A few tidbits of news that could be of interest to senior citizens have come across my desk this week.

• Are you divorced? Did you know you may be eligible for Social Security benefits from your former husband? In a recent AARP bulletin, under the “Ask Jane” column, one woman asks which wife gets the Social Security benefits, when they were divorced after 20 years and he has remarried. Surprisingly, the response was, “You both do. You and the new wife can each claim spousal benefits while he lives and survivor’s benefits when he dies. The three rules for an ex are: You were married for at least 10 years; you are 62 or older and you haven’t remarried. A divorced wife can get those benefits even if her ex has not retired, provided he’s eligible to claim and they’ve been divorced for two or more years.” (I’d be calling the Social Security office, if only my marriage had lasted long enough!)

• Yet another scam is targeting seniors. Fraudulent callers claim they are monitoring a computer virus. AARP Maine received information from the Central Aroostook Chamber of Commerce concerning fraudulent telephone calls being made to residents from callers claiming to be from a company called MCI-ITS S-Telesy. The caller ID phone number is 213-337-0014. The caller asks for computer passwords and personal information due to a virus they claim to be monitoring. The chamber conducted brief online research and found that this company name and phone number have been used in other known scams. Any Maine residents who receive a call from this number should contact the state Attorney General’s office at 207-626-8800.

The County residents who alerted the Chamber of Commerce reported that the fraudulent callers have foreign accents, are aggressive on the phone and that they call multiple times.

AARP Maine is urging all residents to be aware of this scam and to be reminded to never give out personal information such as a Social Security number, credit card number, computer passwords or bank information to unknown sources. For information on how to avoid scams, go to www.aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork.

Finally, thank you to the three readers who took the time to hand-write letters regarding the state’s methods of re-calculating “refunds” for some of our oldest citizens. Your interest is appreciated.

Kay Soldier welcomes reader ideas for column topics of interest to seniors. She can be reached by email at kso48@aol.com, or write to 114 Tandberg Trail, Windham, ME 04062.