Scams are like seasons, they come and they go, some may stay a little while longer, others are just one-hit wonders. Its “earth-time” will depend on how sophisticated and intricate the scam design is—the harder it is to detect, the longer it stays. The only thing that can temporary kill it is exposure. Apparently, when the public is aware of its existence, the scammers will have to play it safe and let the awareness pass, only to resurrect the scam years later.

For us seniors, there are two main factors which make us fall for a scam:  the prospect of easy money and strong family ties. Remember the sweepstakes scam or perhaps the grandparent or grandchild scam? These two are the most popular—not to mention the longest standing—scams to ever hit the senior group. It is because these scams played with our softest spots, our fears and our emotions in general. With this said, it is important that we remember scams from years back as they tend to turn up again years later while being vigilant for new scams being played against us. To keep seniors updated, here are some of the scams discovered lately:

•    Phishing. Sometime ago, I posted Phishing 101 here but it only discussed what it is and how it works. Phishing, as it was then, largely attacks social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter however, phishing is also used for tricking you in providing your access info to some of your more sensitive accounts such as PayPal or even your bank so it is best to practice safety measures when logging into your account. It may also help if you change passwords on a regular basis.
•    Smishing. A close cousin of phishing. This is when you receive a text message (naturally through your mobile phone) asking you to call a number for whatever reason only to be tricked into giving your sensitive details such as account number and password. Before you give anyone or anybody your details, make sure you are giving it to a legitimate body by checking if the number you called truly belongs to the company you are calling.
•    Pop-up windows and ad banners. You would think these innocent looking thingies that keep on popping up on your computer monitor are harmless.. well, think again, one wrong click and they will hijack your legitimate purchase from a legitimate online shop. Of course that means your credit card is now charged with something you really didn’t buy.
•    Stripped gift cards. You remembered a loved-one’s birthday coming up and you decided to give a gift card inside. You went ahead and bought a gift card, loaded it and gave it to the celebrant. The celebrant went to buy his or her gift only to find out the card has nothing on it. Sounds familiar? It’s because your gift card has been stripped even before you bought it from the store.