Four Ways to Protect Elderly Relatives from Scammers
June 9, 2022
Your elderly relatives worked hard to get where they are today. They deserve to enjoy life and spend their savings on what they love.
But scammers would rather take their money than let them have a peaceful retirement. That’s why we’re drawing attention to scams targeting the elderly this World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.
How do these scams work? Scammers might pose as tech support or door-to-door repairmen who take your money without providing services. Scams are even as simple as texted or emailed links, which steal your personal information once you click it.
Protect elderly relatives from scammers when you tell them these four things:
1. Don’t open any potentially deceitful links. Hover over links to see if the full URL matches a legitimate brand name. You can also visit a website directly instead of clicking on a link.
2. Ignore phone calls requesting bank account numbers, login information or access codes. Allied and other financial institutions will never call you for this information.
3. Never believe gift cards, prepaid cards or cryptocurrency are the only way to pay for services. Scammers ask for these because they are hard to track. Legitimate merchants give you many ways to pay, including credit cards.
4. Hang up on callers trying to panic you. These callers may even say they are grandchildren or government officials. You can always directly call the grandchild or government agency to confirm any information they provide.