{"id":7644,"date":"2007-05-21T12:17:08","date_gmt":"2007-05-21T17:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2007\/05\/21\/theyre-enabling-elder-abuse-for-a-"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:53:48","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:53:48","slug":"theyre-enabling-elder-abuse-for-a-profit-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2007\/05\/21\/theyre-enabling-elder-abuse-for-a-profit-2\/","title":{"rendered":"they’re enabling elder abuse for a profit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\"phoneRingingS\"\u00a0 In yesterday’s New York Times<\/em> article “Bilking the Elderly, With a Corporate Assist<\/a>” (May 20, 2007), Charles Duhigg tells the shameful tale of how “Large companies are selling vast databases of personal information to thieves, despite evidence their services are used for fraud.”\u00a0 More often than not, the fraud is aimed at the elderly, who tend to be easy to find (at home), too-trusting, lonely enough to actuall enjoy chatting with telemarketers, and a little bit too desirous of striking it rich.\u00a0\u00a0 The NYT<\/em> article deserves a full perusal.\u00a0 You’ll learn how information brokers like infoUSA<\/a> make millions of dollars selling information\u00a0about people like you and me\u00a0to shady characters seeking lists of victims.\u00a0 Indeed:<\/p>\n

“Telemarketing fraud, once limited to small-time thieves, has become a global criminal enterprise preying upon millions of elderly and other Americans every year, authorities say. Vast databases of names and personal information, sold to thieves by large publicly traded companies, have put almost anyone within reach of fraudulent telemarketers. And major banks have made it possible for criminals to dip into victims\u2019 accounts without their authorization, according to court records.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In case you think the information-sellers don’t know how the information is being used, consider this paragraph from the article:<\/p>\n

\"phoneOldS\"\u00a0InfoUSA advertised lists of \u201cElderly Opportunity Seekers,\u201d 3.3 million older people \u201clooking for ways to make money,\u201d and \u201cSuffering Seniors,\u201d 4.7 million people with cancer or Alzheimer\u2019s disease. \u201cOldies but Goodies\u201d contained 500,000 gamblers over 55 years old, for 8.5 cents apiece. One list said: \u201cThese people are gullible. They want to believe that their luck can change.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can get helpful information for yourself\u00a0or your beloved elders about telemarketing fraud and scams and what to do about it at the Federal Trade Commission<\/a> website and the Federal Consumer Information Center’s Consumer Action Website.<\/a> (The FTC seems to lump anyone over 55 into the “older American” category that is particularly vulnerable to telemarketing fraud!) Here are a couple of places to look:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. FTC brochures on Telemarketing and Telephone Sales<\/a> \"phoneRingingS\"<\/li>\n
  2. Consumer Action’s General Tips<\/a>, discussion of existing federal Rules<\/a>, and info on Vishing<\/a> — using fraudulent phone calls to coax information that can be used to access your banking accounts and steal your identity.<\/li>\n
  3. Putting Telephone Scams — On Hold<\/em><\/a>, from the FTC tells you what to look for, how the elderly are victimized, how they hook you (travel prizes, lotteries, charities, fund transfer, and more), what to do about it and more.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    park bench\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
    \nan old man slips deeper
    \ninto his dream<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    morning mist
    \na bent back sweeps
    \nyesterday’s blossoms<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    picking strawberries
    \ngrandma’s rolled up sleeves reveal
    \npale tattooed numbers<\/p>\n

    \"phoneOldSN\"\u00a0\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026 by Roberta Beary<\/a>\u00a0
    \n“park bench” – Hermitage 2006
    \n“morning mist”     Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival<\/a> 2006
    \n“picking strawberries” – Commended, Basho 300th Anniv. Intern’l Haiku Contest (1994); HIA (1996)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    old passport
    \nthe tug
    \nof my father’s smile<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    early bird special
    \nrubbing elbows
    \nwith a stranger<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    around and around
    \nlearning the names
    \nof one way streets<\/p>\n

    ………………………………….. by Yu Chang<\/a>\u00a0 \"phoneRingingSN\"
    \n“old passport” – Upstate Dim Sum<\/em> (2001\/II); The Loose Thread: RMA 2001<\/em>
    \n“early bird special” – Upstate Dim Sum<\/em> (2004\/II)
    \n“around and around”\u00a0 Upstate Dim Sum<\/em> (2001\/II)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    early Alzheimer’s
    \nshe says she’ll have . . .
    \nthe usual<\/p>\n

    ….\u00a0 by John Stevenson<\/a>\u00a0– Quiet Enough<\/em> (2004)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0p.s.<\/strong> I like the quote from Sgt. Yves Leblanc of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police: \u201cOnly one kind of customer wants to buy lists of seniors interested in lotteries and sweepstakes: criminals.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Sgt. Leblanc reminds me to wish a Happy Victoria Day<\/a> to all my good\u00a0haijin friends in Canada. \u00a0If I wasn’t so lazy, I’d find a few fireworks haiku to help you celebrate (click here<\/a> for a few).\u00a0 Here’s one from Torontonian George Swede:<\/p>\n

    \n
    long after<\/div>\n
    the fireworks<\/div>\n
    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 a shooting star<\/div>\n
    \"cometB\"\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font>George Swede<\/strong><\/font><\/a>\u00a0<\/font>from <\/font>Almost Unseen<\/font><\/em><\/a> <\/font><\/div>\n
    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    <\/font><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0\u00a0 In yesterday’s New York Times article “Bilking the Elderly, With a Corporate Assist” (May 20, 2007), Charles Duhigg tells the shameful tale of how “Large companies are selling vast databases of personal information to thieves, despite evidence their services are used for fraud.”\u00a0 More often than not, the fraud is aimed at the elderly, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[555,3513],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haiku-or-senryu","category-lawyer-news-or-ethics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-1Zi","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12537,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7644\/revisions\/12537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}