(06-02-2017, 10:02 PM)bakerbarber Wrote: I've tried everything to educate her. Sent her articles and photos with flow charts outlining when to open things or to discuss personal information over the phone. Nothing has changed.
If she is non-technical, then you need to give her a very high-level explanation. Explaining technical details to such people merely makes them feel lost and frustrated. Being non-technical in a world where 10 year-olds often have greater computer expertise, they are likely feeling rather lost and frustrated to begin with. There are a lot of people in the same boat as you - folks trying to help out the technology unaware or even the technology averse.
Quote:She called my wife, who was in the room and had heard the conversation, in tears. She said she just wanted help opening the attachment and I made fun of her without actually helping her open the attachment... The next day her employer announced that they or their insurance company had been breached and everyone was going to be enrolled in identity protection for 2 years...
Yet she will have to be enrolled in credit monitoring protection for a lifetime. Does her employer plan to do the right thing, or just give the employees the middle finger, say sorry, and avoid the post-2 year expense and responsibility? If her W-2 form was compromised and she is married and filing jointly, then her husband's identity was also compromised. In addition to the credit monitoring, she should also contact the three major credit reporting bureaus - Experian, Transunion and Equifax - and have a block placed on her credit reporting. She will need to pay a fee to each bureau each time she locks or unlocks credit reporting. That fee is waived if she files a local police report about her identity theft. Each bureau will give her an ID number. She needs to make two copies, one for home (locked in a secure location) and another that goes in her safe deposit box. If she ever loses those ID numbers, she is well and truly screwed. They are required to lock and unlock credit reporting. The ID theft also needs to be reported to the Social Security folks, as well as to the IRS and state tax board. Ditto for her husband if she is married and filing jointly.
Quote:She's gotten calls from the "IRS" demanding payment over the phone to avoid being "arrested" and my wife now gets very bizarre phishing calls on her cellphone asking for her by her maiden name.
I love those calls! It is sooo much fun pranking the caller. The last time one called, he asked how much I had paid for the previous year's taxes. I said that I had never paid taxes, and did not believe in paying taxes. The caller was so shocked he did not say anything for a moment. Then he said I owed a huge tax bill and had to pay it over the phone or be immediately arrested. I told him I would not pay the tax bill, was a member of an anti-tax extremist group and had five wives, and they didn't pay taxes either. He then asked for my credit card number. I said it was "7". When he asked for the rest of the digits, I insisted there weren't any, just 7. Or maybe is was a 9, which is pretty close to 7. Eventually Mr. IRS started cracking up with each answer I gave, so I hung up. I am surprised that the caller didn't.
My five wives thought he was rude for laughing at me.
Also, those IRS and Microsoft You Have A Virus calls are not related to her identity theft.
Quote:I'm sure the stuff I know about is only the tip of the iceberg. She's called us and said that she's gotten calls from people claiming there has been an accident involving a relative and that she needs to confirm social security numbers for the morgue.
Why not tell her to tell the caller the Social Security Number is "7"? It is an easy and simple answer to remember.
Quote:I worry about what personal information my mother-in-law has given out willingly and unwillingly as well. I'm sure her pride prevents us from ever really knowing. I love her and realize that her inherent kindness and trust make her the prime target for this kind of thing. It's not like I can rip her beloved iPad out of her hands. It's a difficult situation to have to tell someone that their best qualities make them especially vulnerable.
If she is an older person, then the local senior citizen's center might be the best bet. If she is younger than that, an online course might help. They can teach her how to deal with scam artists and fraudulent email. Dealing with the problem by denial or ignoring it and hoping it will go away will only lead to disaster. Maybe you could install an antivirus / antimalware app on her iPad?
(06-02-2017, 11:13 PM)Tidepool Wrote: I think there are people who are making a big thing out of this with explanations that mean nothing to me. It was my intention to bring this to the attention of the members. I guess the next time I see this type of email sent to me I will keep it to myself.
Ignorance is very definitely not bliss. If you don't understand what people are saying here, I strongly advise educating yourself on safe computing basics. Failure to do is likely lead to very poor outcomes. This computer security slide deck for non-technical folks includes links to some useful websites at the end:
https://www.slideshare.net/zcobb/cyberse...ntechnical. For all those who harbor unreasoning paranoia about LinkedIn, yes, SlideShare is owned by LinkedIn. Better to be LinkedIn than CheckedOut.