Keep Up With Electronic Dangers
I went to a valuable meeting at lunch the other day. A banker I was acquainted with told us about all the latest scams that businesses had to deal with today. As he went on, I couldn’t help but think about all the things Kathy and I do to protect ourselves and our assets. It is literally every day and ordinary for us to watch out and be a bit paranoid because we watch and read too much news. I wanted to share with you, since not everybody, especially we Old Coots, don’t always keep up with these cutting-edge dangers as much as we should. I wanted to share with you ways to protect yourself from electronic scammers.
The Boss does the bulk of the heavy lifting on all this. Only part of this is wariness on her side. The other part is after retiring from our business three years ago, she must fill the void left by office work that she misses in her daily routine. She now checks our bank accounts every day, sometimes more. Now, she even pays most of our bills online. She set up auto-pay for things like our monthly Medicare premiums and insurance policies. She is no computer maven either, but she has taught herself to do these things even though she still cannot cut and paste. If she can, you can. It’s not rocket surgery. It doesn’t take all that much time either. It will save your butt. We are a target market for lowlifes because so many of us are out of touch.
The Bad Guys Are Getting Better At Scamming Us
There’s a plethora of stories in the AARP or AMAC periodicals about scamming and elder financial abuse. Part of it is smart people doing dumb things. Part of it is bad guys being good at scamming. Now with this deep fake stuff and AI voice mimicking, it’s getting hard to separate fact from fiction, regardless how astute you are. One way to protect yourselves is to have a family safe word that everybody agrees to verify if you get contacted by a loved one with an unexpected dangerous problem or emergency.
You should already know this, but . . . Never believe a stranger. Don’t agree to anything that can’t wait until tomorrow. Never listen to a phone call from anybody claiming to be with the IRS, Social Security, police, jury duty, or any civil government. They will only write to you, period. As the Gipper said, “trust but verify.” Take it to the bank. The nice computer repair guy from Microsoft named Jimmy who has an accent, fagetaboutit! If there was anything wrong with your computer, you’d already know it because it would quit working properly.
Homeowners Can Get Protection
I don’t know how widespread this is, but in our home county, Hillsborough (Tampa) our Clerk of the Court offers a free service. They will notify homeowners if there is an attempted change in their home title deed. We must approve before any changes to our deed are recorded. It’s a needed protection. We get it for free. There are subscription services you can buy that do the same thing. It’s another CYA you need in the new millennium.
On a closely related subject, I have another report for you on a similar subject; keeping your credit rating in good standing. Don’t tell me you are old enough that you don’t want or need any more credit. I get ya. Me either, but . . . Your credit rating affects other things besides buying a car or getting another visa card. Look for it and learn why!! It’s important. You’ll be glad you did, I promise.
