responsibility government has to provide ordered society to its citizens.
Some folks think Democrats are less warlike, and others think Republicans are about free market. All absurd, but there you are.
We just can't understand how these old folks are such idiots... but the same goes for that "other party"...whichever it happens to be.
Yearning, great observation about Republicans and Democrats. I too have heard about how Republicans are for war, lol, and which Party was in power when we were involved in WWII, Korea and 'Nam? It all comes down to how easily people can be propagandized, especially if they are having hard financial times. Well, if anything, both parties have their "Mind control" experts and they use the hell out of them, lol.