How to Identify Financial Scams Targeting Widows and Widowers
Unfortunately, day by day I’m learning this firsthand.
Introduction
You recently lost a spouse. Amidst the stressors of grieving, implementing your loved one’s final arrangements and settling financial matters has come the onset of emails, texts and phone calls directly targeting you due to your new circumstance.
In your vulnerable state, how do you tell the difference between what is real and what is a scheme to usurp your money?
I unexpectedly lost my spouse, Lorie Girsh-Eisenberg, just over five months ago.
What follows is predominantly based on firsthand experience.
Survivor Psychology
First, allow me to elucidate certain psychological commonalities among mourners of lost spouses.
(Please note: Some of what will follow may also apply to the loss of a non-married significant other.)
Though every survivor grieves differently, what many have in common is a sense of new or renewed vulnerability based on the realization of permanent loss. No matter if one’s marriage could be loosely defined as “good” or “bad,” what largely follows the death of a spouse is a period of readjustment on…
