Financial scams and identity theft are lucrative crimes. Not only has there been an increased number of these crimes, but they have grown more sophisticated in recent years. Even organized crime rings are now involved in creating scams.
Many of these scams target older adults and elderly people. This is for several reasons: older adults tend to have greater amounts of money available, are not as technically savvy as younger people, and are less likely to report the scam out of embarrassment if they find out the truth. Scammers take advantage of these facts to steal information and money from people. The results for the victims can be devastating and have life-long impacts.
This guide provides tips on how you can avoid being scammed, as well as things that can help you determine if a situation is a scam or not.
Preventive Steps
Scams have evolved to come through all sorts of communication; from mail and phone calls, to emails, texts, and phony websites. With advancements in artificial technology (AI), scams can feel even more polished and believable than before.
There are some precautions that you can take beforehand to help reduce your chances of being scammed.
- Don’t interact. Scammers want any kind of interaction, even if you respond to say that you are not interested. To scammers, any response is getting their foot into the door. Even though it feels rude, the best thing you can do is not engage. This includes not opening emails from unknown senders, not texting back when you receive a random text, and letting phone calls go to voicemail.
- Stick with known institutions and retailers. Businesses with deals or promises that seem too good to be true are often fake. Scammers use these fake businesses to trick people to give up money or information like addresses, Social Security Numbers, and credit card numbers. Sticking with known institutions and retailers is often the safer route to go.
- Triple check website addresses before inputting any information. Some scam websites are set up to look just like official, genuine websites of real businesses and organizations. But if the website address looks weird, either with a misspelled name or with an unlocked lock symbol from your internet browser, it’s likely a scam website.
- Freeze your credit. Sometimes, big data breaches will put your personal information right in a scammer’s hands. To prevent them from getting loans and credit cards using your information, it’s best to freeze your credit ahead of time. This prevents scammers from using your information and ruining your financial situation.
Scam or Not?
There are some instances where something may look or feel legitimate, but you may not be sure. An unexpected call from your bank could be your actual bank, or it could be a scammer pretending to be your bank and hoping to get sensitive information out of you. In these cases, there are things you can do to figure out if they’re real or not.
- If your bank or a government agency reaches out to you, contact them back through their official channels. Do not use the phone number, location, email address, or links that the other person provides. Instead, look up the official phone number or website and use that to get in touch. If it was a legitimate attempt to contact you, then the official channels will get you back on track. If it’s not, then you stopped a scammer from scamming you.
- If you get a call from a grandchild asking for money, try to see them in person first. Scammers call elderly people and claim to be a beloved grandchild who needs money. But often, they trick information out of the victim to learn information about that same grandchild in that same call! (A common tactic is for a scammer to ask “Do you know who I am, Grandma/Grandpa?” and let the victim supply the name. Then the scammer pretends to be that grandchild throughout the rest of the call.) The best way to check is to go and see the grandchild in person. (And let their parents know!)
- Be careful when friendships or romances go very fast. Most people are good people, and scammers take advantage of this fact. Some scams build personal connections with victims, and then use these connections to steal money and information. One of the signs of these types of scams is if the friendship/romance building stages go very fast. (Think “I never felt this way before” after only a month of chatting.) And if after these accelerated timeframes, the other person starts asking for money or has a “great investment idea,” then there is a very large chance this has been a scam.
- Remember that gift cards are meant to be used as gifts, not as a form of payment. Scammers will often ask for payments to be in the form of gift cards because gift cards are hard to track and cancel. Also, government agencies never accept gift cards as payment. So if someone claiming to be from the IRS says you owe them money and it must be paid through gift cards, know that it is a scammer on the other end.
Keep Learning with Kingsway
No matter what age you are, there are always chances to learn. Whether it’s how to avoid being scammed, or learning about local history, there’s always something more to know.
Kingsway residents have access to a wide range of learning opportunities, including our on-campus events. Residents and their families are invited to sign up and participate in our events and to continue to learn. If you would like to learn more about these and other benefits of living at Kingsway, reach out to us today.