Seniors beware of online scammers, detective warns

You may recall the song Oklahoma balladeer Woody Guthrie sang years ago.

“As ‘round this world you travel, you’ll meet some funny men, some will rob with a six-gun, others with a fountain pen,” Guthrie sang in his tune entitled “Pretty Boy Floyd” about a desperate outlaw during the Great Depression.

Today, there are many Pretty Boy Floyds out there, but they use neither a gun nor a pen to steal what you rightfully own.

Rather, they are using the Internet, email, text messages or a telephone to do it.

Electronic and telecommunication scams are their business, and unfortunately, in more than a few circles, their bad business is good.

Many telecom con artists prefer to prey on 55-and-over seniors to collect any tidbit of information they may steal and stash into their pockets for quick cash.

“It (electronic fraud and identify theft) is the largest growing amount of crime against seniors,” Marble Falls Detective Scott Dulaney recently told a group of seniors.

Dulaney spoke during his address titled “Preventing Scams that Target Seniors” April 29 at the Marble Falls Public Library, 101 Main St.

For three main reasons, the detective said, seniors are especially vulnerable to online, phone and wireless scams for three main reasons – typically, seniors are not as technically street-smart as their grandchildren often are; rip-off artists believe seniors possess loads of money and; seniors tend to be frequent Internet users.

Electronic robbers don’t necessarily think seniors are dumb people, Dulaney said.

“But they will try to catch them at a weak moment,” he added.

Thus, a senior at home may answer the seemingly innocent ring of a landline and hear the caller plead persistently for an emergency cash transfer.

Or, the senior may click one electronic link embedded into one their email messages, claiming they have won a big “sweepstakes” prize.

Or, they may receive a cell-phone text message from somebody claiming to be an IRS agent, tirelessly badgering the senior to pay Uncle Sam a “debt” they owe or go to jail.

Or, unwitting seniors may hear a foreign “prince” call, email or text promises to reward the seniors with lots of money, provided they send lots of money to them, which later turns out to be a bogus Internet address.

“It’s all fake,” Dulaney said. “But you would be surprised at how many people fall for it.”

Often, the phony landline phone calls, malicious links in emails and falsified cell phone text messages are generated overseas at points than are often difficult to trace immediately, he added.

“It (cyber crime) is widespread and, it is difficult to prosecute," Dulaney said.

If seniors are not vigilant, they could provide a baloney broker with lots of information they certainly have no right to know, such as a bank account, Social Security or Medicare number, Dulaney added.

Any of those numbers and more could be sold to invidious third parties, who may use them to open one private financial network and steal thousands of hard-earned dollars, he said.

“They can sell (numbers) 10 times over,” Dulaney added. “You are the product, and your personal information has as much leverage as your actual money does.”

Toward the end of the talk, Dulaney mentioned anybody at any age could be a victim of identification theft through routine computer operations.

The detective offered several suggestions to help seniors and other Internet and cell phone users prevent computerenhanced victimization including, changing passwords every 30 days for potentially sensitive web sites; declining to accept phone messages from callers not on a personal contact list; hanging up on anybody who demands cryptocurrency, purchase of a gift card or a wire transfer of money for payment; refusing a proposal somebody offers which sounds too good to be true and rejecting any solicitor who requests secrecy for a dubious deal.

Also, while surfing the Internet and checking your cell phone to send or receive messages, never click your keyboard to unbutton any link within an email or text that looks even remotely suspicious, Dulaney said.

If opened, such malicious links could download and steal a bounty of your most sensitive information in seconds, he added.

“Once that door is open, there is no turning back in time,” Dulaney said.

Many genuine businesses who conduct Internet operations offer their clients password protection supported by “two-factor ide ntification," Dulaney added.

Many private banks and other legitimate firms constantly monitor computer accounts to combat suspected fraud, the detective pointed out.

"You need to find a secure way that works best for you,” Dulaney said. “Anybody can be exploited for an illicit purpose.

All of us may get our identity stolen at some point in our lives. For every wall we put up, somebody will find a way to get around it – no matter how hard we try to stop them.

The more security you have at every level – the better off you will be. Something is better than nothing.”

If anybody believes they have been scammed, contact their local law enforcement agency, Dulaney added.

“If they (scammers) are local, we will find them," he said.

Visit the Marble Falls Police Department at 606 Avenue N, call the department at 830-6933611 or email sdulaney@marblefallstx.gov