Editor's note: 9NEWS Mornings is touching on the stresses that tend to impact people within certain generations for our Generation Stressed week, Feb. 4-Feb. 8.
KUSA – While every generation struggles with money, baby boomers in particular seem to have a hard time.
This generation is often defined as people born in 1946 (or after World War II) up until those born in 1964. Right now, this age group is grappling with impending retirement and the things that coming with aging, like taking care of ailing parents.
But, this doesn’t mean they’re financially secure. According to a report from Fortune Magazine, 32 percent of baby boomers do not have an emergency fund in case the unthinkable happens.
On top of that, the Bankers Life Center for a Secure Retirement has said the baby boomer generation has less confidence that they can sustain themselves during retirement than those before them.
Only 37 percent have said they feel like they’ll be stable during retirement
For that reason, many boomers are delaying retirement. Many are choosing to work until they are 70 rather than 65.
Tony Lucero had to do the opposite in order to take care of his father, who has Alzheimer’s. He owns a house in Centennial where his wife, grown son and his kids live. His son recently went through a legal battle and had to move home to get back on his feet.
On top of all that, Lucero lives with his father, Conrad, in Pueblo Monday through Friday.
“I’m actually pretty comfortable,” Lucero said. “I mean, I can’t complain about it. I really wasn’t ready to retire but I have enough to get by and that’s what really counts.”
Targets for scammers
Financially strapped baby boomers often find themselves the main targets for scammers.
In Denver, the IRS scam is back and bigger than ever. In fact, thieves are calling from India, Pakistan, Russia and Africa and telling victims they’ll be arrested if they don’t fork over a sizable piece of cash to the IRS.
More phone calls are happening for one reason, according to 9NEWS Senior Correspondent Mark Koebrich.
“[They’ve made] $36.5 million in profits since 2014,” Koebrich said. “The call centers off-shore can earn $90,000 to $150,000 a day. So, we must stop talking to these thieves, and we decided to alert you to how the scam typically works, so you can tell these people to drop dead.”
One victim, Debra Wells, the community relations manager at the local Alzheimer’s Association, got a call from a mechanical voice using poor grammar and threatening her with his arrest.
Wells said some of her colleagues also received the same call.
“She said ‘you know, I got this call and they said the word ‘cops,’” Wells said. “I said ‘come in and listen to my phone call.’”
Wells knew it was a scammer, but tens or thousands of others take the bait. Here’s how it works: off-shore thieves use sophisticated robocall software that can mimic the first six digits of your phone number.
They will answer the calls posing as IRS agents.
Most of them have heavy accents, and are following the same script. They will give you a phony case number for an arrest warrant, and even a fake IRS number and name.
At this point, victims are threatened with arrest and told you will go to trial. They’ll also tell you exactly how much you owe the government.
Then, a so-called supervisor will send you to a grocery store to purchase cash cards. They’ll take any card and any denomination that adds up to their figure. They’ll also told you to never hang up, to speak to no one and to hurry, because the U.S. marshals are following.
Arrests in the IRS scam have been made in both the U.S. and India. Many of the big call centers off-shore employ thieves right here in the U.S. who launder or liquidate the extorted funds.
Once those perpetrators are in custody, U.S. law enforcement is able to track transactions to India and shut down entire operations.
