Nowadays, everyone’s on the internet. That includes many seniors. They do everything from watching movies and checking social media to banking and online shopping. While the internet and tech products for seniors have a lot to offer, being online can expose them to fraud. This post will cover tips to help with online safety for seniors.
4 Things To Know For Online Safety for Seniors
1. Create Strong Passwords
Your online passwords are the first line of protection in the online world. If hackers get your login info, they could take over the associated accounts. Weak, reused, or easy-to-guess passwords endanger your finances and other online features.
The first tip is to create a strong password for every account. Make sure passwords are long and use a variety of letters, numbers, and symbols. You should also avoid using passwords that may be easy to guess. That means don’t use your name, date of birth, or common number sequences.
Using a password manager to encrypt and automatically fill in your information is also helpful. These tools make creating and keeping long, complex passwords for multiple accounts easy. Two-factor authentication can also add a layer of security to your accounts.
2. Be Careful What You Click On
Your email can often be the first point of attack for scammers. Don’t click on unexpected links or open attachments in emails from unknown parties. Be suspicious of random messages that come from out of nowhere. Phishing is a common cybercrime, with around 3.4 billion daily spam emails. Phishing aims to trick you into clicking fake links or chatting with scammers.
3. Take Care of Privacy Settings
Scammers can sometimes use the information you share online against you. Check your social media and other online account settings to ensure you control who can see your content. Adjust the privacy settings to keep your posts and personal info safe! You can also ask a trustworthy family member to help you with this!
4. Impersonator Scams
Scammers often use impersonation tactics to pose as government agents or representatives of banks or large companies. They may even have email accounts or websites that look convincing. Look out for random contacts, demands to act fast, and threats of trouble if you don’t comply. Make sure to double-check the legitimacy of any such messages. Don’t reply to emails or click links to websites. Contact the agency or company directly before you do anything. It is also important to know that banks, shopping websites, and tech support will never ask for remote access to your computer.
It is important for seniors to know about online safety. Learn as much as possible, follow best practices, and stay up to date with new scams.
Care That Goes Beyond
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