SENIORS TO LEARN ABOUT RIP-OFFS PROGRAM TO GIVE TIPS ON PROTECTION.

Byline: Eric Leach Staff Writer

Trusting, lonely senior citizens are easy targets for scam artists who deal in everything from Medicare fraud to home repair rip-offs, according to experts who will offer advice this week at conference in Thousand Oaks.

The ``Congress on Senior Financial Savvy - What You Need to Know'' at California Lutheran University on Wednesday will also focus on how seniors wind up on ``mooch lists'' and are victimized by inappropriate financial investments and outright theft of property by caregivers and hired help.

``Senior fraud is on the rampage,'' said June Glasmeier, a member of the California Senior Legislature and trustee of the Conejo/Las Virgenes Future Foundation, which organized the conference.

``It is growing because the senior population is growing,'' she said. ``There is a great deal of telephone fraud. Seniors like telephone calls because a lot of them are lonesome.''

The program will offer information about resources and services available to seniors in southeast Ventura County, including financial planning and protection, estate planning and new Medicare programs.

There will more than 10 speakers, including representatives of the California Department of Insurance, the Ventura County Financial Abuse Specialist Team, and the California Department of Corporations Seniors Against Investment Fraud, the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program, and the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

Mitchell Disney, senior deputy district attorney in the consumer fraud and environmental protection unit, will talk about the kinds of schemes used to prey on older people.

``I would encourage seniors who believe that they or a friend of theirs is being targeted to come and find out more about what the District Attorney's Office offers for their protection,'' he said. ``I'm going to offer tips about how they can avoid being victimized in the first place.''

``We find that seniors are targeted, especially by telemarketers who believe they are vulnerable and likely to respond. The reason why telemarketers like to target seniors is that they frequently live alone, they are usually home during the day, they are perceived as being lonely and more likely to talk to someone who calls on the phone. They are believed to have assets because they have worked all their lives, and they are believed to be more trusting because they have grown up in another era.''

Disney said that in addition to telemarketing, direct mail is used to go after older people. ``They frequently find themselves on what we refer to as mooch lists,'' he said. ``Sometimes they are targeted by door-to- door sales.''

He said scam artists offer work-at-home schemes, product sales, prescription and non-prescription medicines, and, particularly, investment schemes.

``Basically they prey on our innate desire to get something for nothing.''

Catherine Duggan, director of crime victims assistance for the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, who will also speak Wednesday, said victims of financial elder abuse are eligible to have an advocate from the office help them with their cases and to help them in obtaining restitution for their losses from the offenders.

``I think it's very disturbing that our senior population is victimized by these financial crimes and sometimes it completely wipes out their savings,'' she said. ``At their age they are not in a position to re-earn those savings. There are no benefits available to them from the state Victims of Crime Compensation Program. This is a great program, but financial elder abuse happens to be a type of crime that is not covered.''

Katharine Raley, program manager of the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program, will speak on Medicare fraud, which costs the government billions of dollars each year in the United States.

She estimated 109,000 seniors in Ventura County who are eligible for Medicare.

The most common methods of Medicare fraud include billing for services not furnished, misrepresenting the procedure to justify payment, and receiving kickbacks.

``Bogus vendors are approaching Ventura County seniors in public places and getting them to go down to Los Angeles, giving them lunch, and getting them to give them their Medicare cards,'' Raley said.

Eric Leach, [phone]

eric.leach(at)dailynews.com

IF YOU GO

The event is set for 12:30 to 5 p.m. Wednesday at California Lutheran University's Preus Brandt Forum, 60 W. Olsen Road. It is free, but seating is limited, so reservations must be obtained by calling [phone].

HELPFUL TIPS

Medicare offers the following tips to prevent fraud:

--Don't ever give out your Medicare Health Insurance Claim Number (on your Medicare card) except to your physician or other Medicare provider.

--Don't allow anyone, except appropriate medical professionals, to review your medical records or recommend services.

--Don't contact your physician to request a service that you do not need.

--Do be careful in accepting Medicare services that are represented as being free.

--Do be cautious when you are offered free testing or screening in exchange for your Medicare card number.

--Do be cautious of any provider who maintains they have been endorsed by the Federal government or by Medicare.

--Do avoid a provider of health care items or services who tells you that the item or service is not usually covered, but they know how to bill Medicare to get it paid.

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(1) IF YOU GO (see text)

(2) HELPFUL TIPS (see text)