New technologies can offer connections, education, entertainment, food, safety

Nearly 90 percent of adults over age 50 — across all ages, health-status categories, incomes and races — want to remain at home and age in place, Capital Caring Health, a nonprofit provider of elder, advanced illness and hospice care, found in a recent national survey that it took in partnership with the online health information resource WebMD.

Respondents with fair or poor health and those with household incomes of below $50,000 are less familiar with options they may have, including aging in place and hospice care, the survey, released in May, showed.

“Aging in place is what we want, and we can bolster our ability to do so safely, especially for those living alone, with the right technology in the home at the right time,” says Laurie Orlov, founder and principal analyst at Aging and Health Technology Watch, a market research firm in Port St. Lucie, Florida, that tracks technology trends about older adults.

“Technology enables more effective communication to the services you may need outside the home, including telehealth platforms, services that can bring you food, links to transportation, connecting with other people, staying entertained and helping you learn new things,” Orlov adds. “There has been a big leap forward over the past four to five years.”

Ramon T. Llamas, research director at International Data Corp., a Needham, Massachusetts–based provider of market intelligence, agrees: “Previously, the problem with ‘aging in place’ is someone might feel separated from the world, but technology remedies this by fostering connections to the outside — not just to caregivers but to the services they may [have] to depend on to live on their own terms.

“Thankfully, today’s devices are also much easier to use, to help stay in touch and combat loneliness and get help, if needed, through wearables and other hardware,” Llamas continues.

While far from a complete list, here are seven tech items to help loved ones age in place.

Alarm.com Wellness

Activity-based sensors around the home can discreetly reassure loved ones that those living alone are going about their daily business and all is OK.

If a change in pattern is detected, a remote family member, caregiver or emergency-response service is alerted via email, phone or text if the at-risk person is doing (or not doing) something.

For example, a small sensor could detect if an older adult hasn’t left the bedroom by, say 10 a.m., and that’s unusual for them, or if Mom or Dad hasn’t opened the fridge door or medicine cabinet in a specified number of hours.

Installation of these sensors, which is typically done by a professional, is often folded into the monitoring cost.

Alarm.com’s Wellness independent living solution integrates a suite of sensors and devices, like its Wellcam camera, with two-way audio and one-way video, and applies artificial intelligence and machine learning to the data generated to proactively detect changes that may suggest risks. The company says it can report changes in activity levels, sleeping and eating patterns, bathroom frequency and medication adherence, as well as emergency situations, like falls or wandering out of the home.

These unobtrusive sensors can go on cabinets, chairs, doors, under bedsheets, windows.

Coupled with Alarm.com’s home security solution, Wellness is typically between $40 to $60 a month, after installation costs (handled by a local service provider), but pricing depends on the service provider and the exact mix of devices and sensors.

Alexa Together

Ideal for aging family members living alone, Alexa Together, which is coming this year, offers many of the same features found in Care Hub, which Alexa Together is replacing. This includes activity alerts and an activity feed, which keeps loved ones in the loop with real-time updates pushed to their smartphone, 24/7 hands-free access to an urgent-response professional emergency helpline and compatibility with third-party fall-detection devices from Assistive Technology Services, Vayyar and other brands.

So your loved one can feel independent, caregivers will be able to remotely set reminders, manage shopping lists and more on a relative’s Amazon Echo device when Alexa Together launches later this year. The ability for multiple caregivers to provide support is scheduled to launch early next year. 

Alexa Together will be $20 a month or $200 a year after a free six-month trial. Current Care Hub customers will receive a free year of Alexa Together. Amazon says that all U.S. customers, even if they don’t sign up for Alexa Together, will be able to set up and use the emergency contact feature.

“And we can’t forget about the importance of reliable high-speed internet,” Orlov says. “Not everyone has broadband for these services, which is a very important consideration, too.”

Apple Watch and Lively

Smartwatches are getting smarter.

Apple Watch SE (from $280), for one, offers fall detection and an emergency SOS feature that can call 911 and notify your emergency contacts if it detects a sudden drop. It also offers fitness detection, a heart-rate monitor, sleep monitoring, voice-activated Siri support, water resistance to 50 meters and optional cellular connectivity, which is usually an extra $10 per month with your mobile phone provider. You can use Apple Watch to pay for items at retail by waving your wrist over a contactless terminal.

The top-of-the-line Apple Watch Series 7 (from $400) has a screen that’s 20 percent larger than last year’s Series 6, yet with narrower bezels, so the watch itself isn’t that much bigger. It’s ideal for those living alone and offers additional sensors to help gauge the wearer’s health, including a built-in electrocardiogram, to detect a dangerously high or low heart rate and irregular heart rhythms, and a monitor to assess the amount of oxygen carried in the body by sending light into your wrist.

If you prefer that your loved ones have access to a live operator in case of a fall or other emergency, there are services that work with Apple Watch, such as the Lively app (formerly GreatCall and owned by Best Buy).

You’ll have access to live agents you can talk to in an emergency, 24/7 access to a registered nurse or doctor for medical advice, and the option to stay connected with friends and family through the watch — plus, if desired, you can allow select people to know of your activity and whereabouts — for $30 per month with a two-year commitment.

Oculus Quest 2 and Rendever

This may seem like an old choice, but virtual reality headsets can be a powerful tool for those living alone, Llamas says: “You put on these lightweight headsets and can instantly play 18 holes of golf, as if you’re on a real course, for when you want to get out of your four walls but might not be able to. And it’s not just an immersive gaming platform, but an experiential thing, too.”

Oculus Quest 2 ($300 for the 64-gigabyte version or $400 for the 256GB model), for example, is easy to set up and use, as you don’t need to plug the headset into a PC, game console or smartphone. After placing the white headset over your face (it works with glasses, too), you are transported to a digital world, complete with 360-degree visuals, tied to head tracking, which means wherever you turn your head in real life — up, down, side to side, or even looking behind you — it’s as if you’re looking at this virtual world with your own eyes.

And it doesn’t stop there. Audio is also “spatialized” in a VR world; thus, you can hear sounds all around you. What’s more, Oculus Quest 2 includes controllers for you to “touch” content that isn’t really there, and with some experiences, you simply use your hands to reach out and interact.

Llamas also cites Rendever, a virtual reality platform for older adults that has applications such as “customized reminiscence therapy,” to allow users to take a stroll down memory lane. Rendever is typically sold to senior living communities. By folding in home movies, photos and other media, it enables people to have experiences like revisiting their childhood home or a town they grew up in or attending their wedding all over again.

The VR headsets are networked, so all users view the same experience, but each individual controls what they are looking at inside the experience. Afterward, the participants can talk about what they’ve just been through.

Portal Go

Video chatting, perhaps over a meal with a friend or family member, is a great way to stay in touch.

The new Portal Go ($200) from Facebook is a 10-inch display you can bring to rooms throughout your home. The first video calling device from the company, it has a built-in rechargeable battery. It’s scheduled to be available this fall.

Make calls over some of today’s most popular platforms (Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Zoom) with a smart camera that automatically pans and zooms to always keep you in frame. If someone else walks into the room, the camera widens to bring them into the picture.

Many older adults and their friends are already on Facebook, Llamas says, “so products like the Portal family make it easy to connect with one button or your voice. It’s a great way to stay in touch with audio and video — the closest thing to being there in person.”

There are no subscription costs for Portal Go. Other features include an integrated Alexa assistant to ask questions or control your smart-home gear; high-fidelity audio, to fill a room with music or podcasts; and optional fun filters and background effects, to spice up your conversations.

Reprinted from AARP

Some brazen scammers rip off unwary taxpayers by impersonating agents of the Internal Revenue Service. They’ll call and insist you have an unpaid tax bill and face arrest unless you pay up, immediately.

From October 2013 through March 2021, the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration logged more than 2.5 million reports of scam calls from IRS impersonators, with some 16,000 victims collectively losing more than $82.6 million. 

Con artists have numerous ways to make the hoax seem convincing. They can trick a caller ID to make it appear that the call is coming from an actual IRS office. They may even know part of the mark’s Social Security number.

One massive, years-long fraud scheme, eventually busted by federal authorities, saw call centers in India use information from data brokers to find potential marks, whom they contacted and scared into making payments to co-conspirators in the United States. Older Americans were among the prime targets. Two dozen U.S.-based participants have been convicted and sentenced to prison terms of up to 20 years, according to the Justice Department.

The IRS says impostors are increasingly turning to robocalls to broaden their reach, with automated messages requesting a call back to resolve a supposed tax problem. Scammers also deploy phishing emails, often targeting college students, faculty and staff members with .edu addresses, the IRS and Federal Trade Commission warn. The emails, with IRS logos and subject lines like “Tax Refund Payment,” link to a website that asks for personal data such as Social Security and driver’s license numbers to facilitate the “refund.”https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.509.0_en.html#goog_219519002Play Video

How to Tell if You’re the Target of an IRS Scam

Warning Signs 

• It’s a phone call. The IRS communicates mostly through the mail, including in cases of delinquent taxes. It will generally make contact by phone or in person only after a taxpayer has received multiple written notices. 
• The pretend IRS official demands immediate payment and threatens to call police and have you arrested — things the actual tax agency never does.
• An email purporting to be from the IRS links to a website where you’re asked to provide personal and financial information to facilitate or calculate a tax refund.

Do’s

• Do hang up immediately if a caller claims to be from the IRS, unless you have reason to believe you really do owe taxes, such as prior written communication from the agency.
• Do forward any unsolicited emails in which someone claims to be from the IRS or the Treasury Department to [email protected]. Do not click on any links or open attachments. 
• Do consider filing a fraud alert or freezing your credit with the three major credit-reporting bureaus if a scammer knows part of your Social Security number.
• Do ask for identification if you’re visited by someone claiming to be from the IRS. Actual employees carry two official credentials: a “pocket commission” and an HSPD-12 card, a standard ID for federal workers. An IRS employee will provide, on request, a dedicated agency phone number for you to verify the information on the card.

Don’ts

• Don’t provide or confirm personal or financial information over the phone to someone who claims to be a government official. 
• Don’t respond to a purported IRS email or text message asking for your information. The IRS doesn’t do that. 
• Don’t agree to pay a tax bill with a gift card, prepaid debit card or wire transfer. Scammers prefer these methods because they’re difficult to trace and can be used almost anywhere.
• Don’t give credit or debit card numbers to a caller claiming to be an IRS official. The IRS says it never asks for such information over the phone.
• Don’t assume a caller who tells you to verify his or her phone number by checking the IRS website is on the level. Caller IDs can be rigged to display the number of a real IRS office.
• Don’t be bullied. A scammer will issue threats and demands, but according to the IRS, if you actually owe back taxes, you will get a bill in the mail and have an opportunity to appeal or to question the amount.

Reprinted from AARP

If you want to donate to relief efforts for Ukrainians, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have some advice about how to make sure you choose a legitimate and effective charity.

The BBB warns that scammers will likely create fake donation websites and make fraudulent pleas for money to supposedly help the people of war-torn Ukraine.

Such deception “puts donors at risk of money loss and identity theft,” says Steve J. Bernas, president and CEO of the BBB of Chicago and Northern Illinois.

Before giving, donors should visit BBB’s Give.org for tips on how to best help. Not all relief groups will provide timely help to those in need unless they already have a presence in Ukraine, it says.

In addition to the BBB, other groups that check out charities include CharityNavigator, CharityWatch and GuideStar.

The BBB has six tips for prospective donors:

1. Can the charity get to the impacted area? Not all relief organizations will be positioned to provide relief quickly, so check that a charity already has a presence in Ukraine.

2. Should you send clothing and food? Local drives to collect clothing and food to send overseas may not be practical, since the logistics of delivering and dispersing the goods will be challenging.

3. Does the charity meet the BBB Standards for Charity Accountability? These include such criteria as what percentage of gifts get to those in need.

4. Is the charity experienced in emergency relief? Established disaster-relief charities are the best bet to help deliver aid promptly. New entrants may have difficulty, despite the best of intentions.

5. Considering a crowdfunding appeal? The safest route is to give to someone you know and trust. Keep in mind that some crowdfunding sites do minimal vetting. Also, review the platform’s policies on fees and the distribution of donations.

6. Does a charity make exaggerated claims, such as “100 percent will be spent on relief”? Since all charities have fundraising and administrative expenses, any organization claiming otherwise is potentially misleading people.

FBI cautions

According to the FBI, scams are prevalent after high-profile events, and “criminals often use tragedies to exploit you and others who want to help.”

The FBI cautions that charity scams can take the form of emails, social media posts, cold calls and crowdfunding requests. Fraudsters even pretend to be with the government.

Here are four FBI suggestions:

1. Beware of groups with copycat names or names similar to those of reputable, well-known organizations.

2. Don’t click on links or open attachments from strangers.

3. Don’t provide personal information in response to an email, robocall or robotext.

4. If you want to donate, use a check or credit card. Remember, if a group asks you to donate using cash, gift cards, virtual currency or a wire transfer, it’s probably a scam.

As demand for COVID-19 testing has soared, state and federal officials are warning consumers of three problems that can jeopardize their health and pocketbooks:

• Fake pop-up test sites have been reported in several states. They’re set up to steal personal information, such as credit card numbers, Social Security numbers and health information.
  
• Impostors reportedly have crashed legitimate test sites. The crooks are said to pose as health care workers to try to grab your private information.
  
• Fake at-home test kits for COVID-19 are being peddled online.

Here’s more:

Fake test sites

Phony sites can be hard to spot, since they “look real, with legitimate-looking signs, tents, hazmat suits and realistic-looking tests,” according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a consumer-protection agency.

There have been reports of sites claiming to have free tests but billing consumers later, the FTC says. Other complaints are from people who never receive the test they were promised.

When a fake site obtains your personal information, it “can be used for identity theft or to run up your credit card bill,” the FTC says. Even worse, the sham sites are not “giving people the help they need to stay healthy.”

Never give out your Social Security number or passport number to get a COVID test, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) says.

More tips from the FTC:

• Get a referral. Go to a site recommended by your doctor or state or local health department. Do not trust a random testing site you see around town.
• Be skeptical. Did you hear about a new testing site on a neighborhood social media group or group email list? A “neighbor” could be a scammer, so be sure the site also is on a state or local health department’s website.
• Not sure a site is legit? Check with your local police or sheriff’s office. If a legitimate testing site has been set up, they should know about it. On the other hand, if a fake testing site is up and running, they’ll want to know.
• Avoid “look-alike” websites. Fake testing sites may require you to sign up online, so beware of fake sites that purposely look identical to those of well-known, trusted organizations or a state agency. Before entering personal information online, make sure that the website is secure and does not have misspellings or unfamiliar names in its URL.
• Be wary of unsolicited calls about testing sites. A legitimate company or health clinic will not call, text or email you without your permission. If you receive an unsolicited message, do not provide the caller or sender with personal information until you have confirmed it is a legitimate source. If you feel pressured to provide personal information, just hang up. 

Fake at-home test kits

Four free COVID tests per household are now available from the federal government at COVIDtests.gov, and private insurance companies are required to cover the cost of up to eight over-the-counter tests per month for each covered person, the CFPB says.

If you want to buy a test kit online, the CFPB urges people to:

• Check out the Food and Drug Administration’s list of authorized antigen test and PCR tests.
  
• Pay by credit card, since if you are charged for an order that you do not receive, you can dispute the charge with the credit card company.

Nessel, Michigan’s attorney general, also suggests the following:

• Check out a seller before buying, especially if you’re on an unfamiliar site. Search the company’s name with words such as “scam,” “complaint” or “review.”
  
• Compare online reviews for a wide variety of websites to better know a company, product or service.

Reprinted from AARP Fraud Network

Knowing key dates can help you avoid penalties and get your refund faster

As we look forward to 2022, we can mark significant dates on our calendars: birthdays, anniversaries and, of course, the deadlines the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sets for filing and paying federal income taxes.

Bear in mind that we are filing taxes for income earned in 2021, even though we file those forms in 2022. To keep confusion to a minimum, tax experts refer to 2021 as the tax year and 2022 as the filing year. Most, but not all, of the deadlines in 2022 refer to tax year 2021.

When is Tax Day? It’s complicated

The deadline for filing 2021 federal income tax returns for most taxpayers is April 18. Taxpayers haven’t had to file on the traditional date, April 15, since the 2019 filing season.

In 2020 and 2021, the April 15 deadline got pushed back by the COVID-19 pandemic. And in some non-pandemic years, the deadline sometimes gets pushed back to the next business day because April 15 falls on a weekend.

2022 IRS Key Tax Dates

Jan. 14: IRS Free File service opens to prepare tax year 2021 returns

Jan. 18: Final estimated tax payment for 2021 due

Jan. 24: IRS begins processing 2021 tax returns

Jan. 24: Free MilTax service for military opens to prepare 2021 returns

April 18: First estimated tax payment for tax year 2022 due

April 18: Filing deadline for tax year 2021

June 15: Second estimated tax payment for 2022 due

Sept. 15: Third estimated tax payment for 2022 due

Oct. 17: Extended deadline to file 2021 tax return

Jan. 17, 2023: Fourth estimated tax payment for 2022 due

The filing deadline this year is Monday, April 18, because Washington, D.C., observes Emancipation Day on Friday, April 15. By law, the IRS is required to treat D.C. holidays as if they were national holidays for tax-filing purposes. Emancipation Day commemorates the day in 1862 when President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a measure to free enslaved people in D.C. (Adding to the complexity, the actual date of Emancipation Day is April 16, but since it falls on a Saturday this year the holiday is celebrated a day early.)

Making matters more complicated, taxpayers in Maine and Massachusetts don’t have to file until April 19, because those states celebrate Patriots’ Day on April 18. The holiday marks the first battles of the American Revolution in 1775.

Some taxpayers affected by recent natural disasters get extra time to file. Victims of the January Colorado wildfires will have until May 16 to file their federal tax returns. The same goes for victims of the December tornados and flooding in Kentucky.

Filing late?

Don’t blow the deadline. The penalty for late filing is 5 percent of the amount due each month, and the penalty for failure to pay is 0.5 percent a month, and maxes out at 25 percent a year. (When both penalties are levied in the same month, the total penalty is 5 percent a month: 4.5 percent for failure to file and 0.5 percent for failure to pay.) Interest also accrues, at a current rate of 3 percent.

If you must file late, you can get an automatic extension by filing IRS Form 4868. The automatic extension typically gives you until Oct. 15 to file your return, but since Oct. 15 falls on a Saturday this year, the extended deadline is actually Oct. 17. However, an extension to file doesn’t grant an extension to pay. You must still pay any taxes owed by April 18 or face penalties for late payment. If you’re owed a refund and file late, the IRS won’t levy a penalty, but you won’t get your refund until you file. If you don’t claim a refund within three years, you’ll lose the money.

When does tax season start?

The IRS takes a few weeks to get ready to process the millions of returns it receives during tax season. Last year, taxpayers sent more than 168 million individual returns to the IRS. However, IRS and Treasury officials say some returns have yet to be processed due to delays stemming from the pandemic.

The IRS will begin accepting and processing new returns on Jan. 24. The IRS says most taxpayers will get their refunds within 21 days of when they file electronically, barring any issues with processing their tax returns. Electronic filing, when linked with direct deposit, is the fastest way to get a refund. Last year’s average tax refund was more than $2,800.

Paying estimated taxes

The self-employed must pay estimated taxes every quarter. The last payment for the 2021 tax year is due on Jan. 18. The first payment for the 2022 tax year is due April 18, with other payments due June 15, Sept. 15 and Jan. 17, 2023.

Reprinted from AARP.

Health experts are quickly learning about the characteristics of the new omicron variant that is driving a record-breaking spike in COVID-19 cases, including some of the symptoms it causes.

It isn’t always the case that a new version of the virus brings about a new batch of symptoms. “The symptom differences between people infected with one variant or another are usually much more similar than they are different,” says Scott Roberts, M.D., assistant professor and associate medical director of infection prevention at Yale School of Medicine. And for the most part, that seems to hold true with omicron. But researchers and medical professionals have noted a few small differences between omicron and its predecessors.

For instance, loss of taste and smell appears to occur less often in omicron infections. It’s something health experts are hearing anecdotally; there are also early studies that support these observations, though University of Michigan infectious disease physician Laraine Washer, M.D., says there’s not enough population-level data yet to know for sure. Backaches and night sweats have also been associated with omicron. “But ultimately, we haven’t detected any clear difference between omicron versus delta,” Roberts says. “We’ve been advising people just to wait until the data comes out.”

The one big difference that we’re anecdotally hearing [is] there’s much less loss of taste and smell with the omicron variant compared to delta.— Scott Roberts, M.D., assistant professor and associate medical director of infection prevention at Yale School of Medicine

Milder symptoms but more contagious

What’s becoming clearer, however, is that omicron, while highly contagious, appears to cause more mild, coldlike symptoms. “Many people are presenting with sore throat, nasal congestion, headache, muscle aches,” Roberts says.

Data collected so far show that individuals infected with omicron are significantly less likely to be hospitalized than those infected with delta, even though hospitalization rates are at an all-time high due to skyrocketing case counts. They’re also less likely to require intensive care. This is not the case for everybody, experts caution. Some patients experience serious symptoms with omicron, like trouble breathing, Washer notes. “We are still seeing people end up on ventilators and having severe disease,” Roberts adds.

Health experts are trying to determine whether omicron’s less severe symptoms are a product of the variant itself or a reflection of a majority-vaccinated population that is better able to blunt some of its worst effects. The vaccine-plus-booster regimen is about 75 percent effective against symptomatic disease, and protection against severe disease is likely higher, researchers report. Both Roberts and Washer say the majority of people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.

Another explanation: Lab studies suggest that the omicron variant does not replicate as well in the deep lung tissue — an area notoriously damaged by delta and other variants — rather, it thrives in the upper airway. “Perhaps that is why we’re not seeing as severe disease,” Roberts says.

Signs of omicron infection can come on quickly

Another noticeable difference between omicron and other coronavirus variants is how quickly the symptoms hit. Fever, sore throat and fatigue caused by omicron are more likely to show up about three days after a person is infected, whereas symptoms caused by delta, alpha and others typically emerge about five or six days after infection, Washer says.

Getting sick soon after exposure can help people better pinpoint when and where they became infected. “But it also means that the increase in viral load that’s causing symptoms comes on pretty fast,” Washer says. “And you may actually be infectious to others even before those symptoms develop.”  

Omicron’s shorter incubation period, as it’s called, could lead to new testing guidelines, Roberts points out. Current recommendations advise individuals to wait at least five days after having contact with a COVID-positive individual before taking a test. “They may shorten that to as little as three days after getting exposed just to be sure,” he says.

Cold and flu season adds to confusion

While milder symptoms are better in many respects, omicron will make it more difficult for people to tell what’s COVID-19 and what’s just a cold — or the flu or a whole host of other respiratory illnesses that circulate this time of year.

Most Common Symptoms of COVID-19

People with COVID-19 report a wide range of symptoms. The most prevalent are:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Roberts says the solution is to “take any symptom seriously, even a mild symptom.” And if there’s a change in how you’re feeling, take an at-home test — if you can find one. Rapid antigen tests can tell you whether you have a COVID-19 infection in about 15 minutes with a swab of the nose or throat. Home tests are in short supply because of high demand, though the federal government has pledged to make them more accessible in the coming months.

If your test comes back positive, health officials recommend a minimum five-day isolation period. After five days you can be around others again while wearing a mask, as long as you are fever-free and feeling better. And don’t forget to tell your health care provider that you have COVID-19. Depending on your medical condition and drug availability, you may qualify for treatment to make sure the disease does not progress to a more dangerous state. Also, be on the lookout for worsening symptoms. Trouble breathing, pain or pressure in the chest, and confusion require immediate medical care.

Even if your antigen test is negative, Roberts advises caution. “I think if you’re having signs of respiratory virus infection right now, more likely than not it’s COVID,” he says. A PCR test (short for polymerase chain reaction), administered at a doctor’s office or testing site, can confirm your suspicions. Another option to consider if you test negative for COVID-19 but have a fever is a flu test, Washer says, since there are also treatments specific to this illness that can help you feel better.

Preventive measures key in omicron fight

Finally, don’t forget all the preventive efforts that can help you dodge an omicron infection in the first place. Health experts still encourage avoiding crowded gatherings and poorly ventilated indoor spaces. Keep a physical distance between yourself and others not in your household, and wear a mask when you’re out in public.

“One thing I would emphasize is omicron is different than delta, in that even if you’re vaccinated, even if you’re boosted, you really need to protect yourself by wearing a high-quality mask, especially when you’re indoors,” Washer says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has do’s and don’ts for selecting and wearing a mask. With the current surge in COVID-19 cases, many experts are recommending medical-grade masks, such as KN95s and surgical masks, instead of cloth ones.  

Reprinted from AARP.

Charity Scams

Americans contributed more than $471 billion to charity in 2020, according to the Giving USA Foundation’s annual report on U.S. philanthropy. That generosity supports many amazing organizations that put those billions to work for health care, education, environmental protection, the arts and numerous other causes.

Unfortunately, it also opens a door for scammers, who capitalize on donors’ goodwill to line their pockets.

Many such frauds involve faux fundraising for veterans and disaster relief. Scammers know how readily we open our hearts and wallets to those who served and those rebuilding their lives after hurricanes, earthquakes or wildfires. Charity scammers are especially active during the holidays, the biggest giving season of the year. 

They also follow the headlines: The coronavirus pandemic has brought a bevy of phony appeals to donate to victims or emergency response effort.

4 Ways to Avoid a Charity Scam

Sham charities succeed by mimicking the real thing. Like genuine nonprofits, they reach you via telemarketing, direct mail, email and door-to-door solicitations. They create well-designed websites with deceptive names. (Cybersecurity firm DomainTools has flagged more than 100,000 sites with COVID-19-related domains as “high risk” for fraud.)

Some operate fully outside the law; others are in fact registered nonprofits but devote little of the money they raise to the programs they promote. Federal and state authorities who shut down a massive fundraising network in March 2021 said the affiliated companies pocketed as much as 90 cents on the donated dollar as they bombarded consumers with illegal robocalls and deceptive appeals to support homeless veterans, cancer patients and autistic kids. 

With a little research and a few precautions, you can help ensure your donations go to organizations that are genuinely serving others, not helping themselves.

Warning Signs

• Pressure to give right now. A legitimate charity will welcome your donation whenever you choose to make it.
• A thank-you for a donation you don’t recall making. Making you think you’ve already given to the cause is a common trick unscrupulous fundraisers use to lower your resistance.
• A request for payment by cash, gift card or wire transfer. Those are scammers’ favored payment methods because the money is difficult to trace.

Do’s

• Do check how watchdogs like Charity Navigator, CharityWatch and the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance rate an organization before you make a donation, and contact your state’s charity regulator to verify that the organization is registered to raise money there.
• Do your own research online. The FTC recommends searching for a charity’s name or a cause you want to support (like “animal welfare” or “homeless kids”) with terms such as “highly rated charity,” “complaints” and “scam.”
• Do pay attention to the charity’s name and web address. Scammers often mimic the names of familiar, trusted organizations to fool donors.
• Do ask how much of your donation goes to overhead and fundraising. One rule of thumb, used by Wise Giving Alliance, is that at least 65 percent of a charity’s total expenses should go directly to serving its mission.
• Do keep a record of your donations and regularly review your credit card account to make sure you weren’t charged more than you agreed to give or unknowingly signed up for a recurring donation.

Don’ts

• Don’t give personal and financial information like your Social Security number, date of birth or bank account number to anyone soliciting a donation. Scammers use that data to steal money and identities.
• Don’t make a donation with cash or by gift card or wire transfer. Credit cards and checks are safer.
• Don’t click on links in unsolicited email, Facebook or Twitter fundraising messages; they can unleash malware.
• Don’t donate by text without confirming the number on the charity’s official website.
• Don’t assume pleas for help on social media or on crowdfunding sites such as GoFundMe are legitimate, especially in the wake of disasters. The FTC warns that fraudsters use real victims’ stories and pictures to con people.

Reprinted from AARP Fraud Watch Network.

The share of shopping that consumers do online has been growing for years, and the coronavirus pandemic sent the trend into hyperdrive, with ecommerce accounting for one-fifth of U.S. retail spending in 2020, according to research firm Digital Commerce 360.

Cybercriminals are keeping pace. Online purchasing is the most common scam type reported to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), accounting for 38 percent of complaints to the BBB’s Scam Tracker in the first seven months of 2020 — up from 24 percent in 2019. An AARP-sponsored study by Javelin Strategy & Research found that 29 percent of consumers ages 50 and over have been stung by online shopping scams.

The typical shopping scam starts with a bogus website, mobile app or social media ad. Some faux e-stores are invented from whole cloth, but many mimic trusted retailers, with familiar logos and slogans and a URL that’s easily mistaken for the real thing. They offer popular items at a fraction of the usual cost and promise perks like free shipping and overnight delivery, exploiting the premium online shoppers put on price and speed.

Some of these copycats do deliver merchandise — shoddy knockoffs worth less than even the “discount” price advertised as a once-in-a-lifetime deal on, say, Tiffany watches or Timberland boots. More often, you’ll wait in vain for your purchase to arrive. Reports to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of undelivered orders quadrupled from 2015 to 2019, and no-shows reached record highs in the spring of 2020 as the spread of COVID-19 fueled a spike in online shopping. 

And your losses might not stop there: Scammers may seed phony sites, apps, or links in pop-up ads and email coupons with malware that infects your device and harvests personal information for use in identity theft.

Not surprisingly, these frauds flourish during the holiday season. A November 2020 AARP survey on holiday shopping found that while 72 percent of U.S. consumers are concerned about the security of their personal and financial information when buying something online, only 15 percent could correctly answer at least 7 of 10 true/false questions about safe shopping practices. You need not forgo the ease and endless selection of online shopping, but take precautions to make sure you get what you pay for.

Warning Signs

• Bargain-basement prices. Internet security firm Norton says to be on guard if discounts exceed 55 percent.
• Shoddy website design or sloppy English. Real retailers take great care with their online presentation.
• Limited or suspicious contact options — for example, they only have a fill-in contact form, or the customer-service email is a Yahoo or Gmail account, not a corporate one.
• URLs with extraneous words or characters (most stores use only their brand name in web addresses) or unusual domains — for example, .bargain, .app or a foreign domain instead of .com or .net.

Do’s

• Do use trusted sites rather than shopping with a search engine. Scammers can game search results to lead you astray.
• Do comparison shop. Check prices from multiple retailers to help determine if a deal you’ve seen really is too good to be true.
• Do research an unfamiliar product or brand. Search for its name with terms like “scam” or “complaint,” and look for reviews.
• Do check that phone numbers and addresses on store sites are genuine, so you can contact the seller in case of problems.
• Do carefully read delivery, exchange, refund and privacy policies. If they are vague or nonexistent, take your business elsewhere.
• Do look twice at URLs and app names. Misplaced or transposed letters are a scam giveaway but easy to miss.
• Do pay by credit card. Liability for fraudulent charges on credit cards is generally limited to $50, and some providers offer 100 percent purchase protection. Paying by debit card does not off offer such safeguards.

Don’ts

• Don’t pay by wire transfer, money order or gift card. Sellers that demand these types of payments are scammers, and unlike with credit cards or reputable e-pay services, there’s little recourse to recover your money.
• Don’t assume a retail website is safe because it is encrypted. Many scam sites use encryption, indicated by a padlock icon or “https://” in front of the URL, to provide a false sense of security. Use other means, like those listed to the left, to confirm if a site is legit.
• Don’t provide more information than a retailer needs. That should be only your billing information and the shipping address.
• Don’t use sites that require you to download software or enter personal information to access coupons or discount codes.
• Don’t buy from sites that are very new, security software maker Norton recommends. Look for a copyright date, and use the WHOIS lookup service to see when a domain was created.

Reprinted from AARP Fraud Watch Network