Health Cures with False Ingredients Turn the Desperate into the Defrauded
Some measure of trust is involved whenever a person seeks medical treatment. You trust that the health care provider has your best interest at heart, and you trust the treatment itself won't make you sick. A recent case in Los Angeles shows that this presumption of good faith can backfire in tragic ways.
What Can You Do to Protect Yourself Against Fraud?
Ken Abbe is a staff attorney for the Bureau of Consumer Protection in the Western Region of the Federal Trade Commission. He battles fraud for a living and joins Host Rachael Myrow to offer some advice on how to spot scams. He says quacks and con artists have been peddling fake cures since the beginning of time.
A Cautionary Tale of Financial Fraud, the Fastest-Growing Form of Elder Abuse
Scammers prey on loneliness and fear, particularly when it comes to the elderly. From San Diego, reporter Amy Isackson brings us a story of an elderly couple taken in by a husband and wife team selling fake in-home care insurance.
To Ward Off Ghosts, Chinese Seniors Give Up Life Savings to Scammers
So-called Affinity scams target specific ethnic or religious communities, preying on the presumption that somebody from inside the group must be trustworthy. And somebody from inside knows what your weaknesses are -- like having certain superstitions. That describes one kind of crime that targets elderly Chinese-American women, spreading shame and despair.
What's Your Story? Deborah Gilman
For another installment in our series, "What's Your Story?" we hear from Deborah Gilman, a registered nurse at Stanford Hospital. Her father is a 69-year-old disabled Vietnam veteran. She helped him navigate a suspected case of Medicare fraud relating to a motorized wheelchair his doctor prescribed for him. The wrong chair turned up out of the blue, from an unknown third party. That's when Gilman realized her father's account had been hijacked.