Every year seniors lose billions of dollars to scams. And every year scammers get more sophisticated and come up with new scams designed to fool and trick seniors who may not be very tech savvy. But there are things seniors can do to protect themselves from scams. Home care services help seniors in a lot of ways, including helping them stay safe from scams.
Even if your senior parent doesn’t have a lot of experience with technology or stay up to date on the latest security advancements they can do these things to keep scammers at bay:
Get Home Care
When seniors have home care they have someone they can trust to help them do things like pay bills and manage their finances so they avoid getting scammed. When seniors have home care they will have a much easier time running the household and making sure that their financial information is secure.
Use Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication may be kind of annoying but seniors should always use it. It really does help protect financial information, account information, passwords, and more. When seniors have two-factor authentication turned on they will get a code through text or email that they will have to enter when they try to log into apps, financial accounts, social media, or other sensitive accounts. This can help keep information safe and make sure that email and social media accounts can’t get hacked.
Lock Down Social Media Profiles
Seniors should limit who can see their social media posts and make sure that their profiles are locked down. Use all of the security settings on popular social media profiles to ensure that the account can’t be hacked and taken over. Locking down social media profiles will also ensure that seniors won’t have their private information stolen. It also helps protect them from scams where someone messages a senior on social media claiming to be a grandchild or other family member that needs financial help immediately because of an accident. When seniors have their social media locked down scammers won’t be able to see the names of their family members or any other information about them.
Be Safe When Using Email
Email is still a prime target for scams. When seniors are using their email it’s a good idea to have a home care provider there too so they don’t make any costly mistakes. As a general rule seniors should never click on any links that are in an email. If your senior parent wants to check an account or do something else they should open a new browser tap and go to the site directly instead of clicking on a link in an email. Very often those links are part of a scam. Seniors should also be diligent about blocking emails from senders they don’t know and filtering out spam emails. A home care provider can help seniors set up a filter that will automatically send spam emails to the trash.
If you or an aging loved one are considering your Home Care Services please contact the caring staff at Connect Our Elders today! (858) 222-9241
Connect Our Elders provides free advisory and senior care planning across the U.S.
She is an experienced business development and sales professional in the non-medical home care industry and nonprofit sector.
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