Scammers are using leaked personal information to rob older Americans of their hard-earned money.
According to the FBI’s IC3 report, people over the age of 60 will lose $3.4 billion to fraud in 2023, a 10.6% increase from 2022.
Tech support scams are the most common, affect the most people and cause the most financial loss. Other common scams include investment fraud, romance scams and identity theft.
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How criminals can use your personal information against you
According to the FBI’s IC3 report: According to an analysis by data removal company Incogni, criminals are able to deceive seniors because they have access to their personal data. They access this data through data brokers who scrape it from public records and sometimes privately obtain it. This data can include everything from names, contact details, addresses and financial details to relationship statuses, the electronic devices they use and more.
Once criminals have your personal information, they can use a variety of methods to scam you. Here are some of the most common methods:
1. Investment fraud: Criminals committing investment fraud scams use personal information such as financial details, names, and contact details to ensnare their victims. This type of fraud duped 6,400 people in 2023, resulting in a total financial loss of $1.2 billion.
2. Technical support scams: This is one of the most common scams where criminals use information like your contact numbers and the electronic devices you use to commit fraud. They may also try to impersonate popular e-commerce companies like Best Buy and Amazon. In 2023, around 18,000 people fell victim to tech support scams, resulting in losses of over $589.8 million.
3. Confidence or romance fraud: Personal information such as income level, credit rating and assets owned help criminals choose targets for this type of scam. Over 6,700 Americans have low credit or Romance scams and It suffered losses of more than $356.9 million.
Other ways criminals scam elderly people include: Government impersonationidentity theft, harassment, etc.
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What is the scale of these scams?
Seniors in the United States are severely affected by fraud that exploits their personal information. In 2023, there were a total of 101,068 reports by individuals age 60 and older, resulting in total losses of $3.4 billion. This represents a 14.5% increase from the 88,300 reports filed in 2022, and a 10.6% increase in total losses (up from $3.1 billion in 2022).
When you look at the reports for the past five years, the numbers become even more shocking: An astounding 455,000 reports were filed between 2019 and 2023, with seniors losing a total of $10 billion. The average loss per victim in 2023 was $33,900, down slightly (3.38%) from the $35,100 loss reported in 2022.
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10 ways to protect yourself from criminals who want to use your personal information
If you’ve fallen victim to one of the many scams we’ve discussed so far, or think you may be at risk, follow these steps to protect your digital privacy and safety.
1. Invest in a data deletion service: No service promises to delete all your data from the Internet, but if you want to constantly monitor and automate the process of continually deleting information from hundreds of sites over a long period of time, a deletion service can be a useful tool. Check out my recommended data deletion services here.
2. Issue a fraud alert: Contact one of the big three credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion) and ask them to place a fraud alert on your credit file. This will make it harder for identity thieves to open new accounts in your name without verification.
3. Beware of phishing scams: Be wary of emails, phone calls, and messages from unknown sources asking for personal information. Don’t click on suspicious links or provide sensitive information unless you can verify the legitimacy of the request.
The best way to protect yourself from clicking on malicious links that install malware that could access your personal information is to install strong antivirus protection on all your devices, which will also warn you about phishing emails and ransomware scams. We’ve handpicked the winners of the best antivirus protection of 2024 for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices.
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4. Check your Social Security benefits: It’s important to regularly check your Social Security benefits to ensure they haven’t been tampered with or altered to protect your financial security and prevent potential fraud.
5. Change your password. If you think your personal information has been compromised, simply changing your password can make it useless to a thief. Choose a strong password that you don’t use anywhere else. Even better, Generate a Password Manager One for you.
6. Monitor your financial accounts regularly: Regularly check your bank accounts, credit card statements and other financial accounts (at least once every two weeks) for unauthorized transactions or suspicious activity. This will help you spot and combat fraud early.
7. Be careful on social media: Be careful about the personal information you share on social media, as scammers may use details like birthdays, holiday plans and connections with family and friends to target you.
8. Use multi-factor authentication: To enable Two-factor authentication It adds an extra layer of security beyond passwords to important accounts by requiring a second step, like a code sent to your mobile phone, to log in.
9. Back up your data. Regularly back up important data from your devices, External Hard Drive or cloud storage, which protects you if your device is lost, stolen, or infected with malware.
10. Use updated security software: Maintain security software such as antivirus and antimalware Updated on all your devices Protects against the latest threats.
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Important points about the cart
Your data is now more valuable than gold to scammers and bad actors. They can use your personal information to cause not only financial but also emotional damage. These bad actors specifically target individuals over the age of 60, knowing that they are vulnerable. It is important to be especially careful when browsing online and never respond to unsolicited advice from anyone on the web or over the phone.
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