How to Protect Against Senior Fraud 

Seniors tend to fall prey to different types of scams than younger adults. The FTC report found that adults 60 and older are nearly five times more likely to report losing money in tech support scams than younger adults, for instance, and are “more than twice as likely to report losses due to prize, sweepstakes, and lottery scams.”² Lists of senior scams are readily available online from the government and nonprofit organizations dedicated to aging. Here are some of the scams to look out for:

• COVID-19 hoaxes. The National Council on Aging (NCOA) has warned about scams related to COVID-19, including fraudulent requests for down payments to get a vaccine, bogus pandemic-themed websites looking to collect credit card information, and robocalls selling “cures” that are never delivered.¹¹
• Tech support scams. Fraudsters can send pop-up messages warning about non-existent computer problems, such as viruses, according to the FBI.¹² Pretending to be “tech support,” they ask for remote access to your computer, then charge money for unnecessary services.¹²
• Social Security Administration imposters. These fraudsters might contact someone by phone, say that their Social Security number has been suspended, and then try to exploit their anxiety to get them to “confirm” the number or provide bank account details.¹³ They often use spoofing, which makes their incoming call look official on caller ID.¹³ Internal Revenue Service (IRS) imposters also try to dupe older adults.¹⁴
• You’ve won! Telemarketer scammers steal by announcing that someone has won a non-existent lottery or car or vacation – all they need to do is pay for shipping, insurance, or taxes.¹⁵
• Romance shakedown. Scams like this come about on otherwise legitimate dating sites, with fraudsters creating fake profiles, building relationships, and then making off with their victim’s money.¹⁵

Keep in mind that there are other types of financial traps that older adults may fall into, which are not covered by this article, such as “elder financial abuse.”¹⁶ That’s when a relative or someone else entrusted to manage an elderly person’s finances takes advantage of them.

Older adults need to be on the alert for senior scams, with adult family members and caretakers pitching in as needed. As a baseline, they should remember that government organizations don’t typically come to people’s homes, contact them by phone, or send unsolicited emails that threaten or ask for personal information, says the FTC.¹⁷ It’s worth looking online to learn the many tips and habits that can help, such as pausing to look up a legitimate website or phone number before you even think about clicking a link or taking a call. A recent Wall Street Journal article included these tips:¹⁸

• Call blocking. Put your phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry and use your phone service’s features to block robocallers from calling you back. While these steps can help, they’re far from foolproof, especially given fraudsters’ ability to keep changing phone lines.
• Spam blocking. Mark junk emails as spam, so your spam filter blocks them the next time. Also, look before you click on any link in the email. Some “phishers” will send emails with what look like legitimate addresses, at first glance, but that might have two letters transposed or otherwise reveal themselves as counterfeit on close inspection.
• Banking tools. You can set up bank alerts on suspicious activity and request a lower credit card limit if you’re not regularly using it all. These steps can help reduce the risk of loss.

Also key to protecting seniors against scams is to report them. A good place to start is the website of the Elder Justice Initiative, which was established in 2018 by the FBI and the Justice Department to combat elder abuse and fraud.

Understanding the leading ways scammers seek payments from older adults – and going on “high alert” when such methods are solicited – may help some seniors avoid scams.

Gift cards top the list of payment methods reported by older adults who fell victim to scams, according to the FTC’s Protecting Older Consumers report.¹⁹ But they’re only slightly ahead of credit cards. The FTC research lists the following payment types and the percentage of senior scam victims who reported paying via each method:²

1. Gift/reload cards: 27.2%.
2. Credit cards: 24.3%.
3. Bank account debit: 13.5%.
4. Payment app or service: 9.7%.
5. Bank transfer or payment: 7.5%.
6. Wire transfer: 6.4%.
7. Check: 3.8%.
8. Cryptocurrency: 3.5%.
9. Cash: 3.0%.
10. Money order: 1.0%.

A good way to avoid falling victim to scammers seeking payment by gift card is to remember that legitimate transactions shouldn’t ever require payment by gift card.¹⁹ Also, it’s not a good idea to share card numbers or PINs over the phone – whether for gift cards or credit cards – unless you know well and trust the person on the phone.¹⁹ For more, read “Mastering Credit Card Fraud Detection.”

Exactly how often older adults are swindled – and for how much – isn’t really known, since monitoring senior scams usually relies on self-reporting. Some older individuals might not recognize they've been scammed, while others may be worried what could happen if they report it.⁸

Still, clear patterns and trends emerge in regular reports from agencies like the FBI and FTC. In particular, the FTC report findings show:

• Age. Older adults are not necessarily defrauded more often than younger Americans, but they tend to lose more money when it happens.² People over 80 are the most vulnerable, with a typical reported loss of $1,500.²
• Highest number of reports. Online shopping fraud remained the most frequently reported elder scam in 2021, but older individuals were less likely than younger adults to report losing money.²
• Biggest dollar reports. Romance scams rake in more money from older adults than other scams, with total losses in 2021 topping $213 million.²
• Online scams. Even though the number of scams via email and online sites including social media surpassed phone scams in 2020, the dollar amounts were smaller.²
• Phone scams. Older adults pay out more money to phone scammers than online scammers, typically ranging from $1,340 at age 60-69, up to $3,000 at age 80 or over.²
• Payments. While gift cards and other prepaid cards are used most often in scams, with credit cards coming in a close second, the highest aggregate losses were from bank transfers and payments.²
• Personal toll. Numbers cannot express the full toll of these scams, the FTC has said. “Some have sent much of their savings in the hope that the prize winnings would be their legacy to their children and grandchildren. All of the older adults are deeply affected by having been lied to and having believed those lies long enough to give away a great deal of money.”