Online Scammers and Spammers

Ed Brazee, Jill Spencer, and Chris Toy from Boomer Tech Adventures are back as my guests on this episode.

BoomerTECH Adventures is all about serving boomers and seniors who want to feel competent and confident in their online skills while using their personal technology devices.

Spamming is kind of a benign form of scamming. It's not necessarily evil, but it certainly does take resources and time. Be sure to keep your personal information offline because that's how the spammers find you. Plus, if you have a digital assistant like Siri or Amazon's system, Alexa or Google, they are always listening. That can actually result in ads that will kind of target you.

Be careful if you receive an email that may like it's from a known source or an unknown source. If it has a link in the email and it asks you to click on that link from inside the email, you want to avoid that. What's happening is that the hacker or scammer is directing you to go to a place that they have designated.

Similar to that is, more and more, you'll see your social media someone who you know, you're friends with, and you get a message from this friend asking you to be their friend, but you're already their friend. Don't do anything with that request.

A recent survey showed that 19% of people between 50 and 64 have explored online dating,

And a lot of people are looking for companionship. They're recent widows, widowers, or divorced and would really like to have someone in their life. But beware. These scammers are charming, they're persistent, persuasive, and they play on your emotions, especially guilt. If there's any request for money, end the conversation right there.

The Amazon brushing scam. Brushing is a scam in which third-party Amazon vendors send people products they never actually bought. While this may seem an odd scam at first, it is all to do with exploiting Amazon's search ranking system. This then pushes their items up their search rankings and encourages more genuine purchases.

When it's all said and done, trust your intuition, trust your hunch. If it doesn't feel right, don't go there, don't do it.

Find out more about BoomerTECH Adventures on their website - https://www.boomertechadventures.com/

Email me, Lisa Stockdale, anytime at aginginfullbloom@gmail.com - Aging in Full Bloom with Lisa Stockdale is sponsored by Capital Health Care Network, an Ohio-based, family-owned and operated company, providing solutions that help seniors age on their own terms. Those solutions include home care, senior living, nursing home and rehab care, and hospice. Learn more at Capital Health Care Network. Follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast player. Android user? http://www.subscribeonandroid.com

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