COMMENT: Zoomers, Seniors Must Unite To Take Down Dodgy Online Scammers

They almost caught me this week. The email came from DHL. The package was on its way. My personal information has been requested. I happened to be waiting for a DHL package to arrive and I picked up the phone and called. I was seconds away from another crime statistic.

Two things blew the lid off. First, enter the email address. DHL must have a domain name like "wescamyou.com" or similar. Second, the DHL worker in London looked like a Chinese tie sitting in a stall.

But I called. Exactly. I encountered the first obstacle to online safety. You were my husband's father.

Not a day goes by without an old guy calling excitedly saying he's won the Irish lottery, or a dead African king left a fortune, or he's standing in line for a free penis extension .

In the early 2000s, he was particularly fond of a Nigerian prince and his penis enlargement. Who wouldn't?

But the Irish Lottery has always played a key role in the analogue industry.

"I know you're going to say it's a scam, but it looks real," he said by phone.

"Did you buy an Irish lottery ticket?" I would like to ask

"No, but it's a national lottery. They took my passport number."

"Are you Irish?"

"Well, I drink a lot of Guinness."

How easy it was to watch old people trade in black and white cable boxes and arthritic tablets for digital tablets when we first showed them how to use smartphones and laptops. But be careful. We are nothing more than a fake DHL shipment to join the men and women club of yesteryear because we are nothing more useful than a chocolate fire extinguisher from a single ChatGPT app.

The fragmentation of technology opens up opportunities for fraud

A recent visit to the Singkang Clinic demonstrated this duality. As I stood in line to meet, I noticed that many of us were in our 50s or older. The young people were already sitting inside. They made an appointment online. Perhaps those in line were no longer technologically savvy. People in line are also more vulnerable to online scams.

In the United States, a report by the Federal Trade Commission found that nearly one in ten fraud victims are over 65 and generally lose more money than other groups. Those who take longer to adapt to online banking and shopping are also slower to accept the associated risks.

Last year, Singapore police reported three cases of fraud involving people over the age of 60, including phishing, social media hacking and investment schemes. Phishing scams involving seniors tripled from 153 in 2020 to 561 in 2021.

I told him it wouldn't happen to me. Until a fake DHL representative in China asked (and almost got) my digital life story. Technology has overtaken my subconscious. My daughter is now solving my problems with my father-in-law.

It doesn't really work. After the last failed attempt to wirelessly connect the printer to the laptop, I shot the printer.

According to Age UK, here are five simple tips to stay safe online. Keep strong passwords. I don't have any. Install security software on your computer. I don't have any. Update your devices regularly. I don't have any. Protect your wireless network. I don't know (and I didn't know I could). And protect tablets and mobile phones. I bought some nice leather bags from them, but that's it.

Honestly, I'm an obvious digital target for scammers. If these foreign money launderers were to trace my money and assets, I would be none the wiser (although they would find nothing more than an outline of a children's book and some outrageous predictions about the Premier League).

Never engage in high-tech crafts

Fortunately, there are excellent organizations that do more than write self-deprecating columns to hide their incompetence. RSVP Singapore, an influential non-profit group that supports volunteerism among older people, has been holding cybersecurity workshops since the pandemic began. and the National Library Board's annual report “Together! » A series of programs to improve network security.

But my favorite was last year's Helping Young Adults Go Digital workshop, which not only won an award for its literal workshop, but also sensitively bridged the knowledge gap. Just as Pep Guardiola sat down with David Moyes, the youngsters sat down with the adults to explain in simple terms how the rules of the game had changed.

This is the way to go.

Never fear the high-tech craft because it is incredibly lightweight. After a generation or a year it grows like Chelsea, only weirder and sometimes even uglier. It's hard to keep up.

Until recently I knew nothing about DVD resolution, audio and visuals. Today, charities do not want to complicate the repair and replacement of broken DVDs and players. It is a narrower window between the latest technologies and the outdated ones.

Ideally, streamers will sympathize with DVD Gen-Xers and VHS Boomers, because eventually this pesky fear of ignorance will hit them too. There is no escape. Wait a minute, you're kidding your stepdad because he won the Irish lottery without buying a ticket. The next day you'll be a phone call away from handing over your bank details for a fake DHL package that doesn't even belong to you. (Almost lost my life savings over a Harry Styles jacket. Cute girl.)

No one is immune to the insidious threat of technology's futility, especially if an AI wakes up tomorrow morning and decides that your job, knowledge and skills can be duplicated. Why do you think I keep making jokes about penis enlargement? I hope for an AI that will take more time to develop empathy, compassion and childish humor.

Regardless of generation, technology eventually catches up with us all. We helped those who came before us a little. Guide them through this online area. Together we hope we can save these mysterious crawlers who are interested in the private parts of life.

Regardless of generation, technology eventually catches up with us all. We helped those who came before us a little. Guide them through this online area.

Neil Humphreys is an award-winning football writer and best-selling author who has covered the Premier League since 2000 and written 28 books.

You can also follow us on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok and Twitter . Also check out our Southeast Asian cuisine and gaming channels on YouTube .

Chaotic parish council meeting goes viral: 'You have no authority here, Jackie Weaver'