044. How seniors can protect themselves against identity theft and online scams

Dana Mantilia realized how critical it is for people to learn about cybercriminals, identity thieves and scammers while creating her identity protection company. 

Criminals often prey upon seniors in particular by playing on their emotions and loneliness, creating a sense of urgency to get them to act fast. That’s why it’s important to have conversations with seniors who aren’t as knowledgeable about the pitfalls of technology so they’re aware of the risks and keep their personal information secure.

This week Dana joins Senior Services Expert Lori Williams to discuss the top tactics cyber criminals use. She shares common red flags to look out for, so you can spot an attempt when it’s happening. With her protection tips gaining more than 2.5 million views on social media, her advice is useful for people of all ages to prevent identity theft and avoid becoming a victim of fraud.

Topics discussed:
- Senior scams
- Identity theft
- Data breaches
- Credit monitoring
- Phone and email scammers
- Money laundering
- Cybersecurity

Takeaways from this episode:
- Scams tend to play off of emotions and urgency so you don’t have time to stop to consider the likelihood of their claims being false. Realize that in real life most requests don’t have to happen immediately, so don’t rush to pay anyone.
- Common phone scams include pretending to be a relative that needs money to get out of jail, people from “Medicare” asking for personal information, and “charities” needing donations.
- Use charitynavigator.org to check if a charity is legitimate.
- Never give out your personal information on the phone. Government agencies will reach out to you through the mail, not phone.
- People will take advantage of seniors on dating sites by quickly escalating a relationship and asking for money.
- Don’t transfer money from your account to a stranger's because it could be a money-laundering scheme and you could be held liable.- Review your privacy settings on Facebook.
- Use different passwords for everything so if your login details are stolen for one account, your others aren’t immediately compromised.
- Be sure to check your Google / Gmail password because your account often stores payment information to all the websites you visit.

Resources mentioned in this episode:
To connect to Dana and learn more about her Identity Protection Business:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-mantilia/
https://www.identityprotectionplanning.com/

To claim your online social security account:
https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/
To verify a charity's work before donating:
www.charitynavigator.org
To find out if your email address has been part of a data breach:
https://haveibeenpwned.com/
Mexican prison scam video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTL1vK6r3qw

To suggest a topic, be a guest or to support the podcast please email: Lori@Loriwilliams-seniorservices.com
For more senior resources and to sign up to the newsletter please visit:
https://loriwilliams-seniorservices.com/aging-in-style-podcast/
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