Spam email and phone calls as well as computer attacks are numerous these days. Anyone can be a target and become a victim if they let their guard down.
Many professionals are ready to give cybersecurity advice, especially for seniors who might be easily tricked.
Kevin Pope, a Texas IT professional, says a person has five minutes to stop and think. He states that a big part is understanding the tactics of how these scammers approach a target, normally through call or email.
"They're doing something to raise an alert. A pop-up on your computer is screaming, 'Alert, alert, alert. You need to call Microsoft now, call this phone number, or your computer is going to lose all this data.' Or they call you on the phone, and they say, 'This is the IRS, and you need to pay us right now.' That kind of thing,” Pope says. “The whole thing is engineered to scare you. Because once you're scared, once you feel like you're in a hurry and you don't have time to think, you stop thinking."
He explains that one always has time to call an attorney, turn the computer off and get help from a trusted someone or check the number of any strange calls that were received.
Pope also offers advice for caregivers of elderly people.
"Maybe stick a note on the side of the computer screen that just says, 'Any problems, call this phone number.' Make sure that they know that they have someone they can call if they feel like they've got legal problems. 'Hey, this is your lawyer. Or if you feel like you need a lawyer, call me' kind of thing,” Pope states. “Probably to some extent, if they're to a point that maybe they can't make those choices or recall that kind of stuff in the moment, find ways to restrict things just so that they can't do too much damage, working with a bank to keep them from spending money."
Pope also points to a big issue now is the use of AI for voice simulation in phone calls.
