Most seniors have heard the phone pitch, and the smartest just immediately hang up. If you keep listening, you may hear a live or recorded voice promising store discounts, free cruises, cheap resort stays and other enticing deals when you send money. Without exception, treat all the offers as phony.

The most persuasive ones use charity as their bait. Understand that even legit commercial call centers keep up to 80% of contributions. Also, once you send money to them, you’re put on a list sucker donors, and that info will be open to other phony sources. When you want to contribute to a charity, contact the official site directly. And if you want to travel for free, contact your nearest military recruiting office.

Despite all the modern photo inventions, some senior tourists still point their cameras and smartphones as if they were 1937 Baby Brownies. When you prepare for your next trip, consider buying and packing the latest in cameras, selfie sticks and drones.

Once you’re familiar with their tech, they’ll give you much more fun and quality ways to record your travel adventures. Instead of just posing for a still photo while standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, capture the video thrill of climbing the steps to the top. Then, creative you will show the folks at home you can still do it all!

According to USA Today, just in time for the holidays, United, Delta and American are offering more favored boarding and luggage deals to passengers willing to pay extra. The airline nickel and diming continue, and could get worse.

The deals are similar to hotel resort fees, where the ads say you pay $99.99 for your room, but it actually costs $150 plus. There should be a special place in the afterlife for airline executives who think up these padded ticket scams. When they finally ride their heavenly flight, they should be squeezed into the last row, middle seat, no recline, next to the overflowing restroom. They should have a crying, soiled diaper baby on one side, and grossly fat flatulent elderly passenger holding a screeching therapy parrot on the other.

When you pick up the phone, there’s a friendly voice, and it frequently begins with: How are you today? For your travel4seniors.com editor, the immediate reply is a loud curse and quick slam of the phone. That’s the safest way to protect yourself from being robbed.

However, if you cluelessly decide to listen, as millions of senior suckers do, the voice offers all kinds of goodies, often including that you’ve just won a free cruise. Of course, you should then realize the wise old saying: there’s no such thing as a free ocean ride.

The next step in the scam is requiring you to send in your credit card and other personal info. That’s when you’ve foolishly set yourself up for online robbery. Whenever you plan a voyage, always deal directly with the cruise line or a trusted travel agency.