Fraudsters know that the oldest people living away from their young relatives are most susceptible to scam calls. This is why, on a daily basis, these victims are their targeted audience. The stress generated not only affects the elderly but also affects their entire family. Getting their contact is not hard, these people are also the most susceptible to internet frauds and tricks. The simple way to gain their contact and other private details is via the use of internet or just by calling them to trick them into willingly submitting this information. It is common for younger generations to be equally afraid of their grandparents’ vulnerability to scam calls. The scam calls are mainly directed to exploit the older people’s emotion for their family and dupe them of their money.
This dilemma often arises from a lack of communication: older generations may find it difficult to share their potential problems or ask questions because they are afraid to disturb. Similarly, their children, grandchildren, nephews, and nieces may not want to hurt them by asking if they need help locating scams. However, letting one’s pride take over can be dangerous. As a result, some financial and other personal information may be at risk, and then the entire family of the victim may suffer such losses. Besides, if an older family member does not adopt the safe online behavior, they may accidentally compromise the identity of their loved ones. Since grandpas and grandmas have access to limited information, here are a few things to do to help them be safe from these call scams.
NOT OPENING ATTACHMENT IN E-MAILS FROM UNKNOWN ACCOUNTS.
To gain access to the information on personal computers, fraudsters tend to write programs that will allow them access to all the information on your computer and sending them in emails as attachments. These e-mails come in different forms: old friends’ funeral, an attorney contacting them on a financially distressed child and so on. When they get these emails, they should try to go offline to confirm the authenticity of such information by making calls to the relatives of the said deceased or the supposed child. Once these attachments are opened, a malware is installed on the computer. The hacker use this malware to access to the user’s personal and financial information. The contact number can then be taken, and a scam call becomes inevitable.
ASK PERSONAL QUESTIONS
In the case of a scam call asking for grandpas and grandmas to give details pertaining to their personal or financial information; it is good to teach them not to panic. Rather, they should ask to speak to their son or daughter whom the caller is said to be in distress. Once the person is put on the line, they should ask personal questions whose answers can only be known to their children such as, the name of their pet, their boss name or their mother favorite shows. It will do no harm to talk about a past family experience and ask the person on the line about it. If the call is fake, the answers will definitely be wrong and incoherent.
ASK TO CONFIRM INFORMATION AND CALL BACK.
When the calls come in, it is advisable that they do not panic. Rather, they should kindly ask the caller to allow them to check with their banks or financial institutions about such possibilities. A request for a number they can call the caller back on should also be made. in most cases, fraudsters do not use a call back number and they are not willing to drop one. If after asking for these, they press them for information rather than grant the requests, they should drop the call.
INSTALL ANTI-SCAM APPS ON THEIR PHONES
A very vital effort geared towards preventing them from scam calls is to install an anti-scam software on their phone. This type of software filter calls for them by automatically blocking numbers that are likely scam calls. They are much safer if they do not get to pick up the calls at all.
For more information, they can also visit websites such as http://check-caller.net/
CONFIRM INFORMATION
When certain numbers call them to drop information relating to financial or private details, they can also prevent fraud by running a scam check on such number. There are a number of websites that provide such services as to determining whether a call is scam or real. Even more is the fact that there will be alerts from people with similar experiences on this website.
GET FAMILIAR WITH SCAM DIGITS
By visiting a caller information check website, there are many of these scam numbers already on display with simple explanations on what they want and how to know it’s a fraud call.
