Developing a comfortable retirement scheme takes a lifetime of savings and hard work.
This financial nest egg becomes a target that fraudsters are drooling for at all costs.
Seniors are more vulnerable to financial exploitation because of their frailty as they grew up in more “trusting times,” and most are too embarrassed to report such crimes.
Some seniors are also socially isolated and lonely, which makes them more receptive.
There has been an increasing number of elderly seniors falling victim to scammers over the years, with an estimation of $3 billion loss every year from such scams.
Some of the common tricks include fake lotteries, email scams, and impersonation.
Teaching seniors about these tricks is not enough. Here are some tips to help protect them from being scammed online.
Talk About Scam Schemes With Your Seniors
Con artists and scammers target the least knowledgeable people. If a scammer has targeted anyone in your family, your elderly ones are probably in line too.
Educating seniors about these scams put them in the first line of defense. As technology improves, scammers are equally improving their tactics. Technical ways might not be so familiar to older people.
When they become more aware of how fraudsters work, they can protect themselves better and avoid common rip-offs without relying on anyone. The more they know, the less vulnerable they become.
Seniors should know about:
Avoiding Making Payments Through New Means
Often, con artists want to be paid through unconventional ways such as money orders, cryptocurrency, and money apps.
When someone starts making weird excuses for an elder to make payments through such, then it is time to get very cautious.
When shopping online, a legitimate business will accept a typical and secure means of payment.
Show the senior how to ensure the payments are safe, reliable, and credible by looking for the padlock icon on the URL.
Looking Out For Threatening Behavior
In most cases, scams always come up as urgent situations that must be solved immediately.
Although all urgent cases are not scam schemes, scammers tend to pressure people to act fast.
They also sound harsh and completely change tones when someone seems to raise doubt. Such threats and hostility are red flags.
If you are unsure about the identity of the person calling your elderly relatives, look up those people on Nuwber and teach seniors to do the same.
Checking Monthly Financial Statements Regularly
As a caregiver or a family member, you might detect fishy behavior on the financial statements.
Such transactions may include unusual or frequent bank activity, unusual or inconsistent spending activities, or transfers between accounts.
Checking financial statements often would help detect and stop any potential bank scams before they even happen. Encourage the elderly to file reports of any discrepancies detected.
Avoiding Too Much Revelation Of Personal Information
It is perfectly okay for seniors to post some of their social life, photos, or pets online.
However, they should be careful not to disclose personal details such as identification numbers, social security numbers, bank accounts, pins, or passwords.
These details make it easier for scammers to override security. It is also important that the elders know about using two-factor authentication.
Unlisting Their Phone Numbers So Scammers Can’t Find It
Search engines allow you to remove personal information from search results to deter scammers and hackers.
Information shared online is sensitive to compromise by hackers, especially for seniors.
However, you can help them scrap these numbers online if the mess is already made. If you don’t have the technical skills, you can always ask a professional for help.
Carefully Vetting The Caregivers
As parents grow older and their children move out of the house, they need a caregiver to help them run the household and help them with basic activities.
Some caregivers come in with wrong intentions and can easily help fraudsters scam their subjects by being fraudsters’ inside persons.
It is crucial to vet every caregiver to ensure they are trustworthy, caring, compassionate, and professional. Also, ask for a copy of their agency’s license and proof of address to verify their identity.
Correctly Making Financial Decisions
With increasing expenses and cost of living, older people might find it harder to navigate their finances and find a balance without being scammed.
Ensure the elderly have enough support with budgeting, navigating expenses, and safeguarding personal financial details.
While some seniors may not be easy to convince, find a way of getting them to accept the help.
Scammers prefer senior citizens as easy prey for their schemes because younger lads are almost impossible to dupe.
Blocking Mail Solicitations
Nowadays, it’s not a surprise to find any of these offers in your mailbox, credit card offers, catalogs, and coupons.
Unfortunately, some of these mouthwatering offers are from fraudsters targeting your money.
Deleting the offers from your elderly relative’s email and teaching them to do the same is a good precaution against scamming. You can help your elders opt out of suspicious email lists.
To permanently opt out of junk mail, you might need to help the seniors fill out the unsubscription or opt-out form.
Email the companies on behalf of the elders requesting removal from the unwanted catalogs.
Setting Up Succession Processes
A power of attorney lets you make financial decisions for your elderly parents. However, you can do more to protect their accounts from fraudsters and scammers.
You can leverage the power of technology to help you monitor your account remotely.
If the bank lacks a succession service, mobile and online banking platforms can easily monitor unusual activities in the account.
You could also set up a joint account with enough funds to cater to minor expenses, making it easier to monitor the activities.
Conclusion
While all these measures can help protect a senior from fraud, get them to work with a trustworthy financial manager.
Most of the atrocities are done by family members and close relatives. While protecting your elderly relatives or just people you know from this abuse is critical, reporting an incident is twice as important. Forewarned is forearmed!
