Beware! The elderly who live alone become the "prey" of the anchor's fraud, how to protect the "money bag"?
In this era of online information, with the popularization of smart phones, new media forms such as live broadcast and short video have sprung up, bringing people an unprecedented audio-visual experience. However, these new methods of propagation have also been exploited by some criminals as tools to commit fraud. The elderly living alone, as a relatively isolated group, often become the "prey" of these fraudsters due to the lack of companionship of their children and information blockage.
Recently, the Shanghai Huangpu police cracked a fraud case against the elderly living alone, involving an amount of up to 8.5 million yuan. The victim, Aunt Zhang, met a marketing consultant Kai when she was handling an insurance claim. Kai's eloquence and business skills quickly won Aunt Zhang's trust. With the passage of time, in the name of investment and financial management, Kai transferred the money in Aunt Zhang's mobile banking to his account many times, and even defrauded Aunt Zhang's house sale money. What is shocking is that Kai used nearly 5 million yuan to reward the female anchor of the network, and his life was extremely luxurious.
Coincidentally, another 78-year-old elderly woman living alone in Shanghai, Grandma Li, also suffered a similar scam. She received a call from someone claiming to be a "network center worker", claiming that the bank card in her name was involved in a crime and needed to be verified. Under the step-by-step guidance of the other party, Grandma Li leaked her personal information, and downloaded the software and logged in to the online banking according to the other party's requirements, which eventually led to the deception of 470,000 yuan of pension savings.
In addition to the above cases, there is a more insidious form of fraud – emotional fraud. Some unscrupulous anchors take advantage of the loneliness of the elderly who live alone to establish emotional connections through the live broadcast room, and then commit fraud. For example, an aunt Gao met an anchor Ma who claimed to be poor but self-reliant through the live broadcast room of a short video platform. Ma was enthusiastic about helping fans solve problems in the live broadcast room, showing a positive side. And as time went on, Ma began to borrow money from Aunt Gao for various reasons, and even hired actors to stage kidnapping scenes to win sympathy. In the end, Aunt Gao was cheated of more than 550,000 yuan.
These cases illustrate the vulnerability of elderly people living alone in the face of online fraud. They often lack sufficient cyber security awareness and are easily confused by the sweet words of criminals. At the same time, because their children are not around, it is difficult for them to get help and reminders in time when they encounter problems.
First, all sectors of society should strengthen their care and companionship for the elderly living alone. Communities, neighbors, and volunteers can visit seniors living alone on a regular basis to understand their living conditions and needs, and provide necessary help and support. Secondly, families and children should strengthen communication with the elderly, regularly inquire about the living conditions and financial status of the elderly, and detect abnormal situations in time and take measures. In addition, the government and relevant departments should also strengthen cyber security education and publicity to raise the cyber security awareness of the elderly living alone.
At the same time, for new media forms such as online livestreaming platforms, the relevant departments should strengthen supervision and crack down on illegal acts of using livestreaming platforms to commit fraud. The platform party should also assume social responsibility, strengthen the review and management of anchors, and prevent unscrupulous anchors from using the platform to carry out fraudulent activities.
In short, the elderly living alone are one of the vulnerable groups in society, and they face many difficulties and challenges. In the age of network information, we should pay more attention to the network security of the elderly living alone and jointly protect their "money bags". By strengthening efforts such as social care, family ties, government supervision and platform self-discipline, we will jointly build a safer and more harmonious social environment, so that the elderly living alone can enjoy their old age in peace.