Over lunch last October, my friend told me, “Hey, I got some good news last week. Social Security called me and said I am getting a raise and they needed to verify some things. So, I verified my social security number, they needed my mother’s maiden name, that sort of stuff. Isn’t that great? I get a raise!” My heart sank and I replied, “That was a scam! Social Security never calls on the phone. And you should never give anyone personal information. That was someone posing as an employee. You need to report it immediately.” Unfortunately, she did not believe me. My friend was adamant that it was legitimate. When I got home, I looked up the Social Security Fraud Hotline number and texted it to her (1-800-269-0271) I also emailed it to her. Report Fraud | Office of the Inspector General (ssa.gov)  When I saw her again the next week, she said she had not followed up with either. “The woman was from Social Security! It was not a fraudulent call!” I cautioned her to scrutinize her credit cards carefully and put a freeze on her and her husband’s credit. But she did not do it. In December, she and her husband had to get all new credit cards due to identity theft.

Unfortunately, seniors are the most targeted population for scammers, as they use social media less than other age groups and are often unaware of how the schemes work. The Federal Trade Commission has recently published handouts on scams and identity theft (ftc.gov/PassItOn) and I am sharing some of those suggestions here.

Unwanted Calls:

·      Spam filters do not actually work, as the scammers ignore the Do Not Call Registry. So, they call anyway. One way around this is to restrict your incoming calls to “favorites” or “my contacts only.” [This is also recommended for people who have dementia and are talking to bad actors and may inadvertently divulge personal information. Restrict their calls to “favorites” or “my contacts only.”]

·      Spam calls from your area code are “spoofs” and designed for the caller to answer, assuming it is a local business.

·      Block all calls that are suspected spam. If a strange number calls and does not leave a voicemail, it is most likely a scammer. Deleting it does not block it. Block the number.

Identity Theft

·      Shred credit card offers and any mail or documents with personal information.

·      Keep personal papers away from people working in your home. Lock them up.

·      Check your credit card statements every few days or weekly.

·      Use the “tap to pay” feature on your credit card whenever possible, especially when paying for gasoline at the pump. Bad actors place devices into the card readers. These “skimming” devices allow them to replicate your credit card. This is an excellent news story about skimming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-VU978_wbI

·      Get your three FREE credit reports annually. Annual Credit Report.com - Home Page

Emails:

·      Phishing is challenging for people who are not internet savvy. A company contacts you to congratulate you on winning a free trip, a prize, or lottery. It is not legitimate! It is easy to spot these. Just hover over the address and you will see that it is not valid. Here is a great tutorial on how to do this. Thank you, Jonathan Edwards, for explaining these tips and strategies to save us from being a victim of identity theft and/or infecting our equipment with malware. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NguYJY5Hg3c

·      Investment frauds and romance scams are particularly widespread among older adults who are lonely and have diminished mental judgement. Victims are approached via social media or email.

Obituaries:

Obituaries are important to future generations. However, obituaries are a treasure trove of personal identity data. When my husband died last August, I wrote the obituary using the least amount of family history possible. Yes, there are scammers looking for personal information including maiden names, grandchildren names, birthdates, you name it. Just look at some obituaries in the newspaper and online and see all the personal data available to bad actors!

Report Scams:

Call the FTC at 1.877.FTC.HELP or online ftc.gov/complaint