Did you hear the one about the lady whose phone started ringing while she was having lunch out? The voice on the other end exclaimed that it was someone calling on behalf of her granddaughter, who had been in a serious accident and credit card details were required before the ambulance would take her to hospital. Funny, the lady replied, I’m sitting right across from my granddaughter and she looks perfectly fine to me!
It’s satisfying to hear people beating bullies at their own game, but the sad reality is that they often get the upper hand. We hear about cyber crime all the time – that we should beware of it, know how to avoid it, have our wits about us every minute that we are in proximity of a phone, computer or doorbell. It seems to be overkill, but the problem is we’re just not getting it before the crimes become even more sophisticated. Way too many people are falling victim to it and suffering great financial loss or identity theft. Truth is, we can’t hear it often enough. Beware and be rude.
It’s hard to simply just hang up on someone calling with a sense of urgency, as they try to throw you off guard to pressure you into acting quickly. Like, if you had half a second to think it through before their aggression makes you flustered, you’d know your bank wouldn’t be stupid enough to need to call you for your banking information. But they catch you when you’re busy and tired, they scare you and pull your nerves taut before you’re even finished saying hello. They target seniors and other vulnerable people. They are very good at being very bad people. Just hang up – it’s the simplest solution to a growing epidemic. If it’s truly a real person in your life, they will call you back. And they’ll call you back applauding your confidence!
There was recently a multi-session workshop in Red Deer on strategies to recognize and prevent cyber threats – that’s how complicated this issue is, it took a number of sessions to even begin to cover the topic. The good news is that there are many measures you can take to safeguard your personal information, financial details and other resources that you’ve worked so hard for. Talk to your bank about adding security practises on your accounts, including two-step authentication. Never click on suspicious links in any emails you receive, and spot a fake email by hovering your curser over the incoming email address to reveal the actual nitwit behind the attempt to scam you.
You know the drill – you’ve heard all these rules before. But listen to them again and practice them! Hang up on a few of your friends when they call, to get the hang of discarding the proper telephone etiquette we learned many decades ago. Brush up on simple steps you can take and details you can watch for to protect yourself – Calgary Police, RCMP and every bank has awareness information to help you spot and stop scams.
They are getting tricker to spot, so we need to band together. I nearly fell into the big pit last December, when I got a text that a delivery service was trying to ship a package across the border and needed my credit card information for custom fees, and they needed it within the next five minutes or the package would be returned to sender and someone would be sad at Christmas. Made sense, as Canada Post was on strike and I was ordering items through a few delivery services that I wouldn’t typically use. But I made myself stop and think about it. What delivery service gives you a time limit like a Beat the Clock game show? And what had I ordered from the U.S.? Absolutely nothing. Joke’s on them – I hit delete with gusto.
Seriously, though, ask for help from someone you trust if you feel that any of your financial information might not be as ironclad as you’d like. Cyber crime is no joke.