Senior Scams: How to Protect Your Loved Ones from Data Breaches and Financial Harm
Senior scams are on the rise as older adults are increasingly connected to the internet and other tools used by scammers. Being informed about the risk of your senior loved one falling prey to a scam can help you protect them from serious losses.
If your loved one has already fallen victim to a senior scam or a data breach, reach out to a data breach attorney for help.
What Are Senior Scams?
The term “senior scam,” often legally known as elder fraud, refers to a scheme deliberately targeting senior citizens and seeking to take advantage of their cognitive struggles, lack of familial support, or limited understanding of technology.
These scams have traditionally aimed to trick senior citizens into handing over money. However, scammers are increasingly targeting sensitive data, and being part of a data breach can leave seniors financially devastated or vulnerable to identity theft. It’s important to know how to protect your older loved ones from senior scams early so you can stop fraud in progress before it’s too late.
Why Are Seniors Targeted?
Seniors are a particularly vulnerable demographic when it comes to fraud, especially in online scams and those using AI technology. Many seniors are isolated and have fewer friends or family members who can help identify scams. Seniors are also likely to be more trusting of strangers who claim to be in love with them, to have some form of legal authority over them, or other false claims.
Senior scammers also target older adults who do not fully understand modern technology and suffer from cognitive decline. A scammer may rely on the fact that your loved one is confused by scare tactics to maximize the amount of money and information they can steal in a data breach.
Common Types of Senior Scams
Certain forms of scams are particularly likely to target seniors.
Phishing Scams
Phishing scams involve sending fraudulent emails or messages to obtain sensitive information. These messages look legitimate and typically claim to come from organizations such as government agencies, social media sites, or banks. However, the messages will ask the targeted senior to enter personal information such as bank logins or Social Security numbers into fraudulent sites, which the scammer then abuses.
What This Scam May Look Like In Real Life
Your loved one receives an email from markzuckerberg48695@facebookloginhelp.com claiming that their Facebook account has been hacked. The email claims to be from Mark Zuckerberg directly and provides a login portal for your loved one to enter their username and password.
The non-official email domain, the claim that Facebook’s CEO is personally involved, and the request for your loved one to log in through the emailed link rather than directly on Facebook are all signs of a phishing attempt.
Telemarketing and Phone Scams
In a phone scam, a senior receives a call claiming that the caller needs money wired or otherwise transferred to them right away. Common phone scams include fake charity appeals and lottery winnings. “Grandparent scams” in which the scammer pretends to be the victim’s grandchild have also become common, especially with the rise of AI capable of faking voices.
Telemarketers often pressure seniors to spend significant money on things they don’t need with promises of limited-edition items and short sale windows. Keeping an eye on your loved one’s expenditures can help you recognize aggressive telemarketing practices.
Online Scams
Online scams exploit some seniors’ confusion about technology to steal from them using the internet and other digital tools. These scams can include fake online storefronts and payment portals, malicious sites containing malware or spyware, or fraudulent “tech support” sites, among other schemes. If your loved one expresses that something’s wrong with their computer, that they need help completing a purchase, or similar issues, work with them to make sure the sites they’re on are legitimate.
What This Scam May Look Like In Real Life
Your loved one is having a computer issue. Looking up tech support answers online takes them to a website where a “technician” claims that they need to take remote control of your loved one’s device. The fake “technician” can then use this access to download sensitive information or install ransomware on your loved one’s computer and demand money to uninstall it.
AI Scams
The use of AI in scams has become increasingly common in recent years as AI has become more advanced and realistic. Seniors are particularly vulnerable to AI scams because they can struggle to understand that something that appears real has been artificially generated.
Voice cloning scams, deepfake videos, and other AI scams pose a huge data breach risk to seniors. Stay alert for suspicious photos, audio, or video that could be used to defraud your loved one.
Investment and Financial Scams
Common financial scams aimed at seniors include investment scams and tax scams.
Investment scams are fraudulent investment opportunities promising high rewards with little risk. The scammer claims they’ll put the victim’s money into a high-return investment and then steals it, often causing significant financial loss.
Tax scams rely on seniors’ inability to tell whether calls and emails “from the government” are genuine. Scammers use fake letterheads and other mocked-up identifiers to claim they’re from the IRS, demanding immediate payment to rectify a nonexistent tax issue. They may threaten the victim with jail or serious fines if they don’t obey.
Romance Scams
“Romance scams” or “sweetheart scams” occur when scammers build fake relationships to exploit seniors emotionally and financially. Many romance scams occur online or over the phone, where a scammer can use fake pictures and voice masking technology to appear to be someone they’re not.
Be aware that romance scams occur offline as well. If your loved one suddenly takes up with a new partner and wants to give them money or assets, look out for warning signs that this new relationship is a scam in the making.
Recognizing the Signs of Scams
There are a few common signs that indicate a scam in progress. Awareness of these can help prevent scammers from stealing from your loved ones.
Unsolicited Contact
Scammers often reach out unexpectedly without your loved one soliciting contact. Random emails or phone calls requesting personal or financial information are often scammers cold-calling many people, hoping to catch someone who will fall for the scam.
Pressure To Act Quickly
One reason seniors are often victims of scams is that scammers make their claims sound urgent and pressure victims to act quickly. This tactic aims to prevent the victim from seeking advice before wiring money or providing personal information. Pressure tactics often include threats of fines or prison time if the victim doesn’t act immediately.
The rise of AI also creates the risk that a scammer may be using a digital voice clone to pretend they are a relative, such as a grandchild, trapped in an emergency situation. Scammers use this technique to pressure seniors to act quickly, banking on their desire to get their impersonated loved one out of danger as quickly as possible.
Requests for Personal Information
Always be cautious when your loved one is asked for sensitive data of any type for any reason. Common personal details scammers try to steal include Social Security numbers, bank information, and credit card details. It’s always a good idea to confirm a request through another method, such as a phone call with the alleged requester’s official customer service line, before letting your loved one share personal information.
Asking for Unusual Forms of Payment
Scammers often demand unusual forms of payment, typically gift cards, rather than cash transfers. Purchasing $1,000 in gift cards at a big box store rather than sending money to a bank account means there is no identifying information about the person who requested the purchase. Official organizations will never ask you to pay an overdue balance with gift cards rather than legitimate bank transactions.
"Too Good To Be True" Offers
Offers that sound too good to be true nearly always are. Many seniors are swindled by claims that their money will go toward an investment, give them the attention of a political figure, or otherwise pay for similar outlandish scenarios. If your loved one tells you that they’ve been asked to send money to an unknown party in exchange for something those costs can’t realistically cover, they’re likely describing a scam.
What This Scam May Look Like In Real Life
Your loved one receives an email claiming to be associated with their preferred political party. The email states that for $5,000, your loved one can communicate directly with the office of the President and receive a response from him directly. This scam preys on your loved one’s desire to be helpful to their political cause, only to steal their money and leave them with nothing to show for it.
Insisting on Secrecy
Legitimate businesses and government organizations may assure you that your information is confidential, but they will never pressure you not to discuss your transactions with anyone else. Scammers, however, commonly insist that victims aren’t allowed to tell anyone about the scam they’re experiencing, sometimes threatening criminal charges for breaching nonexistent or non-applicable confidentiality statutes.
Let your loved one know they can always talk to you about communications they receive online or on the phone, and watch for suspicious or defensive behavior about those subjects.
Impact of Scams on Seniors
Scams can have serious consequences for people of all ages. However, seniors who are targeted by scammers are especially at risk of dramatic impacts on their health and financial well-being.
Financial Consequences
Left unchecked, a scammer can drain a senior’s retirement funds and leave them unable to pay for necessities. Because seniors are typically retired, they often have no way of earning back money they lost to a scam.
If the scammer who stole the money can’t be tracked and civilly sued, their victims may have no way to recover their money. In drastic cases, this may require seniors to return to work, lose a paid caretaker, or move out of assisted living. Keeping a close eye on your loved one’s finances is critical to protecting them from financial instability caused by scammers.
Emotional and Psychological Effects
Becoming the victim of a scam can have a serious emotional impact on seniors. Feelings of shame, anxiety, depression, and paranoia are common for seniors to experience after being scammed.
Many seniors also have limited to no support networks available to help them in the event of a scam, which can exacerbate scams’ emotional impact. In severe cases, seniors’ physical health may deteriorate as a result.
How To Protect Your Loved Ones from Scams
There are specific steps you can take to help protect your senior loved one from becoming the victim of a scam.
Educate About Common Scams
Many seniors are victimized by scams because they don’t know the warning signs to look out for or how to identify fraudulent claims. Talking openly with your senior loved one about common scams and scare tactics is an important part of protecting them.
Implement Financial Safeguards
You don’t have to completely take over your senior loved one’s financial affairs to implement financial safeguards against scams. Monitoring your loved one’s bank statements or setting up account alerts for suspicious transactions keeps you informed while still allowing your loved one to control their money.
Support Networks
Cultivating a safe, trusting environment where your senior loved one feels comfortable discussing suspicious communications is important. Open communication can reduce shame, fear, and other negative emotions that keep seniors from reporting scams to their loved ones.
Steps To Take if Your Loved One
Has Been Scammed
If your senior loved one has already been scammed, act quickly to prevent further harm and mitigate the consequences of a successful scam.
Reporting the Scam
Reporting the scam is the first step in helping your loved one recover. Getting the authorities on the case as soon as possible increases the chances that the scammer will be caught.
Organizations such as the Internet Crime Complaint Center exist to catch scammers. The Office for Victims of Crime also maintains a dedicated elder fraud hotline to report scams. File a report as soon as possible after discovering a scam.
Protecting Financial Accounts
If your loved one’s accounts have been breached, another key priority is mitigating their financial losses by immediately protecting their accounts. Freezing debit and credit cards, changing passwords, and reporting fraudulent transactions can prevent your loved one from losing more money.
Seeking Emotional Support
When a senior has been victimized by a scam, they’re likely to need emotional support after the incident to recover and feel “normal” again. Connect your loved one to emotional support groups or counseling resources aimed at seniors who have been scammed so they have therapeutic support structures in place to help them heal.
Resources for Further Assistance
Resources are available to seniors and their families who have been victimized by scammers or want more information on preventing scams.
Government Agencies
Senior scams are very common, and government agencies are vested in preventing them. Agencies that can help you find support and more information about elder fraud include the Federal Trade Commission and the FBI. In addition to providing support resources for seniors and families, the FBI also maintains a list of known scammers you can look into if your loved one receives suspicious communications from an unfamiliar party.
Nonprofit Organizations
There are dedicated nonprofit organizations committed to protecting seniors from financial exploitation. Organizations such as End Elder Fraud and the Center For Combating Elder Financial Abuse can provide resources and support after a senior scam has taken place, including further information about reporting a scam to the appropriate agencies.
Legal Assistance
Seeking legal advice after your loved one has been the victim of a scam can help significantly with the reporting and recovery process. A reliable attorney can file appropriate reports on your loved one’s behalf and represent them in court if necessary.
If your loved one was the victim of a large-scale scam defrauding many people, they may be eligible to start or join a class action lawsuit. At Class Action U, we handle every aspect of joining or filing a class action suit, taking the pressure off your senior loved one while they recover from being scammed. Reach out to us online today for your free legal consultation.
