Lottery company used 'sucker lists' to target elderly

Comment #10

justxploring — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 21:54:08 GMT

Emily, I agree!! However, I've got to admit that the week I turned 50 I quickly handed my driver's license to the salesperson at a local Beall's clothing store for my Senior Discount. I'm now 55 and wouldn't mind living in an over 55 community. I'd rather be 20 years younger so I could go back and undo all of the mistakes I've made for the past 20 years, but I bet I'd just screw up all over again. I guess one thing I can look forward to is that in 10 years I can go on Medicare, if it still... [ More ]

Comment #9

Uff Da! — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 15:26:15 GMT

emilyg said:

my definition of senior citizen is always 20 years up from my current age lol

Oh, I can handle senior citizen to mean age 60 or 65 or even 55. It is when someone says elderly that I believe that only applies to people 20 years older than my current age

Comment #8

Uff Da! — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 15:19:39 GMT

Oh, I don't think it is a matter of people assuming that all seniors are going to be gullible. (I hope not. I turn 65 soon myself!) But if the operators of a scam have an option of using a list of younger people, where they might only get 1% suckers or a list of seniors, where because of the problems they have, they might get 2% suckers, which makes the most sense from a marketing standpoint? Then add to that, in this case, where they got a list of those who had been dumb enough to fall for... [ More ]

Comment #7

csfb — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 05:58:21 GMT

I second that emotion - shame, shame on them.

Comment #6

emilyg — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 03:39:24 GMT

my definition of senior citizen is always 20 years up from my current age lol

Comment #5

justxploring — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 03:21:37 GMT

I agree with everyone who has posted so far. Shame on these people for scamming innocent victims. Also, Bryan is correct in assuming that just because a person is older, he isn't necessarily naive or gullible. Uff Da also has a good point, because so many elderly have recently lost a spouse and are facing decisions they never made before. However, the article reads:

Using so-called sucker lists lists of consumers who had been defrauded by telemarketers in the past

So these parasites... [ More ]

Comment #4

Uff Da! — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 19:00:50 GMT

Intelligence is on a bell-shape curve, and there is always going to be that bottom end of the curve who have trouble making reasonable decisions no matter what their age. Add to that the elderly who are in the earlier stages of Alzheimers, those who have had strokes or other problems which have affected brain function. Then add to that the number of widows and widowers who are now in a position that they make their own financial decisions when their presumably more financially-acute spouse had... [ More ]

Comment #3

Bryan — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 00:08:20 GMT

I'm confused. What happens to all the wisdom you are suppose to accumulate over your lifetime here on earth? Unless, you have Alzheimer's why do people fall for this crap? Is it the fact they are elderly or the fact these people didn't have any sense when they were younger either? To many times you hear this over and over. If it sounds to good to be true, IT IS!

If you didn't call them DON'T do it! Get a number and call them back (after you check them out) if you are interested in something... [ More ]

Comment #2

emilyg — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 23:40:17 GMT

shame on them

Comment #1

ochoop17 — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 22:42:02 GMT

Senior citizens wake up

Lottery company used 'sucker lists' to target elderly

Lottery Post — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 11:51:01 GMT

The New York Attorney General's office has secured $110,000 in restitution and civil penalties from three Erie County individuals who targeted senior citizens through a telemarketing scam involving the sale of winning lottery numbers.

Michael J. Geiger and Michael D. Marranca, the owners of Multi-Plays of America, Inc. and the company's general manager, Noelle M. Alessandra, all consented to the court order that permanently bars them from telemarketing to consumers or for charitable purpose... [ More ]