As Online Fraud Grows, Learn Tips to Stay Safe

Fraud perpetrated online is growing nationally and in Illinois as criminals use email, texts, computer pop-up messages and social media apps to lure people into their financial traps.

The online missives are designed to set you on edge: Your account has been locked, your computer has a virus, your package can’t be delivered. The supposed solution? Just call this number or click on this link for help.

Cybercrime is becoming hard to detect because the tactics are so sophisticated, says Teresa Jones, AARP Illinois’ associate state director of advocacy and outreach and a fraud specialist. “It looks like it’s coming from credible sources, and sometimes we press send or put in info when we shouldn’t,” she says.

Data from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center shows about 3,500 victim reports from Illinoisans over the age of 60 who lost money to cybercriminals in 2021, with losses totaling nearly $50 million. That’s up from 2019, when there were 1,797 Illinois victim reports among those over 60, with losses of $18 million.

Overall, Illinois ranked 16th per capita in the number of fraud and other incidents in 2022, with nearly $200 million in fraud losses, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

A devastating cybercrime 

Last spring, a retired Illinois educator says she got an “obnoxious” pop-up on her laptop that looked like it was from her computer’s manufacturer. The message said her machine had been compromised and included a number to call. The person who answered said hackers had her Social Security number and that her financial accounts were vulnerable.

She thought a government official was helping her.  But it was a band of thieves who convinced her she needed to transfer money to a crypto-currency account while she got a new Social Security number. She lost more than $250,000. The Bulletin reviewed documents from the case but is not identifying the retiree to protect her privacy.

“It was a mind-control thing,” she says. “It led me down the path of trusting people I should not trust.”

Kathy Stokes, director of AARP’s Fraud Prevention Programs, says that’s part of the playbook. “Criminals get you into a heightened emotional state,” she says.

The surge in online fraud comes as Illinois works to close the digital divide by expanding access to high-speed internet.

“The pandemic taught us that not having internet access could be a matter of life and death,” says Álvaro Obregón, AARP Illinois associate state director of advocacy and outreach. 

The state’s $420 million Connect Illinois program aims to provide high-speed internet across the state by 2028. That means more opportunity for state residents to get online. These tips can help people stay safe online:

• Avoid clicking on links in texts, emails and other messages.
  
• Don’t use easily guessable passwords, and change your passwords frequently.
  
• Install antivirus software on your computer and block pop-ups.
  
• Be wary of emails that include a promise (you won something) or a warning (an account is locked).
  
• Don’t disclose financial information unless you verify a request is legitimate.
  

To learn more, go to aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork.

Lisa Bertagnoli is a writer living in Chicago.

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