Seniors are often the targets of online scammers. Every year seniors lose more than $500 million in scams. If your senior loved one is aging at home and spends time online socializing or surfing the Web you should be worried about scammers targeting them. Use these tips to help protect your senior parent from being the victim of an online scam:
Enlist the Help of Elder Care
Elder care for seniors helps seniors stay safe at home, including keeping them safe from scams. And elder care provider can be there with your senior parent to keep track of what they’re doing online, ask questions about any people that they are talking to, and caution them not to send money online for things that seem fishy. Elder care helps protects seniors from all kinds of dangerous things including scams.
Check Your Senior Parent’s Social Media Accounts
It’s a good idea to have the password for your senior parent’s social media accounts. That way you can monitor who they are talking to and make sure that they are not being scammed. Romance scams where scammers pose as seniors who are lonely and looking for love are very common on social media. Scammers will ask the seniors that talk to them to send money, usually directly through the social media site or through a payment app, so that it can’t be tracked. Your senior parent could think they are loaning money to a potential romantic partner or a friend and end up losing thousands of dollars.
Get Added To Their Financial Accounts
Another way that you can help protect your parent is to get added to their credit cards and bank accounts as a co-signor. That way you can talk to the bank about the account, approve or deny large payments, and make other decisions about the money in the accounts. If your senior loved one is scammed it’s important that you’re on the account so that you can talk to the bank fraud investigations team. If you’re not on the account they won’t be able to talk with you unless you have a financial POA for your senior parent.
Talk To Your Senior Parent About Common Online Scams
You should also talk to your senior parent bout the most common types of online scams. Write them down and tape them next to your senior loved one’s computer so that they have a constant reminder of things that are scams. Some of the scams that you should discuss with your senior parent include:
- Romance/dating scams
- Travel and prize scams
- “Your grandchild needs help” scams
- “You owe money to the government” scams
You can get a more comprehensive list of the current scams targeting the elderly from the National Council on Aging. They keep track of the most current scams that people are using to con seniors out of their money. Don’t let your senior parent lose their retirement savings because of an online scam.
Sources:
https://www.ncoa.org/older-adults/money/management/avoiding-scams
https://aginginplace.org/internet-scams-affecting-elderly/
https://ovc.ojp.gov/program/stop-elder-fraud/providing-help-restoring-hope
If you or an aging loved one is considering elder care in Webster, FL, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Clermont today. 1-888-423-4046.
