Do not fall for text messaging scams targeting senior citizens
Posted By RichC on May 27, 2020
Acknowledge scammers and you become a “live mark.”
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here’s no way around it, living with smarphones and computers makes life easier and more difficult at the same time. Scammers are busy targeting all of us and seem particularly interested in taking advantage of senior citizens and those often least experience with technology.
A perfect example is a text message that has been going around for at least a year. This one always seems to be “Alex’ … but is modified for your state, etc. I’m unsure if they send to random numbers or try to only target those of a certain age (hey, I’m still a few years away) but likely have only the goal of finding a “live mark” for their unscrupulous plans. The best advice is to delete, block and ignore. There was a time I reported this to the FTC and their National Do Not Call Registry … but it seemed to me to be a waste of time. Until there aren’t any marks – “There’s a sucker born every minute” – or are teeth and serious repercussions to deter the practices, this will continue.
As I’ve said before, a strong deterrent decreases criminal and bad behavior … even if it doesn’t eliminate. Having no deterrent is just putting out the welcome mat . This applies across the board be it felonies or misdemeanors, cybercrime or illegals coming into our country, petty theft or speeding – most people calculate the risk vs reward and act accordingly.
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