While technology can often make life easier, for those of a certain generation it can be daunting. Here’s our guide to helping your grandparents get online and remain cyber safe.
Passwords
Passwords can help ensure your family members are not an easy target for online scams. It is important not to use common or easy to guess passwords such as password, 123456, birthdays, or pet’s names. We understand it can be challenging given the many logins. To avoid having to remember hundreds of username and password combinations, you could use a password manager. There are a number of applications out there that are particularly user-friendly.
Privacy
If someone you didn’t know approached you on the street and asked where you live, would you tell them? No, probably not. If someone asked for your account number and online banking password, would you give that out? Very unlikely. These are good examples to give your grandparents when explaining the need for privacy online. Face-to-face we seem to be better at protecting information about ourselves, but online such questions seem less invasive, so it is easier to give away personal data.
Email scams
Tell your grandparents to be wary of common scams that target their generation. Email scams may include: healthcare fraud, counterfeit prescription drugs, funeral cemetery fraud, telemarketing fraud, lottery winnings, identity fraud, or a relative or friend asking for money, for example. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers resources to help you prevent, recognize, and report scams and fraud at www.consumerfinance.gov.
Online payment
Be careful when entering personal information into a website. Scammers create fake versions of websites and use these to gather personal information from their targets. They may ask for your phone number, email address, password, home address, social security number, and credit card information. Always double-check that the address of the website is correct before entering information. It’s worth mentioning to your grandparents that a padlock symbol will indicate that a webpage is secure. This must be the case for payment pages.
Online banking through Warren-Boynton offers bill payment, e-statements, transfers between accounts and to external accounts, custom and security alerts, transaction reports by account, date, category, and amount. There are all features that can make your grandparents’ lives a lot simpler. If they are struggling to use the features of their online banking or want more information we can help. In addition to online banking, My Money Manager is a great way to create a budget, set goals, and track spending. Ask one of our friendly staff in New Berlin, Springfield, Palmyra, or Modesto, or visit https://www.wbsb.net/internet-services/online-banking/ for more information.