GUILDERLAND — The 140 people, many of them elderly, who attended a session at the Guilderland library last Friday on avoiding scams were told to be skeptical and to be rude. Scammers prey on the elderly because they tend to be trusting, at home, and receptive to social interaction, they were told.

The presentation by the Better Business Bureau and AT&T touched on telephone trickery and email deception, as well as tactics that shysters use to co-opt someone’s identity.

The scenarios described by Warren Clark, president and chief executive officer of the Better Business Bureau of Upstate New York, were familiar to many in the audience:

— High-pressure sales calls;

— IRS threats, in which the caller purports to need an immediate payment for the Internal Revenue Service or else the call recipient could be arrested;

— The grandparents’ scam, in which a caller says the grandchild has an emergency and needs money right away. (This spring, Mary Browne of Knox reported being scammed out of $8,000 by a caller who claimed her grandson needed bail money);

— The “I’m in the neighborhood” scheme in which a contractor who just happened to be passing by will do a job in cash, at a discount; and

— The attempt to get a call recipient to say “yes” to a simple question. The “yes” is recorded and supposedly could be used in another context to misrepresent the recipient as approving something.

Clark’s advice was to avoid any contact when the origin of a call or message is uncertain.

“Don’t answer any of the calls from numbers you don’t know,” he said.

It’s OK to hang up, too. “I guess I’m trying to make you into millennials,” Clark quipped. “Be rude.”

Clark talked about ploys that rely on fear or sympathy to draw someone in. In the social-media age, he said, it’s much easier to glean personal information and lure someone into trusting the caller right away. Skepticism is essential.

Of the 140 people who filled the library’s Helderberg Room for the presentation, many were elderly with questions to ask or experiences to share.

Many wanted Clark’s feedback on other situations that were either questionable or fraudulent, or perhaps were just nuisances.

State Senator George A. Amedore Jr., who represents the 46th District, and his office organized the session.

Most people have either been targeted by a scammer or know someone who has, said Amedore, who serves on the Senate’s Consumer Protection Committee. Victims know how a scam looks and feels.

Amedore did a similar program in Ulster County at the end of last year, said Eileen Miller, his director of communications and operations. There are plans to do one in Ravena and maybe in Greene and Montgomery counties.

Miller said the idea for the program came from a phone call she received from a woman whose mother-in-law was taken in by a scam.

Clark on Friday went over common tactics, such as email solicitations that don’t sound right and usually aren’t. He said the elderly are targets because they tend to be trusting, at home, and receptive to social interaction.

Ed Bergstraesser, who works in government relations for AT&T, said the potential for deception is a challenge when electronic devices can be helpful, even lifelines, for senior citizens.

Devices can help people manage their health, order prescriptions, or get telemedicine — long-distance medical care.

He urged users of electronic devices to keep them somewhere safe at all times; protect them through a password; back up records; and educate themselves.

Clark added: Don’t give personal information or numbers to a stranger. Sign up for the Do Not Call Registry at https://www.donotcall.gov. Don’t click on anything in an email you aren’t expecting. Shred personal documents before discarding them.

Helen Maurer of Guilderland said she found the session informative and helpful.

She was upset and scared when someone pilfered her identity through a credit card, she said.

Ellie Bradley of Rotterdam was interested in the advice about using a protective piece that’s placed over a credit card, to block scammers from gathering radio-transmitted data.

She said she once got snagged in what appeared to be an offer for a vacation. She lost money she put down as a deposit.

She got one call that she was on a list and would be arrested, which scared her, and received one of the fake IRS calls. “I hung up and reported it,” she said.

Pat Dolezel of Voorheesville, who also praised Friday’s session, was nervous when she thought she would miss out on a mortgage relief program under President Barack Obama — until she found out it was not legitimate.

Clark said the Better Business Bureau wants to hear reports from people who were targeted, for a database that now has about 73,000 instances of fraud in upstate New York. The bureau’s Scam Tracker is at https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/us.