Senior News Line: Scams against seniors are getting worse

You might want to cut out this column and keep it by your phone or computer. The reason? Scams against seniors are getting more devious by the day.

Consider:

• The local courts aren’t going to call you and say you will be arrested for not showing up for jury duty unless you pay a fine. It’s a scam. The bank won’t call and say you need to immediately move your money to a different account to keep it safe while they catch the thieves. It’s a scam.

• If anyone wants you to pay a fine using gift cards, it’s a scam. If an urgent message pops up on your computer saying you need immediate tech support for a virus, it’s a scam.

• If a stranger asks to “borrow” your cellphone for a fast emergency call, say no. In the wrong hands, the SIM card in your phone can be swapped or stolen in seconds.

Scammers are making use of artificial intelligence to try to put things over on us and, unfortunately, they’re doing a good job. From official-looking documents to fake voice cloning and lost package notices, they can make us believe almost anything.

We just have to be smarter than they are:

• If you get any bank-related calls, hang up. Call the bank yourself to see if they called you about a problem.

• Limit the number of people and companies that have your phone number and email address. Use a throwaway email address for the times you need to provide one.

• Invest in a radio-frequency identification-blocking wallet to keep thieves in a crowd from being able to skim information from your credit cards.

• If you think you’ve fallen for a scam, act quickly. Change passwords. Call the bank or credit card company to have your accounts paused. Report scam attempts to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Remember: You don’t have to answer the phone just because it rings.