Online Safety & Identity Protection

The most prevalent are: Medicare and Social Security impersonation scams (phone and email), tech support scams (fake pop-ups claiming your computer is infected), grandparent scams (caller pretending a grandchild is in trouble), romance scams via dating sites, and investment fraud promising unusually high returns. Seniors lose billions annually to these schemes.

Use unique passwords for financial accounts (a password manager makes this manageable), enable two-factor authentication wherever available, only access banking and shopping sites you navigate to directly (never through links in emails), and look for the padlock and 'https' in your browser address bar before entering any payment information.

Social media is safe with basic precautions: set your profile to private, do not share your address or travel plans publicly, be cautious of friend requests from strangers or second accounts from existing friends, and never send money to anyone you have not met in person, regardless of how compelling the story.

Act immediately: contact your bank to stop or reverse any payments, change passwords on affected accounts, report to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and notify your state's attorney general. If you shared Social Security or Medicare information, contact those agencies to flag potential identity theft. Do not be embarrassed — these scams are sophisticated and affect millions of adults of all ages.