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We devote most of our time in these columns writing about scams, covering the different aspects of electronic schemes to steal your money and personal information.
Being an older adult is a risky business and crooks seek to take advantage of every aspect of our vulnerabilities as we age.
Today's senior is a target for scammers, but also may be a target of opportunity for other kinds of criminals who may take interest in our homes, vehicles and our behavior in shopping areas.
Street crime is not a random business -- it is purposeful and intentional. Our challenge, as seniors, is to stay out of the crosshairs of crooks as they look for easy targets.
Around our homes, this means not being the house with no security cameras, open doors and windows, packages on the porch and garden tools propped up next to the garage. Criminals drive around neighborhoods comparing one home against another, and carefully select the target that promises the quickest reward for the least risk.
Put up a few security cameras (real or fake), lock your doors and windows, and keep a tidy, well-lit home.
Our vehicles can also tell strangers quite a bit about our vulnerability. License plates and stickers that proclaim various causes, hobbies, professions and affiliations draw attention from criminals looking for targets. Vehicles left unlocked, worse yet, with the windows down, are easier targets than locked vehicles. Then, factor in the contents of a vehicle -- are things like sunglasses, change cups, clothing, boxes, briefcases, electronics left in plain sight? The point is, make your vehicle as anonymous and generic as possible.
We also have to think about how we handle ourselves in public, especially in shopping areas and parking lots. Criminals look for easy prey, like people shuffling around a parking lot with their head glued to a cell phone......or, the person who forgot where they parked and is wandering around with a heavy load of shopping bags (while talking on a cell phone).
Expensive jewelry and handbags may mark the wearer as a target of opportunity. Don't send out the signals that you are worth the risk of attacking.
Minimize the display of personal wealth as your shop, and as you leave the store have your keys in your hand as you stride confidently toward your car -- head up, shoulders back and eyes aware!
We are constantly sending out signals to people comparing one target to another. Do what you can to reduce the likelihood that a criminal will select YOU as the ripest target compared to others -- a lot of this is clearly under your control.
When a criminal strikes, it's not like they are drawing a name from a hat.
Being an older adult is no cake-walk, but at least we are doing it in a beautiful part of Ohio. It'll be time in a few weeks to get out the leaf rakes and find a big pumpkin for the porch. Enjoy the end of summer!
Dave Long of Poland, a Youngstown State University graduate, is a retired public affairs officer with U.S. Customs and Border Protection who later worked as an Elder Scam Prevention Outreach specialist in Rochester, N.Y., before moving back to the Mahoning Valley.