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I would think most here wouldn't, but have you ever dealt with someone trying to scam you due to your age? The reason I bring this up is because my father is 64 and though he doesn't have dementia/alzheimer's or anything like that, he is pretty much completely clueless when it comes to computers. As such he almost fell for a scam when some scammer from India called him saying there was a virus on his computer and they'd need $500 to fix it. I have even gotten the same calls of course I know it's a bunch of BS. Anyway fortunately my father called me asking about it and I was able to tell him absolutely in no way to give these people money. Sadly there are elderly people that do fall for it.
It's quite sad and this country does nothing to help protect the elderly. My poor old mother is 74 and had a stroke 15 months ago...fortunately she did not suffer permanent physical damage...her mind did. She is much more gullible and has memory issues. Top this off she drinks too much wine each night.
She is afraid to drive after the accident and I thought I was doing her a favor introducing her to Uber. I live in the Bay Area where Uber is well established and she lives in Houston where it's not as established. I taught her the do's and don't's when using Uber. Well I guess she forgot and she was suckered many times...in fact it seemed as if every time she took Uber to her doctor's appointments she was scammed out of $50 to $100 dollars. They would tell her they would wait for her appointment to be over and take her home. What they failed to tell her is that they will be charging her $50 to wait on top of the charge to take her home.
I just arrived in Houston to help move her into an Independent Senior Community where she will get some support. I tore into Uber once I looked over her trips and the fares she was charged.
I feel for the elderly in our country as our system is horrible for aging seniors who need some sort of support with everyday living.
My father (80s) is constantly buying new gadgets - most recently some device to bypass paying for internet sites like Netflix, Starz - makes me very uncomfortable as I can see the possibility of viruses, credit card scams, hacking from these devices. He says that the device has been cleared by the State's Atty Office. He picked it up from a dealer at a local flea market. Not sure why a multimllionaire needs this sort of device. I'm always warning them about phishing type emails, etc, but I'm concerned that they'd fall prey to one at any time.
I'm curious. What type of protections do you believe are needed? Should we put an age limit on being able to buy things? Require a third party approver for people over a certain age?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I'm surprised that someone only 64 would be "clueless" about computers. I'm 65 and still working in a job as a manager but also administrator for a database management and billing system. We were the generation that started with the mainframe, but then first used the personal computer, and have used everything since. My first computer was CP/M with only 64k ram and two 8" floppy drives before the IBM PC or Microsoft existed. Now I have an ipad and iphone, and use a Surface with windows 10 at work.
As for that particular scam, I find it fun to play with them. Last time they called, I said I didn't have a Windows computer, so he told me it was a problem on my Apple. I told him I didn't have Apple either, I only had an IBM 4341 mainframe with 3270 terminal running VM/370. There was a few seconds of silence and he hung up.
The time before that about a year ago they called after we were in bed, close to midnight. I said "I'm glad you called, just a second" and then turned away from the phone a bit and said as if to someone else in the room "did they track the IP address yet?" and he hung up.
I volunteer for the AG's office where older folks come in with complaints about scams, identity theft, real estate fraud, HOAs, time shares, TV ads promising everything under the sun. We help them file complaints but I never see the outcome of what happens.
Sometimes it's better to call the TV network that has people there to help with these concerns. In Phoenix I think it's called "12 on Your Side" and channel 5 also has one.
If you have an elderly relative who needs help with this, please help them. They are too easily taken advantage of and some have lost life savings.
I've posted before about an elderly friend of mine (72) who was scammed out of a lot of money by the computer virus trick. Once you let those people have access to your computer, it is an on-going scam where they plant malware on your device and then keep calling you to fix it.
Our IT expert at work took one of the calls and with a trashed computer, we sat and watched how they did it (obviously he's an expert at how to track these things -- I couldn't keep up).
Moral of the story -- if you know someone who's gotten scammed by these people, trash the computer -- they are virtually impossible to clean up and it will be continue to be an ongoing drain of money
This segment about 'spoofing' appeared on NBC Nightly News a week ago. People call an elderly person and the call looks like it's coming from the family member's phone, then they ask for personal info like a SSN as you'll see in this short report. Will be warning my elderly mother of this one.
I'm surprised that someone only 64 would be "clueless" about computers. I'm 65 and still working in a job as a manager but also administrator for a database management and billing system. We were the generation that started with the mainframe, but then first used the personal computer, and have used everything since. My first computer was CP/M with only 64k ram and two 8" floppy drives before the IBM PC or Microsoft existed. Now I have an ipad and iphone, and use a Surface with windows 10 at work.
Even some younger people are clueless about computers, just as many people are clueless about how their cars work- all they know is how to turn them on and drive them. Lacking the appropriate knowledge, they are ripe to be scammed when someone tells them there is something wrong, whether it's a computer or a car or something else.
I feel fortunate that I have an aptitude, and a wide range of knowledge of electronics and mechanics. Although I shake my head in wonder that so many people have nearly zero knowledge of many of the things they use today, I recognize that for whatever reason they simply cannot comprehend how these things work.
It isn't just age, though that certainly can be a complicating factor.
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