How to help your elderly family avoid getting scammed

Hi Chuck,

A friend just told me her widowed mother fell for a scam that cost her $20,000. I am concerned about my elderly father and his mobile phone. He now knows that he doesn’t have to answer every phone call. But he reads every text, and I need to know how to help him avoid getting scammed.

Protection from Scammer

Dear Protection from Scammers,

This happens far too often and can be devastating. Seniors are becoming frequent targets due to their vulnerability, lack of technology skills, and potential access to resources.

The key is to outsmart scammers by pausing, refusing to react emotionally, and getting a trusted person’s opinion before taking any action requested. Help your loved one understand that no legitimate organization will request personal information or demand urgent action in a text.

We pulled together some information that I hope will be helpful to you and your elderly father.

FBI warning on text message scams

Texting scams are often referred to as “smishing.” The term comes from combining SMS (Short Message Service or text messages) with “phishing.” The goal is to deceive people into revealing personal information or downloading malicious software. Red flags that are worthy of caution are urgent requests for personal information or offers that seem too good to be true.

Common ‘smishing’ scams

• Bank impersonations: Messages claiming issues with bank accounts and prompting users to click links or provide details.
• Delivery notifications: Package delay alerts that lead to fake tracking sites.
• Account verification: Requests to verify account details for PayPal, Netflix, etc., that lead to phishing sites.
• Prize or lottery scams: Notification that the recipient has won a prize, with personal information required to claim it.
• Job or money-making offers.
• Offers of a low or no-interest credit card.
• Offers to help pay off your student loans.
• Fake invoices, along with how to dispute the unauthorized purchases.
• “Your account has been compromised” messages, with a notice to reply to an authorization code to confirm your identity.
• Government agency impersonations: IRS, Social Security, law enforcement, unpaid traffic ticket, or toll.
• Romance scams that seek to deceive the lonely into sending money to facilitate travel or to help with a pressing financial problem.

Protective measures

• Use apps that block spam messages.
• Be skeptical and slow to respond. Ask someone you trust before answering a concerning text to determine if it is real or valid.
• Never respond to unsolicited business texts.
• Do not click links.
• Verify the source. If you think it could be valid, call the organization or check out the situation online. Do not reply via text.
• Common indicators are spelling and grammar errors.
• Report any “smishing” attempts to your mobile carrier or authorities.

Guard information on your phone

• Turn on biometric identification (fingerprint or facial recognition) to prevent a thief from logging in to your phone.
• Enable your phone settings to send calls from unknown numbers to voicemail.
• Always sign out of financial apps when not using them: credit cards, financial institutions, and peer-to-peer apps, like Zelle, Venmo, or CashApp.

Scammers are using AI

According to an article at Forbes, AI tools are being weaponized by scammers to:

• Increase the scale of attacks by sending a large volume of automated messages customized for different victims.
• Increase the chances of engagement by using behavior predictive analysis based on typical phone usage patterns.
• Increase the likelihood of success by launching hybrid, multi-stage attacks, combining AI-generated audio messages with fraudulent SMS.

Fear and urgency

Zak Doffman at Forbes reported in June that, according to the FBI, “Scammers always prey on people’s fears. They’re always opportunistic … They try to ratchet up that sense of urgency so that you don’t think about what you’re doing and then they just send the money.”

If anyone gives personal or financial details to a scammer, report the text messages to the FTC using the instructions at the bottom of their guide. Notify the bank or credit card company (without using the same number given when returning the scam text) about the issue.

There are three ways to report spam text messages:

• Copy the message and forward it to 7726 (SPAM). This helps your wireless provider spot and block similar messages in the future.
• Report it on the messaging app you use. Look for the option to report junk or spam.
• Report it to the FTC at www.ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Advice for believers

“Smishing” scammers depend on getting victims to click before they think. The Bible instructs us to be shrewd.

“For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints” (Proverbs 2:6–8 ESV).

“Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority … ‘I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard’”(Matthew 10:1, 16–17a NIV).

Advise your Dad to be shrewd, innocent, and guarded when it comes to sharing information and responding to texts. There are wicked people in this world who will take advantage of the innocent.

Be diligent

I am receiving more junk emails, calls, and texts than ever before. I delete and report them because it informs my phone’s system and carrier about spam messages.

This simple step can improve detection and reduce future unwanted messages. Carriers may flag the sender’s number, which can help block future messages from that source. The more we report spam, the better our systems become at identifying and filtering unwanted messages. By deleting and reporting junk texts, you protect yourself and help reduce spam for everyone. (Note, this does not block the sender. That’s a step you have to do yourself.)

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