Warning Retired Seniors About Scams

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Another phone scam that targets seniors appeared online this week. Such reports are quite common and it makes you wonder if government Ministries of Seniors’ Affairs, old age homes, seniors and religious organization are doing anything about it.

For example, do they organize monthly or regular workshops to advise seniors about scammers’ tools of the trade and how to blunt them? Information about scams is available online, but workshops will enable seniors to ask questions and share experiences. It’s also good for their self esteem, that someone actually came to visit them.

How do scammers locate seniors in the first place? They are not active on social media billboards where we divulge birthdays, so that we can get birthday greetings from half a million strangers, called followers.

Scams are like the United Nations, anybody can get scammed. What makes seniors more vulnerable is isolation. They might be happy to get a call from strangers because they seldom get calls. Scammers use that to their advantage.

“I  don’t know you. I’m not interested. Get lost.”  That should be the standard response to phone scammers.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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