Chances are most of us here are pretty tech-savvy and can spot phishing scams a mile off, but the older generation who haven’t grown up with the internet are now having to use it and are an easy target for scammers. Check in with your family and friends to make sure Granddad isn’t sending money to someone claiming to be Amazon, Grandma isn’t using “passw0rd” for every account, and the couple next door aren’t sharing their names, address, and bank details on Facebook!
Unfortunately I have witnessed friends and family fall foul in the past. From scammers with ill intentions to sales reps just angling for the bigger bonus.
While scammers are often the hardest to spot and a damn sight harder to come back from, I tell everyone to have a “question first” mindset. My missus only truly adopted that when she was stung. A perfect opportunity for a “told you so” but I took the higher ground. Luckily she got the £650 back, though there was no justice as they hid tracks well. She now questions everything.
Now, sales reps on the other hand, I have had a lot of success with in terms of correcting the sly tactics. Again, I try to instill the “too good to be true” mindset. For example, my in-laws wanted broadband but were going to charge and extra £65 a month plus a £49 install charge. Why? They just wanted the line activated for broadband… they did not want the higher broadband, a call package, did not need a line install or engineer and… wait… did not want the sports channels either. They were so confused about what they had actually agreed to. Basically the rep had taken advantage of pensioners who were confused to upsell.
Unfortunately, it is too easy for a scammer or someone with ill intentions to operate and difficult to always spot them. All we can do as the savvy generation is educate.