Security

Locking Out The Scammers

This weekend, I met with my brothers (and wives) to talk about my Mom’s finances.  We meet occasional over Zoom to discuss any pressing matters and I was getting a bit concerned about her exposure to scammers.

So many people I’ve talked to have stories about their parent getting scammed over the phone or computer.  My Mom has gotten some of these calls herself.  They pretend to be from the bank, IRS, “tech support”, or law enforcement claiming a sudden emergency.  Some of them are so slick that the money is gone before the victim realizes what is happening.

According to the FBI, 100K Americans over 60 lost $3.4B to scams last year – up 11% from the year before.  The average loss was about $34K – although many top $100K.  They say that scammers have refined their methods and now employ AI to help fake authority, create false urgency, and leverage emotional manipulation. It only takes one call on an off day, one moment of confusion, for someone to hand over access to their hard-earned savings.

So we think now is the time to lock out the scammers. One idea is setting up a financial power of attorney, so one of us can have the legal authority to handle all of her finances. I largely do that already: bills, taxes, and investments. Another is putting her savings into a trust or other protected account with tighter controls – something simple that can shield her from predators who see older adults as easy marks. 

I’m going to connect with a recommended local attorney to see what the best route is.  We just want to make sure the majority of her nest egg has some dual-layer security on it.  She will still have ownership of her assets, but access to it will be shared with me or my brothers. 

Have any of you set up anything for your aging parents?

Image: Pixabay

7 thoughts on “Locking Out The Scammers”

  1. My parents (80+) recently moved to another house (also other city), which means they dont have any more a landline (fixed line), but only a cell phonenumber.

    In the past they always shared their landline when they ordered online goods or needed to share their phonenumber with banks, etc.

    My hope is that – at least for the coming year – the scammers dont have yet their mobile number, so they will be safe. I am aware this is not a long term solution, but at least hopefully good enough for next year.

    Long term solution could be: 1 phone number for friends and bank and another phone number when you order online products/ for other companies. But i am not sure if this is getting to complex for them.

    Any other idea welcome!

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    1. Good idea! My Mom has a new landline that we put in because she kept losing her cell phone. As you said, none of the scammers have the new # yet. She also doesn’t give it out because she can’t remember it herself! 🙃

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  2. We don’t have any aging parents to protect, but we protect ourselves. Part of my responsibilities managing IT at my last company was security and security training. I even setup simulated phishing and smishing (sms phishing) attacks to train people how to handle them properly. Many would come up to me after the training and they would tell me horror stories about their parents being targeted.

    I read an article yesterday about AI being used to generate fake “proof of life” photos for fake kidnapping scams.

    Here is a golden rule to be safe. Never give information out to someone who calls you. Always call them back from a known good number in your contacts, back of credit card or web search.

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    1. My buddy said his company does “simulated phishing attacks”. He will get an e-mail that tells him he has won employee of the year … and he knows there is no way that would ever happen! 😉

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