Senior News Line: You know better, right?

A retiree fell for a scam that drained his account of all his savings. It took a lifetime to save the money and only a minute for it to vanish. All it took was him giving information to a scammer.

The gentleman received an email saying he was owed a refund and asked that he fill in his banking details. He believed that email was from his bank. Within moments of sending the email, his account was emptied.

Not only that, but he was then instructed on the phone, by someone he believed was a bank security officer, to hand over his credit cards to a bank courier because those accounts were also compromised. The scammer quickly went on a spending spree.

It’s rare, but the criminal was actually caught. While he might get a few years in jail, the victim has been left to try to pick up the pieces of his life, with no hope of getting that money back.

Some basic hints for safety:

• If you’re uneasy about any portion of a call, hang up.

• If you get a call from someone claiming to be at your bank, hang up. Dial the number of the bank yourself and find out if they were actually looking for you. Especially do not follow their instructions if the “security” people at your bank insist you need to transfer your money into a different account to keep it “safe.”

• If you’re asked to call *72 followed by a different number, hang up. Do not dial *72. It’s a call forwarding option that prisoners, callers to 900 sex line numbers and people in foreign counties use as a way to charge expensive calls to your phone.

• Don’t panic if you suspect you have a scammer on the line. Just hang up.