Shred everything: seniors warned about fraud and identity theft scams
“Shred everything, be cautious when you are providing personal information and know who you are dealing with,” were some scamavoiding techniques shared with Vernon seniors by Paula Naka of Interior Savings on Wednesday. Her presentation was part of a monthlong series of lectures under the Embracing Aging Month banner.
Naka highlighted the major scams currently prevalent.
“They attempt to get close and pull on your heartstrings,” she said, adding that it’s often a long game, sometimes stretching over several years. At some point, after gaining the victim’s trust, they will ask for money for some kind of emergency and ask for the funds to be wire transferred.
A version of this scam is to pretend to be a friend or family member who is in some kind of distress or trouble and needs help.
“This plays on our instinct to help,” Naka said, and it often involves more than one fraudster, the second one playing the role of a police officer or lawyer who indicates that the victim’s friend or family member could go to jail.
Social media can sometimes provide the identity of grandchildren who then ask the grandparents to wire cash to help them out of the problem, and warning them not to tell anyone else because they are embarrassed to be in the present predicament.
The internet has resulted in email messages indicating an account has been locked and the victim is required to reply with their banking information to free up the account, or to update their information. “No banking institution in Canada will contact you this way,” said Naka.
Close to tax time, victims will receive telephone calls from someone claiming to represent the Canadian Revenue Agency who threatens the victim with fines, court dates and even jail time if they don’t make an immediate payment using their credit card. In a new twist, Naka said that they will return to the victims later and offer to help them get their money back, for a fee, of course.
Naka said that being safe online or with mobile phones requires keeping up to date with anti-spyware, privacy settings and security alerts. “Don’t use your same PIN for every account, change your passwords frequently, at least every three months and don’t leave your passwords next to your computer,” she said.
Those who think they have become victims need to report the situation to the police, the anti-fraud centre (1-888-4958501) and to advise their financial centres.
Naka also noted that on the RCMP website there is a link to “The Black Book of Scams” that can be downloaded.