Senior Living Today

AI, Smart Homes, and Online Safety for Older Adults

• The Ohio Masonic Communities • Season 4 • Episode 12

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Technology use is on the rise. Unfortunately, so are scams. Online safety has never been more important. New developments with technology make it easier than ever to stay connected and improve accessibility. With a few tips and tricks, anyone can confidently – and safely – use technology to make their everyday life easier and better. We’re talking to a technology expert about how things like smart home devices can make your life easier, how to recognize and avoid scams involving artificial intelligence (AI), and other important tips to protect yourself online. 

(music) Hi everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Senior Living Today. Today I'm joined by Nathan Cole. Nathan, thank you so much for joining us today. Happy to be here. So since this is your first time on our podcast, would you mind telling our listeners a little bit about yourself and your background? Oh, sure. Like I said, my name is Nathan Cole. I believe my career path was set a long time ago for me. My grandfather used to work for IBM. My father works for PBS. So I was brought up on a steady diet of both innovation and communication. I work for Christ Church currently, and I get to use both of those, every day. My current title is The Chief Storyteller for the Collective. I get to share the powerful stories of our community. Simultaneously manage all of our IT and infrastructure of the church. And that's a role I keep. It keeps me deeply engaged in the practical side of technology. Well, in today's episode, we're going to be discussing tech advice for older adults. And what we want to dive into first are some of the warning signs of a scam and what older adults can do in case that happens. So whether that be a phone call that seems official, or maybe a convincing message from, you know, Social Security, it's important to be aware of some of the common scams that are out there targeting older adults and how we can help avoid them. So, Nathan, let's go ahead and start with government impersonation scams. What should our listeners know to be on the lookout for with those? Yes, this is very common. A very common scam involves someone pretending to be from a government agency. These scams typically are from like a phone call or email or sometimes even text messages. Scammers will impersonate someone from the IRS, Social Security Administration or Medicare. Sometimes even local law enforcement. They may say you owe back taxes or you need to update some information. Really, all they're trying to get out of you is personal information. And that's what we definitely don't want to do. Real agencies will never call you or threaten you. They won't ask you for payments in gift cards or things that aren't traceable. The best thing you can do is just verify who you're talking to and never click any suspicious links. But I'm sure we'll get into that later. Absolutely. So one of the things you just mentioned were Social Security scams and I've kind of-it's been brought to my awareness that those are on the rise. So what can older adults do to protect themselves if they encounter this type of scam? Just don't engage. Don't pick up the phone is the best thing you can do. But I know that's hard for some older folks. Because we're just so trusting. They're they're brought into the age where you answer the phone anytime it rings. But that's the best thing you can do is if you think you're getting scammed or you think you're talking to someone that isn't legitimate, immediately hang up. Don't call the number back. Report it if you feel like you've said something or gone too far on that phone call. And then just check your accounts. You know, make sure you're vigilant on your bank and your social security account if you think you've given away that kind of information. And then the next thing I want to get into are AI powered voice cloning scams. Can you explain to our listeners what those are and how they can protect themselves? Yeah, so this is one of the newer scams and it's really chilling. This type of fraud with advanced AI tools, scammers can mimic voices with eerie accuracy. They only need a few seconds of your voice to clone it from social media or a phone call, or even your voice mail greetings sometime can give them what they need to make a realistic clone. You might receive a call that sounds like your grandchild, or a sibling or some other family member, and the voice may be pleading or crying or saying that there's been an accident or they've been arrested. That's how quickly they can get to you. The best way to protect yourself is just to trust your gut. If the voice doesn't sound right or something feels off don't ignore it and just hang up immediately. A couple of things you can do to protect yourself is establish a family safe word. Talk to your family and agree on a secret word or phrase that only you all know. So if a loved one ever does call with an urgent request, you can ask for that safe word to verify that it's really them. You can call them back directly. If you get a suspicious call, just hang up and call the loved one back at the number you know. Oftentimes, scammers can spoof a phone number to make it look legitimate, but it truly isn't. And then ask a personal question. A loved one will be able to answer that question that only they would know. Like, what's the name of our family dog? Or where did we go on a trip last year? Scammers’ AI voice won't be able to have that answer preprogramed. Yeah, I think that's all great advice because it is kind of scary how these scams are evolving and how personal they can be. Yeah, I mean, not to scam people, but I've cloned voices in my office. I've made people ever said, I made a baby dance. So you just can't be too careful nowadays. So, Nate, one of the other things that we have to worry about are tech support scams. So what's your listeners know about these types of scams? They're all fake. Tech support scams exploit fear and confusion for computers and online safety. You might just be surfing the internet and a pop up message comes up or appears on your screen, usually blue, and makes a lot of noise, saying that you have a virus and you need to call this phone number immediately. Do not do that. In most cases they are 100% a scam. Their goal is to pressure you into giving them remote access so they can, quote unquote, fix your problem when there really never was one that existed. But once they have access to your computer, it is very hard to get them out of it. Red flags you should look for are definitely unsolicited contacts. Real tech companies won't call you. Microsoft won't call you to say your warranty is out of date, or you need to update your antivirus. Pop up messages that come up-the easiest thing to do is if you're on a Windows computer, just hit control and W, and that will close out the window that you have open. If you're on a mac, it's command and W, or just simply hold the power button and restart it. I know that the the sounds and the sirens that are going off are the most intimidating part. But the good old Windows technique-turn it off and turn it back on again, and you'll be fine. So now that we've talked about some of the different scams that there are out there, I want to touch on some ways that we can avoid those scams. The Better Business Bureau offers ten guidelines to avoid scams. And I want to talk a little bit about each of these with you, Nate. So one of the first things is they say never to send money via a gift card or wire transfer to someone that you have never met face to face. Why should our listeners avoid doing this? Just yeah do not do that. It is the biggest red flag. If someone asks you to pay them with a wire transfer or a prepaid debit card or gift card, it is basically sending cash. There is no way to trace this once it's out there and credit card companies will not reimburse you for buying gift cards and then vanishing without a trace. And then one of the things that you touched on earlier, too, was to avoid clicking links or maybe opening attachments, and unsolicited emails or text messages. What can happen if somebody does click on one of those links? Yes. If you click on a link, what often happens is malware will download onto your computer, your smartphone, tablet, or really whatever electronic device you're using. This malicious software allows cyber thieves to steal all sorts of information from your computer: your identity, bank account access numbers. They can even lock you out of your computer and force you to pay ransomware. Just be cautious with emails that look familiar. Scammers can spoof senders’ email addresses, so it makes it look like it's coming from a coworker or a company or someone you trust. But the email itself is just completely different. So you want to make sure that you're checking both the name and the web address. Yeah. And I think that's great advice because that's one of the other things they talk about is just not believing everything that you see. And I think scammers have gotten really good at spoofing those things. So making sure we pay close attention to what those email addresses are and phone numbers, even if the area code looks correct, it still might be something that you need to watch out for. Yeah, it's something that our office has to deal with at least once a week. Email from the pastor asking for gift cards. So we're all kind of aware of it now, but it still happens no matter what. So now too we are like in the day of online shopping, and most people are making their purchases online. So can you talk a little bit about the importance of double checking that your purchase is secure before you actually check out? What should listeners be looking for when they are shopping online to make sure they are shopping through a secure site? Yeah. So double check the web address. Look for the https. The S is just means secured. It means you're on a website where your information isn't going to be leaked or sent out through some unencrypted way. And then just double check the URL, make sure you are on the website you want to be on. Scammers can just change the web address for Amazon, for example, and just add a zero instead of one of the O's. And now you're on a completely different site that looks and functions just like Amazon would. But you're not truly on Amazon. So once again, kind of going back to the similarities with the email addresses, just really paying close attention to make sure even if something at a quick glance might look legitimate to really check and make sure that it is actually that site or that email. So why should people use caution when dealing with someone that they've met only online and not in person? Well cuz you don't know who you're talking to. Scammers use dating websites like Craigslist, social media and other sites to reach their potential targets. I mean, they will spend hours, weeks, even months building up relationships with you. They might start off as, like, innocent conversations, but then quickly build into a connection where they start to ask you for things. Once they gained your trust, they'll ask for an emotional attachment. They'll start making requests for money. They might even claim that they have a family emergency or medical crisis, or a business deal that's gone wrong, and they need money quickly. Their pleas are urgent and manipulative, and they're really just trying to get money out of you.

Certain red flags to kind of look out for:

if you are talking with someone you never met online they'll immediately start love bombing you. They'll shower you with compliments. Affection. You know, “I've never met someone like you.”“You're the one.” “I couldn't imagine doing this without you.” It's all just ways to get you to send them money. You know buy those gift cards. Yeah. They're just emotionally manipulating you. Yeah. You can never be too careful when you're dealing with somebody that you haven't met in person. So another recommendation that we hear is to not share any personally identifiable information. Can you talk with our listeners a little bit about what that information could be, that they want to avoid sharing? I mean, any any information, truly your phone number, your email, your social media, if they get any of that information, it's just the fastest way to to kind of steal your identity. We we put out so much information on Facebook and on our Twitters, and if someone's trying to be malicious, they can look into that and really get portions of your identity. Oftentimes we use simple passwords like our dog's name or our birthday. And if that's out there somewhere AI can quickly put two and two together and crack your identity. So really, just be extra careful. Don't share anything that could lead back to you. Yeah. I mean, if if it's your birthday post it a couple days later, if you're on a vacation, post the pictures when you get home so people don't know you're away from your house. Things like that. So another piece of advice from the Better Business Bureau is to not act immediately. Can you talk a little bit more about what this means and why it might be better to do your research and due diligence before responding to a scam? Yeah. So scammers love creating that false sense of urgency. Making you believe that that what they're calling about is urgent or time sensitive. They want you to rush into making a decision without really thinking about what you're doing or consulting family members or friends or, you know, in some cases even a financial advisor. They want to isolate you so that you often explicitly advise them or you talk to them and no one else. And then I know we touched on this a little bit earlier, but why is it so important to make sure that we're using secure and traceable transactions? Well, like I said, gift cards, they're they're gone. They're just strictly cash. If you purchase something through a legitimate, website, then you can have the option to get your money back or to return that item if something's broken or defective. But if you paid for it in gift cards then there's almost no proof. You hardly ever get real receipts and things like that. Because you just don't know where that money has been used for. And then if somebody is interacting with a new business that they have no prior knowledge of or experience with, what kind of research should they be doing ahead of time before engaging with them? Definitely, you know, check them out online. Look at reviews. Hopefully this person has been recommended to you from someone else. If not, you know, definitely check their identification, check their licensing and their insurances. If it's a contractor or someone doing work on the side. If it's a legitimate business, they should have a better business profile on BBB.org which you can check out and see if anyone else is kind of complained or issued red flags about a company. And then another thing that I want to touch on that we did talk just a little bit about is social media and what kind of information we need to avoid putting on social media, but also what kind of privacy settings should be put in place to kind of help protect your accounts a little bit more? Yeah. So, definitely set your accounts to private if you haven't already. That just makes it so people that you don't know don't get to see kind of what you're posting. And that's kind of the biggest thing, like, like we talked about earlier, when you share too much information online, you're just providing scammers with details they need to make themselves sound like you or a friend or family member. They’ll know when you're out of town, they'll know when your birthday is, and, it just gives them more information to kind of manipulate you or someone they're trying to scam on your behalf. Yeah, absolutely. I think we're very trusting of online communities and what we share, but, making sure that your profiles are set to private, but then still also being aware of that information that you're putting out there to your followers is important. So I know we've talked about some of, you know, the downsides with technology when it comes to the potential for scams. But there are also a lot of benefits for utilizing technology, especially for the older adult population. It can allow them to leverage built in accessibility features like screen readers, high contrast mode, smart home devices. These tools can significantly enhance the usability for individuals that have some diverse needs, whether that be with visual or mobility impairments. Nate, can you talk about some of the benefits of screen readers, what those are and how they could benefit our listeners? Yeah. So screen readers like voiceover on Apple devices or Talkback on Android devices are incredibly useful tools that make technology accessible to people who are blind or have low vision. Essentially, they convert text on the screen into spoken words, allowing users to interact with websites, apps, and kind of other documents. Many operating systems have these programs already built in to their keyboard and navigation options, so you don't even need to download anything to get started. And then there are also display settings that can be adjusted, such as contrast and font size. Can you talk a little bit about those and what our listeners could do with their display settings to make it a little easier for them to see things on devices? Yeah. So adjusting your display settings can make a huge difference in how you interact with the device. Things like increasing the contrast or the font size can make it a lot easier to read. High contrast mode can be especially helpful for those with low vision or color blindness, as it sharply distinguishes text from the background. Adjusting the text size or zoom capabilities on your computer can make it easier to read certain things without straining your eyes. But it is important that while these settings do help, it can cause issues with programs and websites. So you really need to use this on like a case by case basis. Because it could distort the way your banking app looks or the way Word looks. So just be careful when you're kind of manipulating those. Yeah, absolutely. The other thing I want to touch on are smart home devices and voice activated assistance and what those can do to help control different aspects of the home. So can you talk a little bit about those devices and some of the benefits to them? Yeah, I love it. It is exactly what we were promised the future would look like in cartoons. Smart home devices are the best. My my house is wired up. So I can walk in and my lights will turn on and the temperature adjusts while I'm driving home. These devices can be used to control various things around the house. From appliances to, like I said, your lights. You can play music. You can lock your doors or turn your TV on and off. This kind of voice control can help can be a huge benefit for individuals with mobility limitations, or anyone who prefers a hands free way to manage their home. It's all about making your environment more convenient and accessible for yourself. Nate, we've covered a lot of information today. Is there anything that we've missed that our listeners should know, or just one very important thing that you think they should walk away with from today? Yeah. Don't don't be afraid to talk to your friends or family if you ever find yourself in one of these situations that we've discussed. You may feel embarrassed, but your story could help save someone else from doing it. You know, you're not alone in this. There have been so many scams just this year alone. I think it's like $12.5 billion of loss has been reported to the FTC. And that's 25% higher than the year before. So just know you're not alone. And that unless you've gone too far, we can still fix it. Yeah, absolutely. I think as these scams continue to evolve and grow, it's very important to be talking to those around us and and checking in and asking questions if something doesn't look quite right. Well, Nate, I want to thank you again for joining us today. You shared a lot of valuable information with our listeners, a lot of great tips, things to be aware of with scams and things to look out for. So thank you for coming on and sharing all of your advice. Happy to do it. For our listeners, as always, be sure to like and subscribe to the Senior Living Today podcast so that you never miss a new episode. And we will be back again in two weeks.(music)

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Alexandria Rohrbaugh

Host
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Nate Cole

Guest