Panda Picks-Seniors Work on the Net!

Thank goodness we seniors are more concerned with safety than with style.  But why not have both style and stay safe in this subzero weather.

Wear head gear.  Covered ears are essential to prevent frost bite  You think your hair will keep your head warm.  Think again as 40% of body heat can be lost from  your head. You might like ear pops, to add to your head covering options. Fleecy  or denim and very warm, they store easily in pockets and purses.

Keep fingers comfortableand warm in mittens rather than gloves.  Be sure to wear mittens that are snug at the wrist.  You might consider the mittens that double as gloves. Look for gloves or mittens that provide some traction for those times you want a secure hold.

Get a grip on that ice and snow  when you add treads to your shoes. Traction cleats provide that security with non slip ice treads that are easily added to any shoes.

Cover your mouth/nose with a scarf, mittened hand or mask to protect skin and lungs in extremely cold weather. we seniors shouldn’t be out long enough to need them, but mini heaters can be tucked inside some masks.

Wear layers of loose-fitting clothing, lightweight, warm clothing. Trapped air between the layers will insulate the body.

Keep at least a half tank of gas in your vehicle. A full tank of gas will prevent fuel line freeze up and allow for running the heater periodically if stranded.

Safety Note: Stay with your car while its warming . Don’t invite car thieves.

Keep walks free of ice. Look for pet friendly products to protect furry paws of our housemates with 4 legs. Lawn lovers also look for gentle ice removers that don’t leave residue on floors and carpets.

Panda Lady picked Safe and Warm for this discussion  as some of us are not snow birds.  We stay in the fridged north to be near our families and stay active in our community during the winter months.  The joy of staying in our community can be atained if we stay safe and warm in winter weather. 

Weather information for Ottawa Canada provides vital information for staying safe: They report 80 people a year die in Canada from Winter weather related issues.

Panda Lady

Seniors continue to be targeted by on line scams as reported by the FBI. The following information is condensed from Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)

The latest scam which is quite prevelant  here in Northwest Ohio, is the caller who claims to be a relative stranded in Canada.  Supposedly they are being detained  and need money for fines and transportation home.  Funds should be sent via wire transfer, Western Union or MoneyGram.  Our Better Business Bureau has been contacted by many reporting this scam.

This scam can be carried out because your name, address, ages  children, phone   are listed on people search sites.  We seniors can become frustrated when we hear a youngster is in trouble and we want to resucue.  Never mind that we don’t recognize the voice.  With our families so scattered we may not have heard the voice of our grandchildren for a long time. 

Radio and Television are getting the scam information out here in our area.  You might alert others in your area as  to this scam  as it is growing rapidly so  a representative of our Better Buseau told me  The Better

Is there a “For Sale Sign” in your yard.  These scammers are not targeting the elderly who can’t defend themselves, they are appealing to the desperate who are having trouble selling there homes.

Go here to read  the descriptions of scam offers to help sell your house.  http://blogs.byownermls.com/2008/11/avoiding-common-homeowner-scams.html  

While on line we have to have our defenses up.  This week, a nice skype chat turned into a blunt statement “Send me more than $150 US dollars”.  The nice thing about skype is that you just don’t respond.  Likewise, as we advertise our business ventures on line by giving out our e-mail address, we become the recipient of scam letters.  You know the one who is sick, father has died and left money in London.  Not original is it? I just learned that there is a place to report these incidents. Facebook has been hit with a Nigerian type scam where the person claims to be your on line friend stranded in another country. This involves high jacking your on line account. Mail on line.com. reports the latest on line scam.

Send your reports to: http://www.antiphishing.org/report_phishing.html

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

Think You Are A Victim-Action To Take

Common Phone Scams

Panda Picked the subject of keeping our computer safe as it relates to hackers.  I checked with an on friend who e-mailed me his version of the problem.

Mr. John Partington

John Partington of Crewe, Cheshire, United Kingdom has provided this information to share with all our Seniors new or experienced on the internet.

Here are his suggestions:

“The best advice I can give on what hackers can do is tell people to watch the Steven Segal film “Under Siege 2″

You have to remember that if a site is online or your computer is online they are both available to hackers if they have the  correct software to discover your passwords.

A hacker will access your own computer and place trojans that will log all your keystrokes, thats the way they get the information to hack into the server you are using.

The only really safe sites are the ones with secure encryption, ie; the address starts with https and a lock will appear somewhere in your browser window. That is why  Microsoft keep issuing security updates for their browser!

Never ever leave your computer connected to the internet if you are not in front of it, and make sure your computer has some form of firewall security ie; Macfee or Norton anti virus software.

A free site I use is very good you can find it at http://www.spybot.info/index2.html . Its very good and available in many languages. Its free but you can always give them a donation if you want to. Its reasonably easy to use, just follow the instructions as you will have to download the file and then run it to load it onto your hard drive.

After you have done that just click on the shortcut that will be placed on your desktop menu.”

John has worked most of his working years as a self employed carpet fitter, miner, salesman, plus others to numerous to mention, as he says. In 1995 he took an interest in the computer having been self taught.

John says “I have messed around with computers since 1995 and put my first site online the same year. I am self taught, mainly by reading books and making mistakes but I am quite competent now.  I have recently had to stop working because of ill health.”

John is a promoter of M2Y.Info Hosting.

Information on the hacker situation is based on experience as he had his computer compromised.  He lost his  self created  site and sites of others whom he was helping.  It has cost him many hours and  several months of work.

John and I share ideas and promote each other in social communites. He like I develop relationships with the sole purpose of helping other members.

Thank you John for sharing your knowledge.

Panda Picked the hacker issue because we need to understand that knowledge may be the key to protecting your work and the contents of your computer.

Mary Hofstetter AKA The Panda Lady

When conducting a business on line, one has to decide where to find their market.  On the internet many can be  found in  social communities. Through the process of chat you learn about each other and share business ideas.  Each  community is unique in scope, tools to use, different interest groups, management and difficulty of use.

There is the potential for great danger alongside of a good place to build your business. Here are some statements to assist you in realizing that on the internet much can be deceiving. These statements are made from  on line experience and gleaned from some members of communities.

1. Communities are international, do not expect people with English as second language to always fully understand. Mis-understandings happen easily as words and sentence structure cause friction.

2. Not everyone is who they present themselves to be. It is easy to create a profile with false information. Watch for contradictions in profile information and actions in the community.

3. Give out your telephone number, and e-mail cautiously.  Skype or message centers are easier to handle   as one deletes so no further communication can take place.

4. Hype and exaggeration are as real in communities as on sites.  Posts may be made of copied and pasted statements of making big money when the truth is, they just joined the program. Do your homework on programmes and promoters. Again watch for inconsistencies.

5. Spammers are real, and you are not asked to accommodate them. The delete button with an explanation will suffice or use the situation to YOUR advantage.

6. Disagreements can be handled by removing ones self from the friends list and or forums. Banning and Blocking are options but may cause retaliation.

7. Feedback options on some communities is for rating a person and their business, not a place to retaliate from some grievance.

8. Forums are for discussion, advertising and gathering information. They are not a place for grievances.

9. Discussion forums are for interaction, you post, I post and we discuss. Be prepared for someone to disagree. Remember much of the world values freedom of speech. Right or wrong respect for another’s opinion will make for good discussion.

10. Forums designated for advertising deserve your kind use. Respect for the invitation is appreciated. Hogging the forum with repeated posting of the same ad is selfishness.

11. Personal mail is open to any legitimate information, either conversation, ads, and invitations (TOS). However, altho not a Term of Service, some people will be furious. You send ads, be prepared for the consequences.

12. Changing the topic in someone forum is not respectful of the forum owner. Start your own forum.

13. Using affiliations to imply trust may cloud your thinking, i.e. religion, organizations, memberships, association with others.  Someone with a big friends list means just that, they gathered many friends.  It does not mean they are wiser.

14. Begging for money. Do your homework. Give generously to those you wish to help. This is not a common worry as most can see if business is so great then they would not be asking. Give to registered charities who can be trusted to deliver the donation not to individuals.

15. Expect respect/disrespect disputes. What is acceptable to one is not acceptable to another. The written word can be mis-interpreted. How many ways do you understand the word “please”.

16. Monitor all forums you post on. The original post can be changed in many communities.  click on the appropriate box to be notified when someone answers your post or a forum you posted in.

17. Monitor your friends list. All the profile information can be changed to something with which you wish not have association.

18.  The word friend means different things to different people.  Some sites use the word contacts.  Protect your business by knowing who you are hanging out with whom you are hanging out. Relationships take time so watch for inconsistencies.

19.  The social community itself may be presenting itself less than accuratly.  For example they may boast of 35,000 members when actually they have had 35,000 people visit and fill out a registration.  Perhaps there are 85 current active people.  Hype from the social community site i also prevalent. They may claim that the will help you sell more, they will do all the work, etc.  Remember the word, WORK? Their promises may be just that, a hyped up promise.  TOS (Terms of Service) may be stated but not enforced.

Join some communities, make your presence but keep your eyes and ears open.  Be a wise participant knowing that somewhere in the community  scoundrels are lurking.

Panda Pics this subject based on personal experience of 3 years using Social Communities. Senior Citizens are easy targets for the garus, on line preditors building huge on line businesses. First we are computer and internet illiterate.  We tend to treat people on the net as we would our friends and family. Hype may not be familar to us as we came from occupations which sheltered us from that very idea. Retirees enter the internet business venture world in large numbers to suplement their retirement income.  Sometimes our desperation shows, so we would believe anything we see and hear.  After all we have no experience and these people must know what they are talking about.  Look how they live, yachts, fancy cars, and mansions.

Identity Theft

Just as we teach children how to call for help using 9-1-1, we should share information with them about health issues.  After all our grandchildren are many times in our company and well know our habits.  Sharing these four letters, F A S T may save your life or at least bring help quickly.

F = Face- One side of the face droops or looks uneven.  When asked to smile the person is unable to do so.

A= Arm- Does one arm drift down?  When asked to raise arms one arm will not lift.

S= Speech- Does their speech sound strange?  Ask them to repeat a phrase

T= Time-Call 9-1-1 immediately at any sign of a stroke.  Use ambulance for quick transport

Another way to remember stroke symptoms is to remember this key word:-Sudden-

Sudden weakness, Sudden confusion, sudden trouble speaking or understanding, suden seeing difficulty in one eye, walking or sudden loss of balance and severe headache.

Do not assume these symptoms to be seen only in the elderly.  I know an 18 month old baby and a 32 year old woman who experienced these symptoms.

This information is available from your local health department.

Panda picked this subject because many grandparents are raising grandchildren.  As we are a healthy generation we travel with our grandchildren and spend much time with them.