How to Detect and Avoid Senior Scams Before It’s Too Late

Spotting scams can be a challenge, no matter what age you are. However, it has become a concern that scams targeting seniors are growing. Criminals perceive seniors to be more trusting and vulnerable. New data reports that in 2023, there were 101,068 complaints about scams affecting the over 60s, up 11% on 2022. 

To reduce the chances of falling victim to these scams, especially as a senior dealing with consumer issues, it's sensible to learn all you can about them. 

Key Insights

• Scammers often prey on the emotional vulnerabilities of seniors, such as loneliness, fear, or a desire to help those in need, as a means to target and access their savings. 
• The top three senior scams in 2023 were investment scams with a loss of $1,243,010,600, followed by tech support fraud and business email compromise. 
• The FBI reported a $1.6 billion loss from January to May 2024 due to financial fraud targeting older adults. 

Key Features of Senior Scams

Scammers exploit senior citizens with false promises of discounted or valuable goods and services. Once trust is gained, they attempt to obtain personal information, such as financial details or health insurance. In some cases, they may also target the physical possessions of their victims. 

Most fraudsters know what concerns seniors and use common claims to gain an advantage. The typical red flags of senior scams include:

• Calls, usually unexpected, from your bank or credit card company asking for personal information. 
• Free or ultra-low-cost deals.
• Requests to pay through unusual means, such as gift cards, wire transfers, or third-party apps.
• Calls from someone pretending to be a relative in distress or claiming to represent a charitable cause.
• Urgent deals with additional pressure, insisting that the offer is only available for a limited time. 
• An unmissable deal secured with credit card or bank account information. 

Fraudsters often entice with a hook that seems reasonable but exploits a vulnerability. Moreover, they often impersonate trusted businesses and play on emotions to gain access to personal information. So, it is crucial to stay informed. 

Types of Scams Targeting Seniors

Scammers are always thinking up fresh tactics and deploying new scams targeting seniors to exploit victims. Understanding the methods behind these frauds can help you avoid them and stay safe. 

Here are the five most common senior scams.

Investment Scams

Investment scams targeting seniors offer fake investment opportunities promising financial rewards without risk. Pressure tactics force victims into making a quick decision. 

Elders can be encouraged to hand over pension funds and make high-risk investments by so-called financial advisors or investment experts, who offer "an exclusive or limited-time opportunity."

Scammers may use complex financial language or fake documents to make the investment appear legitimate. They might also falsely claim that their investment is approved by a government agency or regulatory body and even provide a false certificate. 

Tech Support Scams

Tech support scams may occur with a pop-up that says your device is vulnerable. The scammers try to get you to install harmful software to gain access to your device and personal information. 

Tech support fraudsters may also pretend to help with consumer issues, making a phone call on behalf of the tech support of one of the well-known companies. They could easily get access to your computer via malware software that they make you download. So, to avoid this scam targeting seniors, it's imperative that you only give access to a trusted business you know well and never download any "helpful" software. 

Home Repair Scams

Home repair fraud targets homeowners with offers of home improvements. This usually culminates in substandard work, overcharging, or no work at all. As a tactic of this type of senior scam, pressure is applied to get victims to pay money, and then the repair business never appears or does very little. 

This is revealed in one of the Jennings Home Repair reviews, where the company took $1,700 from an elderly lady to complete home repairs. However, they never complete the work:

Jennings never showed up. He refused to return her phone calls. He refused to return the $1,700 she paid him for the work that was never done.

Online Romance Scams

Seniors are particularly vulnerable to romance scams as they may feel lonely, especially if they live alone. Social media and dating apps create more exposure and endless connections, which means scammers have more access to exploit elders.  Recent research shows older adults lost nearly $240 million to romance scams in 2022.

Scammers build online relationships with seniors, encouraging trust so personal information is shared. Common tactics seen with this type of senior scams are claims to live abroad and declarations of love. This is usually when scammers ask for money through wiring apps, gift cards, or even cryptocurrency. 

Online romance scams may happen over social media, such as in the form of Facebook scams. For example, one scam involves the elderly mother of a reviewer who fell for a scammer over Facebook Messenger. This person demanded money and "eventually hacked her account":

My mom believes she has been in contact with Roman Reigns from WWE. She has been messaging with this scammer on FB messenger. Acting as if he was in love with her, asking for money.

Another reviewer shares the story of her "65-year-old" mother who fell victim to an online romance scam with a person who used looped videos to simulate live video chats and pressured her to wire money. The reviewer was asking for help, and Reddit users shared their tips like "calling the organisation directly,'" or use "Tineye reverse image search," etc. 

Source: reddit.com

Online Shopping Scams

Online shopping scams often involve either non-delivery of purchased items or situations where payment is made, but the goods or services are never received. According to the Elder Fraud Report 2023 by the FBI, there were more than 6,600 complaints about non-delivery or non-payment among consumers over 60 in 2023. 

Fraudsters may also create fake online shopping websites that offer low-priced goods that appeal to senior shoppers. These sites take money payments from them and either sell stolen goods or don't send any products at all. Besides, there is a chance that you enter your credit card details on a phishing site to steal money from you.

Tips to Protect Yourself From Senior Scams

Taking simple but effective steps to protect yourself from scams targeting seniors can make all the difference when it comes to frustrating scammers. 

1. If something sounds too good to be true, it is. Be wary of any unbelievable bargains, as it's likely that these are fakes. Always check with a trusted friend or family member before taking action. 
2. When you visit websites, make sure to look for the lock icon in the search bar and "https" at the beginning of the web address. They indicate that the site is secure. If a pop-up appears, never click any links or call the number on the screen.
3. Check for poor design with low-quality images or spelling errors on the website you are visiting. 
4. Avoid any unusual payment methods, such as wiring apps, gift cards, or cryptocurrency transactions. Authentic businesses won't ask you to use these to pay. 
5. Add extra security to your bank accounts, such as multi-factor authentication. This usually involves signing in to any account using two different methods, such as a PIN and a text to your phone or by email. 
6. Get involved in consumer communities. You can stay informed, connected, and less susceptible to scams when joining consumer advocacy groups and communities like the PissedConsumer Club, educational programs, or social activity groups. They foster a sense of belonging within a friendly and supportive community and provide opportunities for learning and getting assistance. 
7. Make changes to your phone settings. For example, you may change your default ringtone to silent mode and assign a special ringtone to each of your contacts or group of contacts, such as "Family," "Friends," "Neighbours," etc.

Stay Smart and Avoid the Scammers

Trust your gut when it comes to uncertainty about a transaction, especially if you're a senior, as scammers often target older adults with convincing tactics. Check social media profiles and reviews of businesses to see if they are real or not. Keep your personal details private and ask for a second opinion before committing to any deal. If you have an incident with a scam, please share your experience with others and write a review on PissedConsumer.com to help protect others from falling victim to scams targeting seniors.