Tips for Busy Seniors: How to Avoid Phishing Schemes

Many active adults rely on their email and other online resources to keep everything in order and running smoothly. Find out what busy seniors can do to protect your identity and avoid phishing schemes.

What Is Phishing?

Phishing is almost as old as the Internet. Phishing email schemes generally ask Internet users to provide personal information like bank accounts and passwords for supposedly legitimate purposes. But it is a bait-and-switch. That email isn’t really from a bank, a long lost relative, or a sweepstakes. They are from identity thieves planning to use your information for their own profit.

Phishing email schemes often imitate legitimate companies, banks, and other entities, even going so far as to use their logos, to get past spam filters and fool users into trusting them. You could also receive calls or text messages asking for information.

Tips to Avoid Phishing Schemes

Avoiding phishing schemes is a matter of diligence. If you have any doubt about the authenticity of an email, text message, or call, run through this check list to avoid phishing schemes:

• Make sure you actually work with the company in question. If you bank with Chase, don’t answer requests for information from “PNC”.
• Check the sender’s email address. If an email comes from an email server like Gmail or Hotmail, or if it is an imitation of a legitimate business, it probably isn’t safe.
• Look for formatting errors, spelling issues, low-quality pictures, or extra spaces, which hint that an email is fake.
• Check the URL on any link or webpage asking for personal information. Major companies usually have .com top level domain (also sometimes called extensions), rather than .us or .co. If the website claims to be from a government entity, it will have a .gov URL.
• Check if the URL is “secure”. You should never enter your personal information over an insecure connection. Look for a lock in the top bar on your browser.
• Look for signs of desperation. If an email claims “urgent action” is required to stop dire consequences from happening, it probably isn’t legitimate.

Any time you suspect an email, text message, or phone call may be a phishing scheme, contact the claimed source directly by typing in the company’s URL contacting their customer service department and report the scheme. You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Then delete the email (or text) and clear your trash.

You don’t have to be a computer expert to spot and avoid a phishing scheme. Just knowing what to look for can help keep your information safe and secure.

LifestyleLink is a community management software for active adult communities. It allows property managers to provide useful tools to busy seniors including forums, event scheduling, and invoicing. If you want to provide an integrated social media community experience to your members, contact a LifestyleLink representative for a tour of the software.