Financial scams among seniors has been on the rise at acceleratingly high numbers over the years. According to the Federal Trade Commission, in 2023 alone, American seniors lost $1.9 billion to fraud. By taking time to focus on education and awareness, many seniors can be empowered with information on common scams and certain tactics that are used.
There are several factors that experts believe contribute to why seniors are so heavily targeted in fraud, including the idea that they are more trusting and have larger savings and retirement funds. Additionally, many of today’s seniors came up in a time when the widespread use of online devices was not even introduced, yet alone so integrated into our daily lives, like younger generations, so in some situations there is a lesser degree of ease with operating online devices.
A couple helpful tips to better prevent our seniors from common scams:
Being able to identify hallmark signs of fraud is essential in avoiding a scam, which can commonly include unsolicited calls with added pressure to initiate actions quickly, alongside the requests for sensitive information. By applying false urgency, seniors can be intimidated into making rash decisions that can have serious financial implications. Remember, your bank/ financial institution will not apply overt pressure on customers to immediately act on financial decisions or require sensitive information.
There are multiple ways of getting in contact with someone through phone calls, emails, social media, so alerting our seniors to methods that should raise warning signals can also help prevent potential fraud. For example, calls from unknown numbers should be avoided, and if there is a message from someone claiming to be from your bank/financial institution, the senior can call their branch, the number on the back of their bank’s card or look up the relevant website to verify the phone number before returning the phone call. Any emails that contain spelling errors or are sent from a suspicious email address should be immediately deleted. Seniors should remain wary of offers of prizes, sweepstakes and other messages with limited time redemption offers over social media. When in doubt, calling the bank/financial institution to verify the request in question can help to easily avoid improper tactics.
Encouraging seniors to remain mindful and trust their instincts can go a long way to protect valuable and private information. If it seems suspicious or any warning signs are raised, a legitimate bank or financial institution will not mind verifying their legitimacy by allowing the senior to contact their local representative on their own accord.
Quick Takeaways and Reminders to Protecting Your Information
- Stay educated on common and new scams and frauds
- Safeguard your personal and financial information
- Verify the identities of anyone contacting you claiming to be a bank representative
- Be mindful of the legitimacy of unsolicited offers
- Opt-in to multi-factor authentication whenever possible