SCAMS PREY ON Y2K FEARS; SENIORS WARNED NOT TO GIVE OUT FINANCIAL DATA.

Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Staff Writer

Seniors are being warned of strangers playing on their fears of the Y2K bug as reports pile up across the country of thieves convincing the elderly to give them access to their bank accounts.

Simi Valley police said they have not received any reports of people taking advantage of residents, but they anticipate that as the year comes to an end, con men will be coming out of the woodwork.

``It's important to make people aware of that, not just seniors but everyone,'' said Alicia Pierce, volunteer coordinator for the Simi Valley Police Department. ``They will be targeting seniors because those are people who have been wise and saved their money. They need to be careful and watch out for those things.''

For several years now, the public and media have been talking about widespread computer failures as the clock strikes midnight Dec. 31 and the year becomes 2000.

The millennium glitch was caused by early computer programmers, who in trying to save precious space, created internal clocks that assume the first two digits of the year to be 19. Computers that are not updated would read the new year as 1900 instead of 2000, causing possible shutdowns.

One scam making its way across Ventura Country involves an elderly person getting a phone call from a solicitor pretending to represent a bank, police said.

The callers ask permission to transfer the person's money into a special bond account for safekeeping until after the new year when the bank completes Y2K tests and repairs.

Once they get personal information about the victim's bank accounts, the con men use it to clean them out.

Officials said other scams involve unsolicited offers of Y2K assistance and requests for critical pieces of information, such as Social Security card numbers and credit card numbers, needed to prevent a shutdown.

In the months leading up to 2000, government agencies, financial institutions and private entities have warned people that anxieties about the Y2K problem is tailor-made for opportunists who prey on those fears.

Simi Valley Senior Center Director Kathryn O. Medley said seniors are not the only targets. Everyone should be on guard against the scams.

``Scams happen to innocent people all the time,'' she said.

In an effort to alleviate some of their fears, the Police Department's Pierce passed on advisories from other agencies.

The American Red Cross is recommending that people plan as if they are preparing for a storm or earthquake, with enough nonperishable food, bottled water, prescription drugs and cash to last several days.

The Social Security Administration has said its checks will be processed and that if there are problems, checks will be replaced.

Federal bank regulators are asking that people not withdraw money in anticipation of a glitch at the bank. Accounts are federally insured up to $10,000 and many banks already have upgraded their computer system to be Y2K compliant.

Finally, officials at the American Association of Retired Persons said much of the advice is simply to use common sense - and to be wary of people who offer miracle software packages that will protect them from the bug.

INFORMATION SOURCES

The American Association of Retired Persons suggests several sources for answers about the Y2K computer problem:

The President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion: www.y2k.gov, or call toll free, [phone].

Federal Trade Commission: www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/y2k

Federal Emergency Management Agency: www.fema.gov/y2k

American Red Cross: www.redcross.org/y2k.html

Information Technology Association of America: www.itaa.org/year2000

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