With the new technology, those so-called Baby Boomers, those seniors in our midst, are now forced to learn everything online.
Of their little knowledge of navigating cyberspace, most of the time, they have been victimized by scams.
While writing this piece, a friend back home asked me if I knew someone from the Philippine National Police because her daughter had been scammed P7,000 after buying online at the FB store. After paying for the item, her daughter asked for the delivery, but the store was closed.
It’s scary to sail through this world of cyberspace, and some lingering fears abound among these seniors because these online criminals, those fraudsters, are always ready to pounce on them, taking advantage of their vulnerability.
They cannot help it; almost everything is done online, from buying plane tickets, arranging travel, banking, paying taxes, taking a ride thru Uber, loading funds for Presto, and donating to some charitable organizations.
Just take a look at what’s happening these days, not only online but also thru telephones calls, messages that tell seniors that they have won a free cruise tour, winning lottery prizes, accounts that need to be settled at Revenue Canada, arrears in credit cards, overpayment in paying the mortgage, bank accounts issues and overdue accounts at Amazon etcetera.
But some unsuspecting seniors could easily be tricked into giving personal information because everything in those messages, even the institution’s and companies’ logos, look genuine.
Aside from needing help absorbing these new tech words like megabytes, USB, portable hard drive, new tab, new windows, and interfaces, they find it hard to read the texts on the screen of their smartphones, tablets and laptop because of their failing eyesight. Seeing those many icons on these devices’ screens makes them confused and overwhelmed.
Since most seniors are now forgetful, even simply going online, they frequently need to remember their user IDs and passwords required by these websites and government institutions. In dealing with these institutions, they need help placing the user IDs and passwords they have created signing up for these sites.
In this age of social media, seniors also want to be connected too, not only to meet up with friends but also to while away their time, an excellent way to relax and put aside some of life’s stressors.
But their fears remain, asking themselves,” Would I be connected to my friends or to these fraudsters?”
Even if withdrawing money from the ATM, these seniors have fears that someone is looking over their shoulders, so to speak, thinking that these ATMs might have some little device set up by these criminals to steal vital information from their debit cards.
Another senior friend told me that aside from her difficulty using the ATM to pay her bills or withdraw some money, she felt embarrassed seeing the long line of people behind her, waiting for their turn to use it.
“Imagine in the middle of my transaction at the ATM, one wrong press of the button means I have to go back to the beginning of the process, going back to square one,” she said.
Although this new technology’s development is commendable, making it easy to do some private or public transactions, some cautions are needed.
Seniors need to heed the authorities’ warning not to give their private and vital information to anyone they do not know, whether online or thru the telephone.
And if the proposals sound or look good to be true, forget about them; it’s better to be cautious and not lured by them.
We don’t have to leave the comforts of our homes to “visit’ these private and government entities; we can even sign some documents online. And that is where the danger lies, so easy to even sign these documents, with no need for the hard copies.
Fraudsters are making a heyday these days, making these elders their milking cows, milking away the money of these seniors who are unaware of how to secure their transactions.
Here are the timely warnings from Consumer Protection Ontario:
Signs of a scam
Help protect yourself from a scam by looking out for these common signs:
- Pressure to make a quick decision either overnight or on the spot and are threatened if you don’t comply.
- Requests to keep matters confidential and not share the details with local authorities or family and relatives.
- Urgent messages are demanding you contact the sender immediately.
- Being asked to provide money in unusual formats such as gift cards, bitcoin and prepaid credit cards.
- An email from an unknown sender with a link or attachment.
- Email or phone requests for financial information (for example, credit card number, bank account information and personal identification number (PIN)).
- Email or phone requests for personal information (for example, Social Insurance Number (SIN), date of birth and security answers).