Scams have been happening for years. However, with the increase of technology and the easy access to people's phone numbers, email addresses, and other contact information everyone gets plagued with these encounters. Senior citizens are no different. They are just at a higher risk for being a target.
Many of our seniors are using a smartphone and have access to the internet, social media, email, and apps that provide personal information such as banking apps. Because the internet is new territory for seniors, they might click on things that cause them to be a target for scammers. They may also see something that sounds fitting for certain needs and all they have to do is submit their phone number, and they are an instant target for nagging and sometimes threatening phone calls.
A friend of mine was looking for different auto insurance and decided to look online. They had to put in a bunch of information to this website and in less than 24-hours, she was getting bombarded with tons of calls from companies that wanted to sell her insurance. She had only gone onto one website to get a quote, and she received over 30 phone calls from different companies. Even after six months from putting in her information that one time, she is still getting calls and is constantly asking these people to remove her phone number.
If you get the opportunity to do an online search of your loved one's name (example: John Doe in City, State), you may be surprised to see their name, address, and phone number right there for all the World Wide Web to see. It may even tell you the date of birth or how old your loved one is. Scammers thrive on finding elderly and all they have to do is put in keywords to locate your loved one and gain contact information. There are ways to hide or remove your loved one's information. However, many sites ask for money to do this.
There are some other ways to help protect your loved ones from scam calls or online scammers is by setting boundaries at home. If it sounds too good to be true, it is! There is always a catch, and typically it is to get personal information. Medicare will NEVER call you! The Social Security Administration will NEVER call you! There are other calls that may come in, but remind and encourage your loved ones to never answer the phone if it is a number they do not recognize.
Remind your loved ones who do go online to access stuff they already know, and not to click on things that they don't. For instance, if they have a social media account, and they get friend requests, they may want to wait to accept those requests until they speak with others. Email accounts can get spam emails that sound factual, but, they can put viruses on electronic devices and gain access to personal information. Unfortunately, nothing is safe. But, we can provide methods to help safeguard our loved ones.
We hope that this helps you and your loved one to make and create a safety plan. Nobody should get scammed. Nobody should threaten your loved one to get personal information. Some of these scammers can get very mean and nasty. They can continue to call and target a person. I've had my fair share of those calls and I can't imagine how a senior would feel if someone was mean and threatening. It can be scary. Be sure you contact the police department in your area if you or your loved one gets these horrific calls and encounters.
-Never give out personal information
-Remove personal information from your loved ones home (SS Card, banking information, etc)
-Do not answer calls unless you know the number
-If you do answer, ask to be removed from their list
-Hang up on the caller
-If calls are threatening, call the police.
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