Safety Tips Seniors On Line
As seniors we often become victims as we are home, available, believing and trusting. On line internet as well as telephone scams are on the rise and we tend to be the victims. I want to share several scam practices that are going on right now based on police reports as well as my personal experience.
Nov. 11, State Police in Pennsylvania now report a scam involving our willingness to co-operate. The automated phone message asks us to change the pin number to our bank accounts. When the old pin # is received along with other information, the thiefs have access to banking accounts.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: recoup the phone number using *69. Notify local authorities. Call your bank. Keep track of your account daily via the internet, watching for any discrepancies.
ON GOING SCAM- This one preys on our wanting to be good citizens. The caller is warning that we missed jury duty. However, they can make it right so that we don’t get in further trouble. They then want to verify information so that they can eliminate the need for our being punished for our neglect. They will repeat things like your name, address, phone number asking you to verify. Now they have you on a role answering questions and agreeing. “Now what is your social security” they might say “We need to verify that you indeed are Mrs. XXX”. Your mind is still back on , when was I notified to be on jury duty, what will they do to me for my neglect, etc. You know the rest of the story, you have just been scammed.
A common scam for on line internet users is to receive a notice that you have just won the lottery. You will receive a notice that you have so many days to claim and here is the contact information. I received such notices for several months saying I had won the British Lottery. The notice included lottery numbers they were trying to match to people and of course the number assigned to me was on the list. I notified the FBI, calling the local number in our community phone book.
I have experienced two on line scams where the e-mail looked very official, with proper stationery headings. One was for pay pal and the other was for my bank. Both notices told me to go to a certain url and fill in the information to verify my account as they suspected a problem with my account. I contacted pay pal and they told me “WE NEVER ASK FOR YOUR INFORMATION”. On the bank request they told me they would NEVER send a notice but would contact me in person and ask me to come in if there were a problem with my account.
When in doubt, always contact the instituion and verify that indeed they were the sender of the information. This is another tactic I find affective. Thank them and tell them you can’t talk right now but you will get back with them. Ask for their phone number.
Panda Picked the subject of phone and on line scams because we seniors are the greatest victims of such cimes. On line scams and phone scams prey on our fear, lack of understanding, our willingness to please and our desire to be honest.
National Do Not Call List-1-888-382-1222
panda picks
Diane
Additionally, to avoid mail theft, avoid having checks mailed to your home. Arrange for Direct Deposit.
Assign a power of Attorney: A power of attorney gives a trusted person of your choice the power to make key financial or life decisions for you if you become incapacitated. Unfortunately, many people are taken advantage of by perpetrators of senior scams when they become ill or injured and cannot make good decisions for themselves.
Having someone who is legally empowered to make choices for you can save you from improper management of your finances, and it’s important to make execute your power of attorney before you become too ill to make this important decision.
Be safe.
Alan Smith — November 15, 2008 @ 8:28 am
Thank you Alan, those are good ideas to add on here. We never know when we will become unable to make decisions on our behalf.
Mary Hofstetter — November 17, 2008 @ 6:45 am
Some scams can be perpetrated by people who claim to be our friends. This relates more to on-line social communities but take head.
http://community.adlandpro.com:80/forums/thread/1153398.aspx
The holidays are coming and the scammers know that at holiday time, we tend to dig deep in our pocket. If you want to contribute to causes that help the poor, make it a legit well known organization or why not just pick someone you know and make a gift directly to the people. You at least can see the joy when they receive, knowing that it is going where it is needed.
Mary Hofstetter — November 17, 2008 @ 6:49 am