Q. I’ve been reading your newsletter for a while now and I’m always very impressed with all of your articles, including the many informative articles about the latest scams that seem to keep being targeted at the older population, and how to spot these scams so
we don’t become another victim. I forward your articles to all my friends.
It seems like this scam problem has been getting worse than ever, like there are new scams we need to watch out for almost every day. Recently, at a neighborhood get-together, several of us were talking among friends about how people we know had been the victims of
cyber scams, some losing thousands of dollars or much more.
One lady showed us a picture she took on her phone of a pop-up that she saw on her computer that said something like … “To unlock the computer please call support immediately. Please do not attempt to shut down or restart your computer, doing that may lead to data loss or
identity theft.” She panicked. She knew she wasn’t supposed to call the number, but at the same time, she couldn’t figure out how to exit out of the pop-up without clicking on it.
I’ve read that with AI now being widely available to scammers, scams are getting more sophisticated and therefore more difficult to detect, especially for
ordinary retired folks like us. My wife and I are both retired professionals, and we try our best to be vigilant and protect ourselves. But we know many other smart, educated people who have somehow fallen victim to one of these new and ever-changing scams. Other than your newsletter and the scam prevention sources you have recommended in the past, is there anything else our friends and us can do to keep ourselves educated and protected against these evolving and more sophisticated scams? Thanks
for your help!
