Claudette McClean was 84 years old in 2019 when a strange man wearing a suit and tie knocked on the door of her Brooklyn apartment, where she lived alone.

Claiming to be a representative from her bank, he asked for her “defective” bank card and promised that she’d be receiving a new card in the mail. A cousin who happened to be stopping by to visit McClean intervened just in time, but the exchange left McClean confused, scared and in tears as she called her daughter to share what happened.

That frightened senior was Spotswood resident Gogie Padilla’s mother. And Padilla didn’t take the situation lightly.

“From my mother’s perspective, the man looked the part and could have been the bank manager,” shared Padilla, 57, a former fundraiser in New York City. “We were lucky that our relative had been there to step in, but the incident made all of my siblings very fearful because had she not been there, who knows what could have happened?

“While this man was over the top in coming to my mom’s door,” she continued, “my siblings and I realized that my mother’s phone had been the access point; we confirmed that he’d called her several times and gotten pieces of information from her every time. This is the pathology used by these criminals – to gain the trust of and almost become like a friend to their intended victims – and I’m sure that my mom innocently told him the name of her bank.”

A growing problem

Padilla’s mother isn’t alone.

According to FBI reports, some 100,000 seniors were swindled out of more than $1.7 billion nationwide at the hands of scams in 2021, and the incidence of these is on the rise. While scammers are extremely adept at mimicking authority figures, seniors are particularly vulnerable targets based on their physical and cognitive declines and age-related neural changes that render them more trusting. The situation is further compounded by the fact that, as a demographic, seniors are less likely to report scams to authorities out of embarrassment and fear. For all these reasons, experts believe that the actual incidence of senior scams is significantly underreported.

Based on Padilla’s research, “we learned that my mother was getting as many as 40 calls a day and less than 10 of those were from legitimate people she knew, so the vast majority were unsolicited,” she said. “And beyond the risk of scams, the reality of the phone ringing that many times a day can be very disconcerting to any homeowner, especially seniors.”

Snapping into action, “my siblings and I went in search of a barrier,” she said.

“My mom had caller ID and we’d prepped her on what to say and what not to say on the phone, but we didn’t want to put the onus on her anymore to remember those guidelines,” Padilla said. “We just didn’t want her phone to ring unless the call was vetted, and it was really for her.”

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While Padilla was unable to find the exact product she wanted on the market, she was undeterred.

“In my days as a fundraiser, there was always a gatekeeper or executive assistant I had to work through to access the person I was calling,” she said, “so I tweaked that concept and created Answer Sure, which is like a gatekeeper.”

A protective wall

Introduced in 2021 and independent of the telecom industry, “Answer Sure is a call-vetting service that offers two plans for landlines (a Representative Plan and an Automated Plan) and an option for cellphones,” founder and owner Padilla said.

“Within our Representative Plan, a client first needs to fill out a form on our website and secure a second landline from their telephone carrier, which costs around $10 a month,” said Padilla. “Once that number is shared with Answer Sure and a password is established (and shared with loved ones), all calls received will be forwarded to a representative at our Answer Sure Call Center and the client-created password will be the tool used to vet the call. Callers who don’t know the password won’t be put through to the client,” she said of a service that costs $49.95 a month.

“Clients can also opt for our Automated Plan for landlines,” she continued. “This service also requires clients to secure a second line from their telephone carrier, but the vetting tool is a numeric code that’s punched right into the keypad. Once a call is received and it’s forwarded to Answer Sure, an automated message requests the code for the person they’re trying to reach; if the code is correct, the call is released and it rings on the client’s line; if not, it won’t be put through,” she said of a service that costs $39.95/month.

For cellphones, “we offer an app for $4.99 a month that weeds out scam calls based on a dynamic list of millions of scam numbers that we continue to add to,” Padilla said. “This service features remote subscribing, such that you can purchase the app for a senior and only you need a password or login (not them).”

“Because every call is dated and time-stamped in real-time,” Padilla said, “Answer Sure provides information on whether calls coming in are legitimate or from strangers, telemarketers, or scammers.”

Delivering peace of mind

Answer Sure continues to amass a growing list of satisfied customers – including Padilla’s mother.

“Since we enrolled my mother on the Representative Plan in April 2021, Answer Sure has reduced her crank calls by 100%,” Padilla confirmed. “Now 87 and a bit more forgetful, my mother is happy to not have to get the phone all day, and my siblings and I have peace of mind knowing we put something in place that doesn’t rely on her memory and will significantly reduce her exposure to this insidious activity. Other clients have also said what a godsend the service is and how much less stressed their loved ones are as a result.”

According to Padilla, seniors aren’t the only ones who can benefit from Answer Sure. “A client of ours in her 30s has Answer Sure on her cell and landline,” Padilla said. “She’s single, lives alone and wanted that added protection.”

“Many scams are one-offs, but in other cases scammers are measured and will call their targets for weeks and even months, essentially ‘grooming’ them,” Padilla said. “Whether the scams are health-related, IRS-related or play the ‘grandparent’ card (with scammers claiming that the senior’s grandchild has had an accident or is in the hospital or in jail and needs money urgently), it all represents the abuse of seniors – who can end up financially drained, mistrustful of others and/or living in fear and guilt – and their families.”

“Ultimately, our phones are access points – as accessible as our front door or windows,” Padilla said. “We secure those with locks and alarms and a phone should be no different. In the necessary quest to restrict the access that all of society now has to us through our phones, Answer Sure is a robust tool designed to crack down on phone scams and help ensure that whoever calls is the real deal.”

Answer Sure is a national service and can be reached by calling 732-702-0010 or visiting www.answersure.com.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Answer Sure of NJ helps thwart senior citizen phone scams