Watch out for Grandparent Scams

One of the fastest-growing scams these days is what is known as the Grandparent Scam.

In a typical Grandparent Scam, a fraudster contacts a Senior posing as a grandchild who is in some sort of trouble. The trouble could be that they’ve been arrested and need bail money, or they are travelling and have been robbed, or that they’ve had some sort of medical emergency. Sometimes, the caller claims to be a lawyer, doctor or police officer calling on the grandchild’s behalf. Of course, you love your grandchildren and your first instinct would be to help them, any way that you can. Unfortunately, that’s what the scammers are counting on.

Here are ways to protect yourself from this type of scam:

• The criminal will often start the phone call by saying “Grandma/Grandpa, do you know who this is?” The grandparent may say a name of a grandchild. Then, the fraudster will use it to gain credibility. If someone calls and asks you, “Do you know who this is?” say no and have them tell you.
• If the caller uses a grandparent name that you don’t use – for example they say “Grandma” but you go by “Nana”, hang up the phone immediately. Unfortunately, scammers may know your grandchild’s name and what they call you, so be cautious even if they know these details.
• Be skeptical of any urgent request for money. If you are being pressured to act quickly, it’s most likely a scam.
• Ask the caller for some personal information that only your grandchild would know, like the name of a childhood pet, or where their parent works. A grandchild should be able to answer these questions, but an imposter probably can’t.
• Fraudsters may ask you to transfer the money with a wire transfer, e-transfer, or by purchasing gift cards. Always be suspicious of anyone asking you to transfer money urgently by these methods. And be even more concerned if they offer to have someone come to your home to pick up the funds. If they ask for your address, hang up the phone. Your grandchild would know where you live.
• Usually fraudsters will ask the Grandparent to keep the matter secret and not tell anyone. They may claim that they don’t want their parents to find out about the trouble they’re in. This is a major red flag for fraud. To verify the details before sending any funds, contact the grandchild (or parent of the grandchild) the scam artist is claiming to be.
• Thieves will often call late at night to create confusion and disorient the grandparent. They may call multiple times over a short period of time to create a false sense of urgency. If you hang up on them, they may call back several times. Don’t be fooled and trust your instinct.

If you’re a Grandparent, or have Grandparents in your life, make sure they know how to protect themselves from this type of fraud. If you think you’ve been the victim of a Grandparent Scam, report it to the police immediately. Reach out to friends or family or speak with someone at your Kindred branch or at our Member Contact Centre (1.888.672.6728) for support.

Keep up to date with all of the latest fraud alerts and how to avoid getting scammed.

Protect Yourself – Choose Strong Passwords and PINs

One of the best ways to outsmart fraudsters is to make sure they never gain access to your personal information. If you do anything online, chances are you use passwords and PINs (personal identification numbers) to access your accounts with your favourite businesses. By creating strong passwords and PINs, you will make life a lot more difficult for any scam artists who are trying to steal your personal information.

Here are some tips for creating the best passwords and PINs possible, and for keeping them safe once you’ve made them:

• Make sure you use a unique password for each account and device. Using the same password for everything can result in a cyber-criminal gaining access to ALL of your online accounts rather than just one. If you have difficulty remembering multiple passwords, try using a password manager, which is an app that securely stores your passwords.
• Be sure to never share your passwords.
• Try creating passwords that are at least 8 characters and contain a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and other characters. Avoid using an exclamation mark “!” at the end of passwords – that is the most common symbol used in passwords by far!
• Always make sure you log out of websites completely, rather than just closing the window. This is especially important if you are on a computer that is not your own.
• Avoid using the names of pets and family members in your passwords. Scammers know that people commonly use these words as passwords, because they are easy to remember. But they are also easy to figure out, especially if you’ve ever posted anything about your family or pets on social media.
• Consider using a passphrase instead of a password. A passphrase is a mix of random words that mean something only to you. The more unique the combination of words, the more unlikely it would be that anyone could guess it.
• Another password trick is to use the first letters of words in a sentence. For example, if the sentence is “the dog barked at the cat”, then the letters would be “tdbatc”. Randomly capitalize some of the letters – “TdBaTc”, then add some numbers and symbols – “?TdBaTc&3972#” and you have a very difficult password to guess!

Think about the passwords you are using online. Are they as secure as they should be? If you are worried that they might be too easy for a fraudster to figure out, take the time to re-evaluate and come up with some new ones. Your passwords are an important part of protecting yourself, your identity and your money from cyber criminals. Make sure yours are secure. Keep up to date with the latest Fraud Alerts on our website and learn how to spot a scam!