Outlook Money
Senior citizens are easy targets of fraudsters primarily for two reasons: they are generally not digitally savvy, and they usually have some accumulated corpus. The fraud can happen in any manner, ranging from data theft to unauthorised access to banking information.
Here is what you can do to protect seniors.
Open Communication
Open communication is important within a family so that if ever one receives a suspicious call, message, or incident, one discusses it with family members without going into a silo and accessing the bank account to transfer funds to fraudsters.
Preventive Controls
Younger family members, who are well-conversant with digital systems, need to take the initiative and keep elderly parents updated as much as possible. Updating seniors’ devices with the antivirus tools could be more convenient than leaving it to them to do it themselves.
Joint Bank Account
Another way to ensure their financial safety could be to have a joint account with the elderly parents. The “either or survivor” mode of operation in a bank account offers family to oversee the transactions and also intervene if needed.
UPI Circle
UPI is digital, and it is undoubtedly popular because of the convenience it provides. So, instead of letting seniors stay away from it, families can use the UPI circle facility. The primary user can set the transaction limit for the secondary user either for every transaction or only for a set high-value transaction.
PoA For Transactions
Through a power of attorney for transactions, a trusted child can step in to manage finances before a scam happens. They can pay bills, monitor accounts, and authorise legitimate transactions on the senior’s behalf.
Reporting System
Make seniors memorise the cybercrime helpline number #1930. So that they can use it immediately in case they ever need to report a cybercrime.