I’m writing this letter to Bill Gates and Tim Cook because they are the most visible and prominent persons in the computer industry. I hope that they will read this letter. If not the addressees, then perhaps one of their staff personnel will bring this issue to their attention. What would be even greater is if some shareholders responded to this commentary. Here is a fact that should startle the shareholders and you: Bloomberg reports that $37 billion is scammed from the elderly in America each year.
Dear Mr. Gates and Mr. Cook:
I’m writing to you in hopes of bringing to your attention an issue that that is affecting many of our seniors, who are being scammed out of up to $10 million a day. That is $37 billion per year for a group that can ill afford to lose so much money. Shysters are calling our seniors and posing as tech support representatives from your companies, reporting that they have received error messages from that person’s computer and that there seems to be a problem. These scammers then prey on the ignorance of computers and software by the elderly.
I interviewed two young men, Aston and Art, on the "Jimmy Jaguar Show" and also the "Rory Sauter Show" at Thenexgenusa.com. These brave young citizens are trying to help protect our seniors from scammers; they have a YouTube site called youtube.com/trilogymedia that uses video to expose the scams. They indicate that the scariest scam is a telephone call that the IRS is calling and has a warrant for their arrest, and if the fine and taxes are not paid, they could go to prison. This can’t be paid with a credit card. The person has to get a gift card at Wal-Mart or a drug store and then read the scammers the number. They use the gift card instead of a credit card to avoid the Federal Reserve and the banking system, for if they did, it could be committing fraud and money laundering.
Many scams are taking advantage of seniors based on this report on Bloomberg.
Mr. Gates and Mr. Cook, I’m asking you to step up and participate with other technology providers to create an awareness campaign to help protect our seniors' life savings. The campaign could be as simple as 10 ways to prevent being scammed. The U.S. government has a budget for this which woefully is small versus the $37 billion being stolen and growing every day.
You may be asking yourself why we should get involved?
The answer to that question is another question; if someone were trying to steal your technology, you would go after them to protect your intellectual property at any cost. These scammers are using your name to convince people to give them money, because they believe that it is Microsoft or Apple calling them. These scammers are destroying your brand, and the best way to protect your brand is to protect your customers.
The history of the world is full of scammers, but these types are stealing money like never seen before.
One last point, Mr. Gates, during the time I took to research this story, I was called three times telling me that my Windows computer was sending them error messages. No disrespect is intended, but I’m a Mac user. Mr. Cook, based on what I have found, I fully expect to get the message that my Mac is also sending an error message.
I hope that this commentary will cause you and your industry to wake up and start protecting America seniors.
Dan Perkins is an author of both thrillers and children’s books. He appears on over 1,100 radio stations. Mr. Perkins appears regularly on international TV talk shows, he is current events commentator for seven blogs, and a philanthropist with his foundation for American veterans, Songs and Stories for Soldiers, Inc. More information about him, his writings, and other works are available on his website, DanPerkins.guru. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.