Many years ago, a very smart book editor I worked with (Jill Schwartzman at Dutton now) gently admonished me because I failed to include resources for consumers in my tirades about the mistreatment of consumers. So was born concepts like “Red Tape Tips” I’d include at the end of my columns and an appendix in each book listing consumer advocacy organizations. But that experience forced me to face a stark reality: Most of these organizations don’t really take phone calls. While there are plenty of well-meaning non-profit groups out there who try to fix broken policies that favor the Gotcha Capitalists and criminals — there are hardly any organizations set up to field calls from people who are hurting and need help right now.
There’s no 9-1-1 for a consumer who’s about to get ripped off.
Actually, there is. It’s AARP’s Fraud Watch Network helpline. And I’m proud to say that my work on AARP’s Perfect Scam podcast helps highlight the important work they do.
First, let me say I don’t fault the folks who created or work at various grassroots consumer organizations. They often toil away with skeleton staffs and meager funding, true Davids in a battle against billion-dollar Goliaths. But it’s just not practical for them to take calls and offer customer support to individual victims or take on their cases.
And yes, if you are the victim of a crime, you can and should call 9-1-1 (or the non-emergency line) and report that to the police. Unfortunately, many in-progress scams are difficult to report — “what’s the crime?” — and local police aren’t always set up to offer on-the-spot advice or empathetic listening.
That’s why I’m happy to talk about the Fraud Watch Network. It’s staffed Monday-Friday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., mainly by trained volunteers. They reach out to every caller within 24 hours or so. It’s staffed mainly by volunteers who are ready to help victims within a day or so, and offer both empathetic listening and practical advice. They’ve stopped millions of dollars in criminal transactions by giving people a place to turn when they’re in crisis.
Who are these guardian angels of this dangerous digital age? In this week’s Perfect Scam episode, I spotlight two volunteers who do this work. Like most helpline volunteers, Dee Johnoson and Mike Alfred are both former victims who once called the helpline, and now they are two of the 150 volunteers who give their time because they are called to help others.
Below, I’ll include a partial transcript of this episode, in case podcasts aren’t your thing. I do hope you’ll listen, however. You’ll really like Mike and Dee. I want readers to see their kindness and empathy in action — those are in short supply these days, I fear. But more than anything, I want readers to know that there is a 9-1-1 for scams. If you or someone you love is caught up in an Internet crime right now, I urge you to call the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 877-908-3360 or visit the website. You’ll get near-immediate help from experts who really care.
You can also email me, of course, at address on my contact page. Or you can email The Perfect Scam team at theperfectscampodcast@aarp.org.
AARP’s Helpline is part of AARP’s Fraud Watch Network. In addition to volunteers helping victims, the network has roughly a thousand trained volunteers working in their communities and online to spread the message of fraud prevention. To learn more, visit aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork.
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[00:00:16] Bob: The phone rings and it’s a stranger who has just discovered that they’re the victim of a years’ long romance scam, or a cryptocurrency scam or a lottery scam, or a sweepstakes scam. What’s it like to be the volunteer on the other end of that phone line? The victim might have just realized that their entire life savings has been stolen and they’ve been lied to for months or even years and it’s your job to bring this stranger to a place of hope again. What is that like? Well today we have a special treat for you. I’m sure you’ve heard me say it again and again, AARP has a wonderful resource called The Fraud Watch Network and a Helpline that’s available 7 days a week at 877-908-3360. Today we’re going to hear from two of the 150 volunteers who answer calls on that Helpline, mainly so we can understand the amazing work that they do, but also so perhaps we can convince someone out there who’s hurting right now that they can call in and a well-trained counselor will offer nonjudgmental help, advice, and an empathetic ear. Why do I know the volunteers are empathetic? Well, most end up on the Helpline because they were once victims themselves and called in. That is how Dee Johnson ended up as a volunteer.
[00:01:43] Dee Johnson: Okay, basically mine was a 6-year romance scam. Very involved, very intense.
[00:01:51] Bob: Dee Johnson isn’t her real name.
[00:01:54] Dee Johnson: Got started slowly, built up to asking for money, obviously. Sent, spent a lot of money, a lot of money. I depleted my savings, IRA, everything that I had. We were down to; I was down to losing my house before I realized that things just were not good. And it was very sad, very, I can’t say eye-opening because it was very, it was devastating. It affected me, not just emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. I have some…
[00:02:29] Bob: And how did you hear about the Helpline?
[00:02:31] Dee Johnson: The Helpline, my sister actually reached out to me and found the Helpline because I was just devastated. I was in a flight or fight mode. And she came to me, said call this number, I called and got onto the Helpline. They directed me to groups that I could pick one any day of the week and that’s what I did, and after that I was there for a couple of years, still joined from time to time, and then it did come out that AARP was asking for volunteers, and I said, perfect. This is great. This is what I want to do.
[00:03:13] Bob: This is great, this is what I want to do. After a 6-year relationship that ended in heartbreak and financial ruin, Dee found solace in helping others. That’s what happened to Mike Alfred too.
[00:03:29] Mike Alfred: A few years ago, probably about three years ago, I was scammed on a gift card scam which was somewhat sophisticated at the time. Didn’t lose a huge amount of money, but it upset me emotionally more than anything else. I went through the shame-type culture that you have as a victim of why me, how could I be so stupid, etc., and I think it was maybe within that year, three, four, or five months later I saw in the AARP Bulletin an article on scams and fraud, and then a sidebar asking for volunteers, the need for volunteers. And because of my experience, I thought hey, this would be a good way to give back. I can share my experience and I can be trained and be able to give some resources that might help others.
[00:04:15] Bob: I’ve got to say, both of you have amazing radio voices. I could listen to the two of you all day long.
[00:04:22] Bob: Volunteers like Dee and Mike have to go through extensive training because they meet people when they are in very vulnerable situations.
[00:04:31] Bob: Do you remember a call early on that really touched you?
[00:04:35] Dee Johnson: Yes, I do. An individual, 72 years old, cried as soon as I contacted her. She was looking forward to someone calling her. She had given all her money to in the gift cards, and she just didn’t know what she was going to do. She knew, she just, she was beside herself thinking that these people were coming after her because she had no more money, and no more, no more money to get anymore gift cards, and they were angry with her now. And she had no friends, no family. She did have neighbors that looked out for her. She basically lived with her blinds closed and wouldn’t answer her door. So the police would show up some time to check on her because her neighbors didn’t see any activity. So we had a very long talk and I hopefully gave her a lot of hope in saying that you need, you need to get out. Do not let these individuals take over your life like this. Make time, make friends with your neighbors, and let them help you. There’s a lot of language that you have to use with these people. It took about, I would say 45 minutes to get her to stop crying.
[00:05:55] Bob: Oh, God.
[00:05:56] Dee Johnson: And she thanked me. I think it, my heart went out because I think basically what it was is she was scared to death, didn’t understand her next move or who to report anything to. And she wanted someone to talk to about it, and that understood. So at that time it couldn’t be her neighbor. It was very difficult for me as well. But yet at the same time, very rewarding because at the end she was very calm, she was very thankful and very appreciative.
[00:06:40] Bob: So you brought her from 45 minutes of crying to, to a calm place at least. What a gift, Dee. Thank you so much for doing that.
[00:06:48] Dee Johnson: It’s the least I can, it just naturally you just want to do that. If you were there you just want to hug them and say, look, this is going to be okay. It’s not your fault. These people are criminals. This is their job.
[00:07:05] Bob: We’ve discussed this on The Perfect Scam before. Some victims are so traumatized, they consider self-harm, and now is a good time to say that if you or anyone you know is at risk, you can dial or text 988 at any time for immediate professional and caring help. AARP volunteers are trained to direct people to such professional resources if they sense a victim is in immediate danger.
[00:07:32] Dee Johnson: It’s like people also committing, wanting to commit suicide. They, when this is all over and they think they can’t go through life anymore with their new life, with having to readjust things. And I just say, please, the individual or individuals, the criminals that did this to you have no feeling. They could care less whether you live or die, but your friends, family, relative, whatever, don’t let them, they’ve already won. Don’t let them win your life. Don’t do that. Don’t do that. It’s not worth it.
[00:08:16] Bob: After the immediate emotional trauma of a scam, there are long-term impacts too. AARP’s Helpline also helps with that.
[00:08:27] Bob: What was the first, first call that really touched you?
[00:08:30] Mike Alfred: It’s a little hard to remember because I’ve doing this now for about two years, but something that kind of stands out for me often is an individual who has lost a lot of money through a crypto fraud, and as Dee was indicating, when someone loses their entire savings, and they’re a senior, that stands out for me and really touches my heart because financially I understand how it’s a struggle once you retire and what you’re living on, whether it’s investments or Social Security or a combination, and then you lose a large chunk of that money to something as nefarious as a crypto scam. And I remember one gentleman in, I believe it was in Texas or Arizona, who lost over $500,000, close to $600,000. And it was basically, he was in his late 60s and he was left just, at that point, with no ability to recover that amount of money, so he had to live just on his Social Security check. I felt so bad for him because honestly, here he is for the next 10, 20 years of his life not having nearly the amount of money and most of it, I empathize with the fact being somewhat of that same age, that he’s lost his dreams. In other words he can’t visit his grandchildren, he can’t go on some cruise, he can’t possibly give some money to one of his children to help with college expenses or whatever because all of that’s gone. So it’s not just the financial loss, but I remember just feeling his pain that he was going to have to live now a very different life than what he had envisioned and what he had prepared for, because he had done nothing wrong. He had put all this money into 401Ks, put it over into different investment vehicles, and now it was all gone. So his whole life was changed. And it’s such a hard thing anyways aging out as you get older, and then to lose that particular stability in your life. And again, I felt for him because the dreams that he had; he talked about the fact that he had grandkids all over the United States and he wouldn’t be able to visit them, wouldn’t be able to see them any longer, or very infrequently.
[00:10:47] Bob: It’s just there’s few things that are sadder than that, right?
[00:10:51] Mike Alfred: Yeah.
[00:10:51] Bob: Those are, that’s what you’re supposed to be enjoying at that part of life. What does your training or your, just your internal guidance, what does it tell you to do or say at a time like that?
[00:11:00] Mike Alfred: I think one of the first things is you need to make sure you don’t re-shame them. You need to use the correct language and we’re trained on that as volunteers, that you are a victim of a crime, for example, that this was really not your fault. We all make mistakes. Using that kind of language I think is really critical, and then I think the most important thing is what Dee said is to really listen empathetically to them to hear their story, to allow them to talk. They just basically need to connect with someone who understands them who will accept them, and possibly who can provide some type of, and I think this is really important, you might not be able to get your money back and you probably won’t, but there are some proactive things you can do, and the more proactive you are in your life going forward, the happier you’re going to be and you’ll be able to heal more quickly and recover yourself. Because I think the most important thing is you’ve lost yourself at some point. It’s not just that you lost your money, you’ve lost your confidence, you’ve lost your ego, and you’ve got to go through a process and sometimes it’s a very slow process of trying to recover those things that are lost. So I think that in my personal experience and training, those are the kind of things I want to do when I connect with somebody.
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