Identity theft and scams against seniors are much more common than against younger Americans.

According to a recent survey by the Investor Protection Trust one out of every 5 Americans over the age of 65 has been the victim of a financial scam. If it sounds to good to be true it probably is. Do your research.

Everybody knows that protecting their credit from identify theft has become an important part of life. According to a recent study by the Federal Reserve, almost 80 percent of seniors have credit scores of 701 or better, and another 10 percent have scores of 660 to 700. These high scores should qualify most seniors for the lowest interest rates. If you can qualify for a lower interest rate that you are currently getting, by all means do so. Of course, credit thieves target seniors as they know their credit is usually excellent.

You must also protect yourself against people stealing your identity and against fraud. Never give personal information to someone you don’t know and trust. This is especially true of your Social Security number, date of birth, bank account number, credit card numbers, and home address. Do not keep your Social Security number in your purse or wallet, and carry as little identifying information as possible. Make a photocopy of what you do carry with you and keep it in a safe place that you can refer to in case your purse or wallet is stolen or misplaced.

One of the most common scams is for a bogus credit card company to ask you to pay upfront to get approved for their credit card. Legitimate credit card companies don’t require upfront payment. Also remember that if a deal sounds too good to be true, it usually is. You can verify the legitimacy of offers you receive with your local Better Business Bureau at http://www.bbb.org/.

Credit Counseling Scams

Many companies advertise telling you they will solve your debt problems, reduce your payments and even cancel part of what you owe. Most of these credit services are for profit companies and take a good part of your payments for themselves. You can end up far worse off than before you contacted them.

A rule of thumb that will help is to do business with non-for-profit entities like Cambridge Credit www.cambridge-credit.org/  1-800-235-1407 This is a nationally certified credit  and housing counselor.

As a general rule, if the URL ends in .org as opposed to .com you will be dealing with a legitimate non-profit organization. A few others include:

Consolidated Credit Counselors www.consolidatedcredit.org/

National Foundation for Credit Counseling www.nfcc.org/

CredAbility www.credability.org/en/homepage.aspx

Green Path deb solutions www.greenpath.com/

 Phone Scams

Many people have found charges on their phone bill for third party services they did not order. It is sometimes difficult if not impossible to get these charges removed as the phone company usually refers you to the third party that instituted the charges and they are not only difficult to reach but often refuse to cancel the bogus charges.

The only way to make sure this does not happen is to prevent unauthorized third-party charges on your phone bill. Ask your carrier to block them all. Call

AT&T 800-288-2747, Comcast 800-266-2278, Quest 800-491-0118, Verizon 800-337-4966