Older Americans lose an estimated $28 billion each year to financial exploitation, with investment scams among the most costly and common schemes.
Artificial intelligence is helping scammers create more convincing and personalized fraud attempts, making it harder for victims to spot red flags.
Experts recommend monitoring financial accounts and setting up trusted contacts to help detect suspicious activity before significant losses occur.
Every year, scammers steal billions of dollars from older Americans, often targeting them through phone calls, emails, text messages, and social media.
In fact, elder financial exploitation is estimated to cost U.S. seniors more than $28 billion annually, making it one of the most common forms of elder abuse. As technology evolves and fraud tactics become more sophisticated, experts say families need to be proactive about protecting their loved ones.
In recognition of Elder Abuse Awareness Day, ConsumerAffairs spoke with Al Pascual, CEO and co-founder of scam detection company Scamentic, who shared practical steps families can take to help older adults avoid becoming victims. From learning how to spot common scam tactics to using financial alerts and monitoring tools, these strategies can help seniors stay safer in an increasingly digital world.
The most common scams
Pascual explained that investment scams are most frequently targeting older adults.
“They are the perfect target as these scams often start through online friendships, or even romances,” he said. “With their savings and retirements, scammers know that lonely older victims are worth the time and effort in cultivating a relationship. Note that investments scams are consistently among the highest loss scams recorded by the FTC.”
Additionally, Pascual encourages consumers to be vigilant if an older adult in their lives suddenly finds a new friend or love interest and then becomes distant.
“Often scammers encourage victims to cut ties with friends and family to prevent them from stepping in and stopping the scam,” he explained.
Targeting seniors with AI
AI has made it easier for scams to go according to plan, as it’s getting harder and harder for consumers to tell the real from the fake.
“AI has basically brought spear phishing to the masses as criminals can craft far more targeted attacks at scale,” Pascual said. “As an example, after an e-commerce data breach, scammers will use information – such as the card number itself, and phone number or email to send convincing bank impersonation scams.
“The first four digits of a card number specifies the issuing bank, telling the scammer exactly who they need to impersonate to have the best chance at getting a victim to respond. And with AI, they can automate the work of doing that research, crafting the communications, and even continuing the conversation when victims begin to engage.”
Protect your loved ones
If you or a loved one could be vulnerable to one of these scams, Pascual offered some practical advice.
Monitor the financial accounts of a family member who you suspect is being targeted. This is a critical step because the faster a scam payment is detected, the greater the chance it can be stopped or reversed.
Add 'Trusted Contacts. Some institutions allow older account holders to add 'Trusted Contacts' who are notified when suspicious activity is occurring on their account. Pascual highly encourages everyone to set that up if it is available before a scam happens because their family members will generally be more apt to allow it under the auspices of keeping “bad guys” out of the account.