Passwords

Anyone with any connection to the Internet has to deal with passwords, and the passwords can be a nuisance, especially for sites you do not use daily.

(Same with PIN numbers.)

Do not use the most common passwords which are usually
1234
12345
11111
password.

Yes, people commonly use “password” as a password.

A good password has at least eight (8) digits including both letter and numbers.

A good password is difficult to guess. Your house number and street name are not difficult to guess.

A good password is a word and number combination that is easy for you to remember but would not be easy for anyone else. Some event from your past perhaps (not your wedding anniversary, too easy) you can easily remember.

Some passwords should be longer, our banking password has more than 25 digits, but is a combination of words and numbers we can easily remember. Maybe that is a little extreme.

For sites you rarely access, but are important, keep a written list of password locked up somewhere in your house. Use the same email when you set up passwords, so if you need to make a change you know which email will get the password change link.

Passwords on critical sites should be changed every six months. If you have any hacking trouble change critical passwords immediately.

Broadcasting Your Vacation

Thanks to Facebook and social media you can broadcast your vacation.

You can let everyone know where you are going and how long you will be out of town.

Including the burglars!

We suggest you wait until you get home to brag about your vacation and post your photos, or at least be more vague about the dates you are out of town.

Make it a little tougher for the burglars.

The Sad Case of Ernie Banks

Ernie Banks was a legendary baseball player with the Chicago Cubs.

Late in life Mr. Banks, estranged from his wife and suffering from dementia, "signed" new estate planning papers giving his "caretaker" power-of-attorney and making her heir to his entire estate, cutting out his wife and his children.

Banks died recently and not surprisingly the estate has become a lawyer festival.

Theft and fraud-by-deception by caregivers is rampant, ranging from small thefts of cash and jewelry to systematic looting of estates.

More on this as the case develops. At this point, everyone is innocent until the facts as found and revealed.

The Anthem Inc. (r) Hack

Anthem Inc., the giant health insurer and service company for many Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, was subject in January to what may be the largest data hack ever.

Anyone with a primary or secondary plan from any of these carriers may have data in jeopardy.

The find out what Anthem Inc., is doing to protect victims log on to http://anthemfacts.com.

cross posted: healthcarethinktank.blogspot.com

The IRS Scam

You answer the phone.

“Hello Mr. Smith, this is Bob Jones, special revenue collection agent for the Internal Revenue Service. I am calling about a serious tax delinquency matter.”

Uh-oh.

“Mr. Smith, there are delinquency problems with your 2010 and 2011 federal income tax returns. We have a special program to resolve these matters, and if you cooperate with me for just a few minutes we can solve the problem today.”

This has your attention. But it is a scam.

How do we know?

The Internal Revenue Service never makes an initial contact via telephone. Taxpayers are always contacted by correspondence (there may be a few extreme exceptions but those are very, very rare). The correspondence gives detailed information and calculations and a legitimate call back number.

When you talk to someone from the IRS on the telephone, you should have initiated the call in response to some form of correspondence. And besides, the IRS does not have “special revenue collection agents” and you may notice Bob Jones has a very thick foreign accent.

“Bob Jones” will probably offer to settle the delinquency at an extreme discount,  IF  you give him bank account or credit card information or some form of payment today.

NEVER GIVE BANK OR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION IN THIS SITUATION. NEVER RUN OUT AND BUY A PREPAID VISA CARD OR GREEN DOT CARD.

What do you do?

Ask for a call back number and tell Bob Jones your CPA will call him back.

Or ask for a call back number and tell Bob Jones your son will call when he finishes his shift with the state police.

Or ask for a call back number and tell Bob Jones your attorney will be calling him.

Or ask for an employee identification number and tell him you will call the IRS 800 number.

Bob Jones may not give up, and may get very aggressive. 

Hang up the phone.

Announcement - Our New Blog

This web log or “blog” is dedicated to providing information to protect senior citizens and has been created by Ealey Services Inc. and  Ealey Publishing Inc. Our purpose is to help protect seniors from financial scams and cons and to provide useful consumer, financial and health care information.

The authors bring with them decades of service to seniors.

Your comments are always welcome!

Questions? Contact us at protecting.senior.citizens@gmail.com