CyberSmarts for Seniors: OPP Officer Phil Young on Online Safety and Common Scams
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As part of our CyberSmarts for Seniors Project, participants had the opportunity to learn directly from experts about staying safe online. In this session, OPP Officer Phil Young delivered a clear and practical presentation on common scams, online risks, and simple steps seniors can take to protect themselves on the Internet. His guidance helped participants feel more confident using their devices, recognizing warning signs, and understanding how to stay secure while enjoying the benefits of being online.
Transcript:
This is a definite hot topic of the day, as we like to call it. So, not just with seniors, not just with middle-aged people, but schools. I mean, we are dealing with online safety and social media aspects on a daily basis.
When you have access to the internet, it's leaving a mark. And it's called your digital footprint. Everything, as soon as you have access to the internet, it's leaving a digital footprint. Whether you like it or not, it's doing it in the background. So, a digital footprint is no different than a, than a physical footprint.
So if you don't have a switch, put a piece of opaque tape over top of that eye. So, in the remote possibility chance that somebody gains access to it, they still can't see it.
We can dissect that electronic device and see exactly where you've been, what you sent, what you received, what sites you visit.
My cursor goes from a arrow, it's an arrow. What do you think happens to that arrow when I go over top of this? Turns into a hand. And that's called a hyperlink.
Do not click on that. Because as soon as you click on that hyperlink, it automatically routes you to a page that belongs to the scammer.
Before you do anything—and that includes even talking and, and corresponding with these people, and especially sending money, is talk to a trusted source, a friend, a neighbour, a family member, us at the office; we're there 24 hours a day. You can call in, you can come down and see us in person, we'll be able to tell you in a second whether it's real or not.
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This resource is part of the CyberSmarts for Seniors Project, funded in part by the Government of Canada’s
New Horizons for Seniors Program and ELNOS, and delivered in Elliot Lake by Raknas Inc. and Golden Voices, the seniors-focused division of the DiversityCanada Foundation.
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