March Is Fraud Prevention Month. Stay Safe, Seniors!
Have you ever come across a suspicious website asking for personal information? Or maybe you’ve received an email from someone impersonating an organization, asking for money, or notifying you of a shipment that you’re unsure about? Unfortunately, the age of digital scams is on the rise, and seniors are at risk. Fraud is the top crime against older Canadians as they are more apt to answer the telephone or the door.
There are many tactics cyber criminals employ; increased awareness and vigilance is the best way to protect seniors from potential scams.
One of the most popular types of scams is known as an imposter scam. This type of scam starts with someone reaching out to you pretending to be someone they’re not. They may claim to be someone from the government, from a financial institution or even a relative. This can give them a position of authority or familiarity over you which they can use to coerce you into giving them money. They could even try to claim they are the police and try and pressure you to make some sort of false payment or risk legal action. Or, they will try to impersonate a family member or a close friend, like a distant cousin for example who is desperately in need of money. This creates a sense of urgency and plays on your emotions to try and scam money out of you. Always verify the person on the other end of the line, and never give personal information and details over the phone.
Another popular scam is known as a tech support scam. These can be popularly encountered while being online. It usually involves an unsolicited offer to fix a problem with your computer. This is also another impersonation scam, where someone will claim to be from Microsoft or Apple, and try to convince you to give them remote access to your computer, allowing them to potentially steal personal information, such as passwords and logins or banking information. Quite often, they will claim to fix a non-existent problem and ask for payment in strange forms such as gift cards or payment apps, which can’t be traced. If you encounter this issue, ask someone you trust to help figure out if the problem is real.
It may seem scary with so many scams happening online or on your phone, however, following some general guidelines can help to protect yourself. One of the best pieces of advice is to not click on anything if you’re not sure where it came from. If you received an email from an unfamiliar sender, do click on any links. If you’re browsing the internet and you get a pop up, don’t click on anything and exit out immediately.
Scammers will try and pressure their victims to make a rushed decision by not giving them time to assess the situation. If you suspect that something is amiss, the best thing to do is to not do anything, until you can verify the details.
One thing scammers will try and do is to pressure you into making a rushed decision and not giving you time to think. If you suspect something shady is happening, it’s always best to slow down and step back before taking any action.