Milagros Johnson, who works in the Springfield Mayor’s Office Department of Consumer Information, spoke to seniors in Southwick on Tuesday. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
SOUTHWICK – The Southwick Senior Center hosted a presentation on identity theft on Tuesday morning. Milagros Johnson, from the Department of Consumer Information in the Springfield Mayor’s Office, conducted a presentation in front of more than 15 senior citizens.
This program in the Springfield Mayor’s Office has been around since 1996 and they focus on educating seniors with identity theft, but also trying to help resolve their issues if they happen to be a victim of identity theft. Johnson has been working in the department for 17 years and talks with seniors in communities across Hampden County and Worcester County.
“We will work as hard as possible to get the best resolution for you,” said Johnson. “Education is the best prevention.”
Johnson began her discussion by announcing some important statistics regarding identity theft. According to the Federal Trade Commission, 48% of scams are committed by someone known to the victim. Johnson added that seniors may let their guard down with someone they feel comfortable around.
In 2017, 105,209 complaints were made because of new accounts created fraudulently. That same year, 6,016 cases were filed in Massachusetts, making this state the 23rd state in the United States for the most identity theft incidents.
Going through different types of identity thefts, Johnson mentioned true person fraud. This kind of fraud can create a clone of yourself, when the scam artists steals your name, social security number, date of birth, and can then attain a fake ID, license, and even commit a crime with your information.
“True person fraud is what I need you to really take seriously,” said Johnson. “That takes months if not years, sweat and tears, sleepless nights to recover from.”
Medical identity theft involves stealing your insurance and medical information. Johnson pointed out that if the scammer has a different blood type than you, their blood type is now in your medical records since they stole your information. To an even bigger extreme, if the scammer gets a kidney transplant, and the victim of the identity theft wants one done in the future, they won’t be able to.
Deceased identity theft or ghosting, is another issue that senior citizens need to be aware of. Johnson then talked about synthetic identity theft, which involves scammers taking pieces of different people’s information and merging them into one identity.
“That goes unnoticed for a very long time,” said Johnson.
Looking at how the growing technology can be used in a scam artist’s benefit, Johnson talked to the seniors about skimming. A device that can track someone’s credit or debit card, the scam artist will place a chip in the slot for the card at a gas pump and the skimmer will within minutes give the scammer that person’s personal information. Another type of skimming is when a person swipes their card at a supermarket check out, the device can take that person’s information, even from the wallet in their back pocket.
Senior citizens were on hand to listen to Johnson’s presentation about identity theft. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
Senior citizens in attendance for the presentation were also requested to be vigilant and aware of their electronic devices.
“Almost everything your computer does, your smartphone does,” said Johnson.
At the end of the presentation, some of the seniors in attendance reflected on the talk.
“It was very interesting, a lot of things we weren’t aware of,” said Theresa McMahon. “I had a scam on my computer once and it scared me.”
Les Hutton mentioned the fact that Johnson said RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) wallets can prevent people from being a victim of a skimming device. Hutton had no idea prior to the discussion and is glad he knows that information.
“What do we need that for?” said Hutton. “Now we know.”
Johnson wanted to make sure that the seniors were provided the most recent information regarding identity theft.
“I try to give something to them that’s new to them,” said Johnson. “I try to keep it current.”
Cindy Sullivan, the Southwick Senior Center Director, was very pleased with the event on Tuesday.
“It was great, information is powerful to me,” said Sullivan. “I try to give the seniors as much information as possible.”
