I’m thinking that we folks in our golden years are more likely to fall for scams, but if we chill a minute and think things through we can reduce the odds we will be victims.
AN OLDER FRIEND had a scare this week.
He got sucked in by a scammer who gained access to his banking and moved several thousands of dollars out of it. The story had a happy ending in that his bank stepped in and replaced the money.
He was feeling like a fool, but he shouldn’t. The scammers are getting even more sophisticated and he only fell for this one because of the skill of the caller and all the information the caller was able to present. It went like this:
The caller said he was from the man’s credit union. He was able to provide him with a lot of inside information that convinced my friend the guy was legit. He said he was from the fraud section and was checking several transactions that didn’t appear right. He read them off and of course my friend said they were bogus.
To cut through some layers here, the guy sent my friend a text in the form of secondary verification led him to log into his account and go through his secondary verification. When he got the code he gave it to the guy on the phone, who said he would take it from there.
Once that happened the scammer could get into his account and take money out, which he did.
As I said, the bank covered the losses. My friend, though, went through 48 hours of stress and is spending Father’s Day weekend changing passwords, verification methods etc. on every single business, finance account etc. that had any ties to his credit union checking and savings accounts.
He is not alone. I am bombarded with texts, emails, phone calls that are all scams. Most are laughable. The emails and texts almost always give themselves away and are easy to ignore. As for phone calls, I make it a habit to ignore calls not in my contact list. But every now and then one comes along that has just enough of a reality ring to it that I answer.
But I don’t answer assuming I am dealing with a legit company. I assume all calls are scams and the ones I answer, I just want to be sure. No matter how polished the person is, I ask them for a phone number where I can call them back. Most scammers hang up at that point because the numbers they use are for outgoing calls and are used only for a certain number of calls and then disposed of.
I also ask them to email me the information. If they ask for my email I know they are fake. They claim to be calling me about my account and if it were for real, they’d have my email.
IN MY FRIEND’S case, though, the guy somehow had tons of real info and he was slick – laughing, chatting, earning trust. Older folks were raised in a time of trust and that makes us especially vulnerable to this sort of thing. What made this call different was that it was using secondary verification to access the account. What my friend forgot, in the concern of the moment about false charges, was that you never, ever, give a two-party access code to anyone. You enter it.
I will add that just this week I did go through a process where I got a secondary access code from a financial institution but in this case, I initiated the call – I called them for help on an issue so that was a different scenario.
These scams to get access through your two-party verification code are not new. Consumer and news outlets first started reporting them in 2024 but they are becoming more sophisticated.
Is there a way to protect yourself before the phone rings? There is and I confess I had not done it. My friend said a neighbor of his, hearing his story, told him how to lock his phone number. It’s not hard. You just go to your provider website or app – in my case Verizon Wifeless – go into security and privacy settings and look for “lock phone number” or similar language.
There are two “locks” you can implement. One is your number and one is your SIM card. According to one security site the differences are:
Locking your phone number and locking your SIM serve different purposes and provide distinct types of security.
Locking Your SIM
- Purpose: Prevents unauthorized use of the SIM card.
- Functionality: Requires a PIN to access the SIM card, which must be entered every time the device is powered on or the SIM is removed.
- Protection: If someone finds your phone, they cannot use your SIM card in another device without the PIN.
Locking Your Phone Number
- Purpose: Secures your account with your carrier to prevent SIM swapping or unauthorized changes.
- Functionality: Involves account-level security measures, such as requiring verification to make changes to your account or SIM.
- Protection: Helps prevent identity theft and unauthorized access to your phone number, but does not directly lock the SIM card itself.
I personally chose locking the number at this point, not the SIM. If I lock the SIM then I need to enter a pin every time I open the phone. I think at this point it’s overkill but if you can’t sleep at night without thinking you are bullet proof against any possible threat, then have at it.
A word about age. I said we oldsters are at higher risk of falling for scams because we grew up in age of trust. I think there is more to it. When we were younger if misfortunate hit, we felt like we had time to recover. As I approach 80, I don’t know that I have that sense of security. I don’t work anymore so if I lose money, I can’t just go out and make more. I also don’t have “recovery time.” When I was young time was not a concept; if it took me ten years to recover from a mistake or misfortunate, no big deal.
I’ve noticed that I tend now to react with more of a sense of….don’t know if I want to say “panic,” but I will say “urgency.” Someone tells me my account is picking up fraudulent charges, I am more likely today to jump into “do something” mode and that plays into a scammer’s hands.
I was in lines of work over my careeer where the unexpected often happened, where things didn’t work, where even danger existed and I always prided myself on handling all that pretty cooly. Now though? I know I feel more anxiety. My ability to put my mind into slow motion in the middle of chaos and create a sense of calm that allows for action isn’t what it used to be.
So, fellow oldsters, don’t just “beware.” “Be aware.” Don’t be so trusting of everything that comes your way. Let your logic, not your emotion, in a moment guide you. And remember – you do not have to say “yes” to anything in a split second.
Rich Heiland is a retired journalist and semi-retired consultant, trainer and public speaker. During his journalism career he was a reporter, editor, publisher, college instructor, part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team and a National Newspaper Association Columnist of the Year honoree. He lives in West Chester, PA and can be reached at [email protected].