A warning has been issued to people born in these years who face losing an average of £2,022 each.
Those who are aged between 55 and 64, so born between 1960 and 1969 are at risk of losing money to scammers and are being urged to spot the signs to help keep their money safe.
Charity Age UK said that 41 percent of people aged over 50 have lost money to scammers with the average loss being £2,022 per person.
And of those, more than 1 in 5 never managed to get their money back.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “Age UK is warning that older people – particularly those who live alone or with cognitive impairment – are at greater risk of becoming victims to certain scams.
“Financial losses are common and are bad enough, but being scammed can also seriously affect people’s quality of life and wellbeing. Many older people who are victimised experience a deep sense of shame, embarrassment, depression, social isolation and a decline in physical health, with some even losing their independence following a scam.”
Lucy Walsh, a digital skills trainer for AbilityNet, has put together a 7 point checklist to help uncover signs of scams before you lose your money.
1. Read things very carefully
Walsh advises people who receive any communication online or in the post to: “Always read something carefully. Who is it addressed to? It should be addressed to your name or email. Who is it coming from? If something seems suspicious, it probably is.”
2. Are you expecting it?
Scammers will usually send out a wide range of emails to numerous recipients, referring to something quite common that will be relevant to some of them – such as a delivery. Walsh’s advice is to slow down and consider whether you were expecting such a thing: “So if it’s saying there’s a parcel on its way to you from Amazon, or we couldn’t deliver something from Hermes, are you actually expecting a parcel?”
3. Beware of pop-ups
You may be searching on the internet, or browsing social media, and something pops up recommending you buy something, or perhaps telling you something has expired and you can ‘click and buy it immediately’.
But Walsh says: “Lots of those little pop-up windows are catching older people because they look so official. The really small stuff is happening with pop-ups, and people see that it’s only £1.99, for example, and they think that’s not a great deal of money. But it’s not about the amount – its the second you hand over your bank details, that’s it.”
4. Don’t always believe what you see
Older people tend to be more likely to fall for a scam when they see something like an official logo they recognise online, as opposed to just hearing somebody’s voice on the phone, says Walsh. “When people hear these kinds of things on the phone, they hang up, but when they see them, they’re much more likely to believe them.
“Older people, and younger people too, just can’t get their head around how official these things look. It’ll look like it’s the official website, and they’ll think it’s fine. But it may not be – it’s very easy for scammers to cut and paste logos and pictures.”
5. Be careful where you click
If you get an email, text message or a pop-up on social media and are asked to click on a link, be very wary, says Walsh.
“I think the most important thing for older people, particularly online, is to be very, very wary about where they’re clicking. So with any of these blue links within emails, text messages etc, that you click to go on to another platform, we say: stop, come out of where you are and go on to the official website and check from there.”
6. Talk to other people
Don’t keep your scam experiences secret – talk to other people and warn them.
“Talk to each other, it’s really important,” says Walsh. “When people start talking to each other, it unlocks so much. They’re almost ashamed, embarrassed or frightened to talk about the fact that they’ve been scammed or they nearly fell for it. But when they start talking, they learn so much from each other.”
7. Just say no
Don’t worry about being polite – just say no and hang up if you have any suspicions at all, advises Walsh. “Don’t be afraid to say no. You don’t have to be polite and listen. You could just say, ‘No thanks, I don’t want that’.”
