As part of the nationwide Techweek2021 festival, Age Concern Otago ran an open day recently to help people feel confident with computers and mobiles.
Age Concern Otago staff member Miriam Spronk said 250 to 300 people attended the open day.
Gallaway Cook Allan Lawyers ICT manager Jamie Vaughan presented online safety talks.
Checking an email message made sense was one way to ensure it was legitimate.
"Are you expecting an email from that person?
"If it is from your old mate Bill that you have not heard from for 30 years saying ‘hey I’m selling this stuff online’, it is probably not right," Mr Vaughan said.
Mr Vaughan advised the audience to avoid pop-ups, pages asking for subscriptions or asking them to click on a link.
"Remember the basics — be careful what you click on."
Seniors were also given the opportunity to learn about online banking.
Margaret McConville said she used online banking on her computer but came to the open day to ask questions about using a banking app on her phone.
"I just wanted to see how it works compared to online banking."
She wanted to make sure her phone was safe before having the banking app installed.
Having quick access to bank balances and accounts were some of the features Mrs McConville said were useful to have on her phone.
"I just wanted to make sure my phone was as safe as my online banking."
The IT Team technician William Fraser said not saving passwords on the phone was a good idea.
If a phone was lost there were ways to access it on a computer so it could be locked remotely.
All data on the phone could even be wiped or deleted remotely, Mr Fraser said.
